ArchaicArcane

How we settled on that color - for the longest time it was going to be Red Bull Blue - is that DH realized the body shop at work could paint it and would have regular access to Ford colors (being a Ford body shop). He started pointing out the Deep Impact blue when he saw it on cars and trucks and saying "What about that blue?" I said it looked good,.. maybe even a little better than RBB, because it would show the decals better. Then one day the wee one disappeared out of my studio.

I grin whenever I see the color too. I guess that means it was the right color.

Candace, are you on the coast where moisture is a problem or more inland? I wonder if it's environmental that has anything to do with it. Did you ever figure out a pattern? I'm sure they don't want responsibility and that's fine. I can get another shop to do it or do it myself. The paint job was the right price, so I still have money in the budget for clear somewhere else if need be.

Candace

We're very dry here in good old CA and that may be part of the issue. Maybe the decals dried too quickly? I haven't done enough of them to notice a pattern.

ArchaicArcane

Darn! I was hoping there might be some easy pitfalls to avoid.

Oh well. Here's our progress for today:

Decals on, waiting the requisite time before we remove the cover coat.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]515923[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]515924[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]515925[/ATTACH]

It looks like the Made in Great Britain decal and the Celtic Knot on the inside of the arm are interchangable, not both, and the one that was on the decal page is a little bigger than the original so we just put the MiGB under where the badge will go. It's not like she's original anyway.

Mrs. SewNSew

She looks ..... deep breath...great! So much nicer WITH decals! I love how it's all coming out!

***What is the "cover coat"?

chris_quilts

She is beautiful!!!!

ArchaicArcane

Thanks! I think so too.

The cover coat is what makes waterslide decals "easy" to install. The decal is actually the middle layer of the "sheet" of decals you get - there's the backing paper which you soak off then you have the decal and a cover coat. That's what you place on the machine with liberal amounts of water. Once your decal is in position, you "squeegee" the water out and let it dry for 12 hours. The decals would never put up with that sort of abuse by themselves, so the cover coat protects it during install. Once dry, the decals don't need the cover coat anymore, so you can remove it.

The red arrow shows the cover coat outline that will be removed. DH says despite the "ease" of install, it didn't stop it from being nerve wracking. He was so worried about something going wrong, he sad he thought it nearly gave him a heart attack.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]515936[/ATTACH]

The other thing I forgot to mention is that the motor is reassembled and tested. It's good.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]515937[/ATTACH]

Mrs. SewNSew

It would give me a heart attack too. I was thinking how nervous I would be worrying about goofing up the paint or tearing a decal.

DonnaMiller

I've had clear coat lift the decals and sometimes the paint. It has to be compatible. If not, you will have to strip and start over. That would break your heart. Check with the manufacturer before starting. That is a lovely color and I agree with all that it will be beautiful. I vote for Glenn's method from the sticky.

ArchaicArcane

Christy - There are a few things to remember when doing a machine like this (I learned all of this painting that bike on the previous page - it wasn't one go, it was a period of weeks of repairing damage and sanding my mistakes and leveling this and de-gumming paint guns, etc):
1. Decals are hard to tear while they still have the cover coat. You have to try to ruin them.
2. paint is protected by clear coat. Other than a gouge through to the base coat - a mistake can usually be polished out. I put 2 scratches in the motor with an exacto knife, the body shop 1 on the extension bed and DH 1 on the motor so far and reassembly hasn't started! All of it will polish out so far.
3. What doesn't polish out can usually be "fixed" with a touch up pen of the same paint.
4. it's just paint. It can be redone if need be. Not that I'd want to but worst case, no lives are lost unless DH does have the heart attack. Man he was jittery!

DonnaMiller - When you did the clearcoat, how did you do it? A spray gun or a spray can? was there anything else that was notable that may have contributed to the problem? Were the decals on top of the base or was there clear under the decals too? I agree, I wouldn't want to have to redo it but I can't leave unprotected decals on a machine I'm going to use, so I have to go the next step. By Glenn's process, you mean the shellac repair? I'm simply not good enough at it yet to want to try. I have a 201 in progress using that process and it's taking a lot to get it smooth looking.

DH has been doing some research on this. Apparently there's some talk in a few of the motorcycle forums and modelling forums and the general consensus seems to boil down to a few things for best most consistent results:

1. It must go: 1. Paint 2. Clear Coat 3. Decals 4. More clear coat.

2. No reducer - Use a clear coat that you have to mix - not a spray can. The activator and the clear coat seem to be fairly friendly to the decals but the reducer seems to have a violent reaction sometimes. Reducer slows the dry time too. You want the clear to "flash off" quickly so it has minimal time to react negatively with the decals. This seems to indicate too that relatively speaking - higher ambient temps are better than cooler temps because the clear will flash faster in warm weather. Once again, I get kicked in the butt for where I live. I'm going to guess this reaction with the reducer has to do with certain reducers and which paints are being used. Using a spray can takes away the ability to remove the reducer. I'm thinking some cans are better to the decals than others though because I know of people who've used spray cans successfully.

3. Spray the coats touching the decals as dry and as light as possible. i.e. stand back like 3ft and spray and do 8 - 10 light coats 15 - 30 minutes apart before a serious regular one.

4. Use good quality decals.

I have control over the first one - the machine currently has base clear on it and then the decals. The next coats of clear should seal the deal.

The second and third I can control if I do it myself or to a smaller degree if the body man takes the advice we've found if we have someone do it.

The 4th, I just have to trust at this point.

Jeanette Frantz

I can imagine I would be as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof! I used to do hand-painted ceramics and I don't any more -- my hands just shake too much! I'm anxious to see your machine when it is complete, so please favor us with pictures!

Jeanette