Here goes nothing. I am going to wet sand today. Clear instructions say its cured after 12 hours. It goes against my thought process to take paper to this shine. But I want to eliminate the orange peel effect. Hope this isn't another learning experience, I don't think I can blast and paint this frame again. I have 2000 wet and will just take my time. update when I get done.
Clone to Honda conversion
- Thread starter Deoodles
- Start date
red69
Well-Known Member
Deoodles, you're going to have to take compound to the finish after you get through with the 2000 grit. The sandpaper will leave very fine scratches in the paint and the compound will leave even finer scratches. Eventually, your eye will not be able to pick that up and that is where you want to be at the end, finishing with a fine polish. It can be done by hand, but is more labor intensive than using a buffer.
Thanks for the tips. It is as smooth as I can get it and it is acceptable as is. I feel like I am missing the last step. What goes on to give it that shiny wet look??? Here are some frame pictures. I did not have to cut and sand the other parts. They came out great and have a slightly better gloss than the frame. This took almost 4 hours.
I used Maguire's medium cut and fine glaze to get it to here.
I used Maguire's medium cut and fine glaze to get it to here.
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Work slowly, using light pressure and lots of water to keep the paper from loading-up. Be careful around and raised areas, the sanding force gets concentrated over them. Work the large, flat, areas first - then go back to take care of detailing the small, localized, spots - one at a time. Shouldn't take much more than an afternoon's worth of massaging to do those four pieces. If it takes twice as long, that'd still be less time than doing it all over again. And, this only has to be done once. What's 4 hours more or less, once the bike is back on the road and looking good for years to come?
2000 grit is fine enough that it should leave a dull shine. That's part of the reason I recommend using machine compound (with a diminishing abrasive) by hand. It'll take some serious elbow grease, probably 2-3 passes. IMHO, working slowly & gently will keep you from wearing through paint an damaging your work, a small price to pay for the safety factor and a first rate result.
FYI, it is possible to get show-quality results from rattlecans. Catalyzed urethane is catalyzed urethane. While there are some quality differences among products, chip, chemical and UV resistance are comparable among them. The main drawback to rattlecan paint is the lack of application control, including flow rate, possible with a spray gun. With small parts such as these, it's not a bad fit and sweat equity can tame, or eliminate, most of the orange peel.
Methinks you're well on your way to a satisfying result and this time around will be the charm.
2000 grit is fine enough that it should leave a dull shine. That's part of the reason I recommend using machine compound (with a diminishing abrasive) by hand. It'll take some serious elbow grease, probably 2-3 passes. IMHO, working slowly & gently will keep you from wearing through paint an damaging your work, a small price to pay for the safety factor and a first rate result.
FYI, it is possible to get show-quality results from rattlecans. Catalyzed urethane is catalyzed urethane. While there are some quality differences among products, chip, chemical and UV resistance are comparable among them. The main drawback to rattlecan paint is the lack of application control, including flow rate, possible with a spray gun. With small parts such as these, it's not a bad fit and sweat equity can tame, or eliminate, most of the orange peel.
Methinks you're well on your way to a satisfying result and this time around will be the charm.
Thanks, is it not advisable to shoot a finish coat of clear? I don't want to go backwards. It's really smooth and I don't need new orange peel but the clear has an incredible gloss when it dries. Just wondering if a final coat would stick and lay down smooth now that it is smooth.
This was a complete failure. I went through the red on a corner and thought I could touch it up, WRONG, the silver wrinkled along a body line, I am back to the beginning. I don't think I will attempt this again. I don't have the skill set or the proper tools to do bodywork and paint. It is one thing to paint some parts and another to get the details in one of these frames right. I will send this out for blasting and paint. It's kind of ashame. It really looked pretty good.
I can't help it. I had some paint left over and can't quit until it's all used I felt that if someone messes up a paint job they don't do the whole thing over. Here is my solution. Tape up the good work and go along the seams so there is minimum blending issues. I only have one spot under the left shock It's drying now. I used primer sealer after a 400 wet sand and did it again.
OLD CT
Well-Known Member
I stopped after the red. I didn't want to chance screwing up with the clear, by it possibly wrinkling. One thing is for sure, I tried to spray a little more red under where the rear fender goes, ''hidden'' a couple days later and it wrinkled. Just like you had happen, so I stopped right away. I purchased some red lacquer ''Ford'' touch up paint in the tube that is a great match for the Duplicolor spray and if I have a chip here and there it works if you go easy. A little at a time.
So here it is and here it will stay for the next couple of weeks. At least until VT says I own it. Here's what I learned and this is just for me. Prime and wet sand with 400. Let that dry, I used a primer that says good for most paints meaning lacquer or enamel. Sprayed silver and the can says wait ten minutes, it's too hot here to do.that, the red could wrinkle the silver. When I got all the pieces I took a quick break for a drink and started again. Waiting 30 minutes like the instructions say caused the red to wrinkle. I went clear right after a quick break again but used the urethane two-part clear. Sanding the clear at 2000 grit gave it a hazy shine that I couldn't take out by hand so I did the 600 and that's where I made my mistake on a corner. what I noticed is after the final spray today both sides have an equal amount of orange peel so I guess I can hand rub that out but I won't take any sandpaper to it I can compare the orange peel in this frame to about the same amount of orange peel my Toyota tundra has from the factory that said it's not very significant. I just want this to be over and give it to weeks to fully cure
Thanks Bob for teaching me this painful new skill. :6:
Thanks Bob for teaching me this painful new skill. :6:
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There are toooo many decal vendors on line. I need to purchase a set of decals and don't want to end up with junk. Who sells decent decal sets. Are the vinyl side badges any good ? I really want a plug and play set not individuals all on one big sheet that I have to trim out. Anyone have a list or recommendations
I'll second Pat's suggestion to leave well enough alone. Your color application looks pretty good and this is going to be a rider, not a showpiece, right?
FYI, that "hazy shine" left behind by 2000 grit wet sanding is exactly what you should have gotten. Fine machine compound should easily polish-out 2000-grit sanding scratches. Working by hand is tedious but gives you ultra-fine control, good for preventing rub-throughs. Your only mistake was going back to 600-grit paper...and that's a big one; that's way too coarse for colorsanding.
Which model decals are you looking for?
FYI, that "hazy shine" left behind by 2000 grit wet sanding is exactly what you should have gotten. Fine machine compound should easily polish-out 2000-grit sanding scratches. Working by hand is tedious but gives you ultra-fine control, good for preventing rub-throughs. Your only mistake was going back to 600-grit paper...and that's a big one; that's way too coarse for colorsanding.
Which model decals are you looking for?