painting and pinstriping a chromed motorcycle tank

Discuss anything after that final masking comes off.



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PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2017 4:24 am
hey guys

I need to pinstripe my motorcycle tank after painting the core section.

there is a hard paint edge because the sides are chromed, and to blend/ cover that paint edge there is a pinstripe that on my tank is white.

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now I want to use vinyl because its easy to do, repair or replace, if I want to paint it then its a very technical process of etching back the chrome and sanding it right? if the vinyl doesnt look right I will go the paint it option though..
- does anyone recommend a vinyl stripe that is stretchy/flexible enough to do nice rounded corners, I bought soem cheap vinyl tape and it does not stretch or conform to curves at all! I am thinking the 3m cast vinyl?

im not set on single vs double line - original was a single paint line.

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my second question is - is there a paint that will adhere to unetched chrome well enough to do the pinstripe, because if I dont have to prepare the chrome by etching it then I would be happy to use that product. its just that etching so close to good chrome scares the pants off me! if I was to damage the surface near the line then I'd be in trouble, but I suppose thats being kind of silly because I will have to etch the chrome to get the paint down.

i am thinking I should be able to use body filler onto etched chrome, then 1k etch, then 2k primer and 2k single stage OR 1k acrylic laquer color and 2k clearcoat

thoughts on the process?

thanks a lot



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PostPosted: Sat Apr 29, 2017 6:32 am
no replies but I figured it all out so far!

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pre chrome
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post chrome
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post chrome


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sides masked up!

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2k polyester filled

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ready for primer post blocking out.

next step is valspar vp50 epoxy primer - it is a dtm high build primer that can apparently also be used as a sealer... its ideal because If my blocking sucks I can add polyester filler over epoxy without dramas.

so will throw down a few coats, block it out and then topcoat it with single stage 2k pastel blau (RAL)for solvent resistance with my az3. the rest of the bike is in 1k.

then I'll use 2k white to do the pinstripes. will be double line, 4mm and 2mm with 2mm spacing, the 2mm pinstripe will be closest to the chrome edge like the red pinstripe in the post above.

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PostPosted: Sat Apr 29, 2017 7:46 am
You are in an area that I have no experience with so hoping to learn something from your efforts.
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PostPosted: Tue May 02, 2017 4:17 am
changed my mind, have other projects I need to allocate money to

the tank is getting painted in 1k, and I will use an acrylic ''2k'' clearcoat over the top (not true 2k) so not as fuel resistant but I am not planning on spilling fuel on it haha

laid a few coats of etch and primer surfacer, will block it down over the next couple of days!



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PostPosted: Sun May 07, 2017 7:02 am
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getting hte primer blocked out

shot 2 different tone primers hence the really rough look.

a few more coats and then it'll be ready for top coat

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PostPosted: Mon May 08, 2017 7:38 am
why didnt you do all the work before chroming ?
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PostPosted: Mon May 08, 2017 6:39 pm
what work? metal finishing the whole tank, or priming and body filler?

if its the first its because I didnt de-seam the whole tank to fix the dents, because at tthat time I didnt know how, I cut out the rusty patch panels in the bottom and metal finished through there.

if its about priming and body filler, that stuff cant survive the chroming process, they put it in a caustic NaOH bath which is paint stripping in nature then HCl bath too before copper nickel chrome



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PostPosted: Thu Jun 01, 2017 2:33 am
hey, its been a while since I have wanted to get any further with the tank.

painted it today and removed the masking, to see what the lines are like.. there is still some masking residue which makes the lines look average (I should have used shop tape, I used fineliner tape for the edge then regular tape which sucks...

pretty happy. I have a few defects to fix with p12000 and I need to feather the edge where it meets the chrome. So I will remask ,sand, then I'll reshoot colour, then i'll mask and apply the white pinstripe to the margin between paint and chrome, then I'll apply 2k clearcoat up to the edge of the white pinstripe.

heres a few pics

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PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 1:06 am
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tanks done! its not perfect but its gonna be ridden!

have to sand a few bugs out of the clear,, might just reclear it rather than buff the sanding out (was just 2k aerosol - easy to use...) but that means remasking haha :lol: man am I sick of masking this thing!

Pinstripe is a bit dodgy in 2areas. Not noticeably too bad except up close. . I guess that reflects my impatience. It was a huge learning curve figuring out how to do this. I realised even when dry there's a knack to unmasking to get a clean edge. Pulling back on itself.

In the end I had to remask ten or so times. Was just getting impatient by the end.

I cleared over the pinstripe edge against the blue. There is a hard edge against the chrome you wouldn't get if you hand pinstriped the tank like the pros do.

So things I learnt for this kind of work
Mask the transition once. Spend time feathering the edge down at the end to reduce te height of the transition zone between paint and chrome.
remove masking. Place pinstripe over transition between paint and chrome to get the transition in the middle. Then mask on both sides of this masking and remove the middle tape where the pinstripe will go.
Sand this transition again to get it really nice so there is no hard edge
Spray pinstripe
Remove edge of pinstripe transitioning to paint. Wet sand the tank and feather the pinstripe edge lightly to tank
Clear the tank. Further wetsand the pinstripe transition to remove hard edge in the clear.
Remove the chrome transition masking and you're done

No wonder they wanted hundreds for this kind of thing. Haha. This was my first one. It's not perfect but will do for now.



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PostPosted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 11:36 pm
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Just final checks and few small jobs and its ready for test ride and roadworthy!

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