Abner DONE!

[handyandy1100]

Still more work to do but here's a glamour shot for now.

View attachment 238816

That gooseneck (sorry, old school lingo) would be cool on a survival bike, if you sharpen the leading edge for a small emergency hatchet.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Got the first set of inserts from the mold today. There where some issues with the mold that I was expecting so it's looking like I'll have to remake them. Hopefully I'll correct the problems and get a new mold made in a week or so.

I did mount the left side to see how it looks and it looks great!

 

[marshall hudson]

Just in case you thought I might actually be considering that giant light, I'm not. When I pulled up the Southern Flyer photos I couldn't help noticing the big headlight and it reminded me of the giant outdoor light that I recently acquired. lol

Anyway, the reason for bringing up Southern Flyer was because of the finish. That bike is completely bare metal but it was treated with gun metal plumb brown. I really love that look!

Fast forward ten years and I revisited the idea by treating the stem for Abner with the same process. I got the Tomahawk stem from FSH by Design in raw metal and used the process that is used on vintage mussel-loaders to get the finish.

Here's the before:
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And here's after:
View attachment 238815

I have the same stem but the bare metal has been polished. Been looking for a way to patina this. I may have to give this a try.

 

[Pondo]

Man that tank is looking awesome!

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Man that tank is looking awesome!

Thanks! I'm excited to finally get to this point. I've been wanting to make this tank for a while now. It's almost ready for production!

 

[Uncle Shish]

Thanks! I'm excited to finally get to this point. I've been wanting to make this tank for a while now. It's almost ready for production!
View attachment 239205

Absolutely love the flow. The curvature of the fender braces is the Lebowski's rug.

 

[Son of Kradus]

Thats cool, very good work on the tank! looks like a factory made product! its just a cool looking bike!

 

[SkyknightJohn]

Has anyone made this comparison yet?

Not the vibe you’re going for, obviously, but I can’t un-see it.

Great work and loving the mold making process. Another great project!

 

[Son of Kradus]

Love the xenomorph, name given in alien 1, the kids always rave on about this horror movie and that one..... I them tell they aint seen nothin till you watched "The Alien Quadrilogy and its following movies, to date there has not been a single monster movie made that comes close!
Now........ "Where on earth did you get that stem"

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Has anyone made this comparison yet?View attachment 239217

View attachment 239218

Not the vibe you’re going for, obviously, but I can’t un-see it.

Great work and loving the mold making process. Another great project!

That's great! lol
Someone on facebook also made this comparison:

"Where on earth did you get that stem"

Got the stem from FSH By Design

 

[JA331]

That tank is outstanding. Adds so much to an already stunning bike.

 

[kingfish254]

Exactly 10 years ago yesterday I started Southern Flyer for my first ever build-off entry.
View attachment 238631


In the years since then I have borrowed from it a couple times for other builds. This year I'm borrowing from it again. Except it won't be any part taken from it, just a design idea.

Best use of toilet seat hardware ever!!!

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Absolutely love the flow. The curvature of the fender braces is the Lebowski's rug.

Thats cool, very good work on the tank! looks like a factory made product! its just a cool looking bike!

That tank is outstanding. Adds so much to an already stunning bike.

Thanks y'all.

Best use of toilet seat hardware ever!!!

For anyone wondering, I used some unassuming toilet hardware to transform an otherwise 'crappy' fork.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Happy American Independence day everyone!

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Got the side inserts repaired, primed and mounted. I'll be making a new mold for them but decided that it would be wise to go ahead with these in the meantime.

Here's a drive side photo with the stem thrown in for good measure.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Been sanding down the nice glossy gel coat getting ready for primer. Not much time left!

 

[The Renaissance Man]

I had a little daylight left this evening so I added some flaking chrome to the Tomahawk stem.

 

[Fv2]

I had a little daylight left this evening so I added some flaking chrome to the Tomahawk stem.

View attachment 239775

Silver leaf?

 

[The Renaissance Man]

No, it is silver paint using the 'mustard mask method'.



I didn't bother showing the process since it has been around for years now and @OddJob recently did a good job of explaining it again.

However, I did discover something unexpected this time.

When I first started using this technique I had seen it used by model car builders but with Vasoline. I wanted to use something that was water soluble and after searching around the house I landed on mustard. It checked most of the boxes that I had in mind; cheap, easily accessible, and high viscosity that would stay put. The yellow color was a bonus as it made it fairly easy to keep track of the application.

I said all of that to say that it could have just as easily been anything else but it just happened be what I found first. Fast forward to now and it had consequential effects.

Up until now I have applied the mustard over a painted base coat because I'm usually making fiberglass look like vintage metal. This time I started with real metal that had been chemically 'browned' which is basically controlled rust. As soon as I started removing the mustard mask I realized what I had done. The first ingredient listed in mustard is vinegar. Vinegar is acidic which removes rust! The result was that some of the brown metal had been cleaned by the mustard back in the direction of silver/grey metal.

Luckily the silver paint was fast drying so the acidic effects of the mustard didn't have enough time to completely wreck the base color. In some ways it was a happy accident in that it created a variegated color that has a natural look. The only downside is that it is not as dark brown as I had envisioned but not enough to make me refinish it.

Onward!

 

[OddJob]