MBBO BAD INFLUENCE!

[Pondo]

What iteration is this one?

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Now that it’s dry I do like this version better. So I think I’ll do the red Metal Specks with 2 light coats of red Metalcast and 3 coats of clear. Autozone shows it all in stock. It’s an hour away so the rest of the day will be running errands. Hopefully I can paint tomorrow.

 

[Pondo]

Now you know why people pay me to do it. Lol

Absolutely!

 

[Captain Awesome]

Now that it’s dry I do like this version better. So I think I’ll do the red Metal Specks with 2 light coats of red Metalcast and 3 coats of clear. Autozone shows it all in stock. It’s an hour away so the rest of the day will be running errands. Hopefully I can paint tomorrow.

Yep. I never make a decision until it’s fully cured and I get to look at it in a couple of different light sources.

 

[OddJob]

I'm just spitballing here, but it looks like either the Metalcast went on too heavy, or the undercoats of silver and gold weren't really that 'bright' / reflective. I would go easy on the clear top coats as well. Even though they are 'clear', the layers will still affect the way the light hits the paint and ultimately the way the paint 'hits' your eye when you look at it. I just used one thin lacquer coat over my Metalcast, and it has held up well to cleaning and wear.

 

[Pondo]

I'm just spitballing here, but it looks like either the Metalcast went on too heavy, or the undercoats of silver and gold weren't really that 'bright' / reflective. I would go easy on the clear top coats as well. Even though they are 'clear', the layers will still affect the way the light hits the paint and ultimately the way the paint 'hits' your eye when you look at it. I just used one thin lacquer coat over my Metalcast, and it has held up well to cleaning and wear.

That could be the case with the metallics under the Metalcast. But that's two thin coats I put on. I found the coverage to be, um, really bad on the metallics. And the pigment obscures the metallic. Maybe I should have done some clear before the Metalcast.

Now on the glitter test patch I put 3 coats of Metalcast and went fairly heavy on the 3rd coat. That's Rustoleum glitter paint over a black base, 3 coats of Rustoleum clear and 3 coats of Metalcast. It's my favorite look of the bunch with that heavy metalflake look. That's the paint job I'd like to do but it's going to take too long to do all the wet sanding to deal with the orange peel on this build with the time I have left available and the weather forecast. But I do want to do a bike with this paint combo, maybe next MBBO. That's the darker band of paint in the middle of this menagerie of test paints. The pic doesn't do it justice at all. Glittering in the sun it looks incredible.

With the 3 coats of clear I did over the Metalcast and Metal Specks, I was just following the directions on the Duplicolor clear can: 2 mist coats and a wet coat. It looks good. Autozone was out of the Duplicolor clear and I had to get VHT gloss clear engine enamel so I need to test that this morning. The Metalcast doesn't necessarily need the clear so I like your idea of one coat of clear over it. Thanks for the tips!

 

[Pondo]

New paint scheme. Easy peasy

 

[Pondo]

The VHT clear isn’t reacting poorly so we’re going in.

Set up in my Uber-Pro Inc. outdoor paint booth.

PPE

And first coat is looking presentable

 

[Pondo]

Decided to do 3 coats of Metal Specks. Looking good so far

 

[Pondo]

Wow! This Metalcast is the absolute business!

 

[Pondo]

The final tally is 3 coats of Metal Specks red, 2 coats of Metalcast red and one coat of VHT high gloss clear engine enamel. The Metal Specks doesn’t spray out too well, which is understandable due to the metal flake in it. The Metalcast is amazing, sprays great, looks fantastic. Hopefully the VHT will be a tough clear coat. I’m very pleased with the results and very happy to have the paint done. I’ll let it cure for a week and then see about the rest of the build.

 

[OddJob]

@Pondo, looks great on my monitor and I'm sure it's even better in person with some natural light on it! Well done! Kudos!

You've got me jonesing to try a sparkly paint some time. Maybe next year I can jump in on the MBBO, cuz a muscle bike is the perfect platform for sparkly.

Hope your weather holds for a good drying week. Again.... !

 

[Pondo]

@Pondo, looks great on my monitor and I'm sure it's even better in person with some natural light on it! Well done! Kudos!

You've got me jonesing to try a sparkly paint some time. Maybe next year I can jump in on the MBBO, cuz a muscle bike is the perfect platform for sparkly.

Hope your weather holds for a good drying week. Again.... !

Yeah, it looks great in the light! The only thing is the guard and fender dulled out after drying. I'm pretty sure it's because I used brake cleaner to spray out the insides like I saw someone do on youtube. It reacted with the primer. I redid the primer but didn't strip them to bare metal. Looks like I probably should have. I'm going to let the paint cure for a week and see if I can wet sand and polish. Worst case I'll have to re-clear the guard and fender or maybe repaint but the frame and forks look fantastic!

I just took another look at the chain guard and I think it's going to be ok. It's not tacky anymore and it looks great in the sun so I think I'll be able to just polish it out. Relief.

You should do another muscle bike, that would be fun! I think I want to try a heavier metalflake for next years build. Maybe orange or blue.

 

[Shrunken_Head_Pedaler]

The final tally is 3 coats of Metal Specks red, 2 coats of Metalcast red and one coat of VHT high gloss clear engine enamel. The Metal Specks doesn’t spray out too well, which is understandable due to the metal flake in it. The Metalcast is amazing, sprays great, looks fantastic. Hopefully the VHT will be a tough clear coat. I’m very pleased with the results and very happy to have the paint done. I’ll let it cure for a week and then see about the rest of the build.
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Fantastic! It’s going to look awesome assembled and shining in the sun.

 

[Pondo]

I decided to try doing a little wet sanding today. It has a gloss to it but pretty low on the fender and chain guard.

First thing I did was drop the ‘expletive’ fender. Chipped the front and rear. Fantastic.

That was a lot of work to just chuck it on the ground right before polishing. Frustration mode set to moderately max.

So I decided to practice wet sanding anyways. I did 1500 and then 2500 and can see that it needed more clear coat. I polished the inner end with Meguires and it looks pretty good.

I tried a paint pen to touch up on the end that doesn’t show. Not even close.

Any recommendations on how to fix the end that does show? I’m not a painter and have no experience with this. I’m not opposed to just leaving it, it’s likely to get bumped anyways.

 

[Pondo]

I got the wet sanding and polishing done that I wanted to do. The chain guard and fender look pretty good now, much better than I anticipated. I touched up the chipping on the end of the fender with black sharpie and it’s not very noticeable. The rest of the fender looks so good I don’t think I’ll repaint it.

 

[Shrunken_Head_Pedaler]

I decided to try doing a little wet sanding today. It has a gloss to it but pretty low on the fender and chain guard.
View attachment 282891

First thing I did was drop the ‘expletive’ fender. Chipped the front and rear. Fantastic.
View attachment 282892

That was a lot of work to just chuck it on the ground right before polishing. Frustration mode set to moderately max.

So I decided to practice wet sanding anyways. I did 1500 and then 2500 and can see that it needed more clear coat. I polished the inner end with Meguires and it looks pretty good.
View attachment 282895View attachment 282893

I tried a paint pen to touch up on the end that doesn’t show. Not even close.
View attachment 282894

Any recommendations on how to fix the end that does show? I’m not a painter and have no experience with this. I’m not opposed to just leaving it, it’s likely to get bumped anyways.

If you have any paint left,(sparkle red) I would spray some in the lid or a containers and dab the paint in to the chipped areas. Or tape off and a quick hit of red. If you have clear coated it and it has cured, you should be ok taping off and giving a light touch up. Then a bit more clear.

 

[Pondo]

If you have any paint left,(sparkle red) I would spray some in the lid or a containers and dab the paint in to the chipped areas. Or tape off and a quick hit of red. If you have clear coated it and it has cured, you should be ok taping off and giving a light touch up. Then a bit more clear.

Thanks, I think that's what I'll do. The clear coat needs 7 days to cure so I'll work on that next week.

 

[Pondo]

It may not be real easy to see in the pics but the paint is super sparkly. It looks terrific. It was a ton of work but I’m impressed with the way it turned out. Very happy with this paint job.

 

[Shrunken_Head_Pedaler]

Beautiful

 

[Pondo]

Bad pics but the decals look great, this is a custom design that @CRASH did for a previous build. Good stuff