Rat Salad - 7/26 - Done! Complete! Finished!

[N8NBOX]

Re: Rat Salad - 5/8 paint testing

Also looking forward to this paint, have never had any luck painting bikes myself (always start flaking off with every bump...but I also throw my bikes around :/) Will have to get a picture of my fram ideal coatings did, powdercoated in this neon green with a silver and gold flake and lots of clear, super blingy.

 

[kingfish254]

Re: Rat Salad - 5/8 paint testing

Dude, what's been going on with your build??
You have a cool frame and some cool paint so you get the Metal Flake VW (Bunny) Rabbit back page bump.
Give us an update.

 

[streetpirate]

Re: Rat Salad - 5/8 paint testing

just got my dremel home so I can clean up the sloppy brazing before paint, and I figured out how I'm doing the paint. I was going to wait to update until paint started getting laid, which should start around the 25th.

yellow base, citrus dream spray glitter, green x-metals, clear. The flake is HUGE so I think I will have to spray it onto the yellow base while still wet, then lightly knock any on-edge flakes down. after that, it still looks like it might take an easy 10 coats of clear to get a smooth finish.

 

[streetpirate]

Re: Rat Salad - 5/8 paint testing

this is over a silver base, which was kind of boring. half with the x-metal green half without, and the x-metals will have to be a really light coat to stick with the more lime green color I want. I did a test piece with the yellow base and very light on the green but the pictures got deleted

 

[kingfish254]

Re: Rat Salad - 5/8 paint testing

Man, that is going to look sweet!!
Smart that you are doing all of this test painting to get it just right for the final.
Cool stuff!

 

[streetpirate]

Re: Rat Salad - 6/27 paint?

got a break from the craziness and the forecast says I'm painting wednesday! As long as my school money shows up in time to buy more paint

 

[streetpirate]

Re: Rat Salad - 6/30 - polished aluminum and YELLOW

got the cranks polished. each took a couple hours, but now that I know what I'm doing I could probably go from the before to the after in 45 minutes.

non-drive side before

done drive side, comparable before condition drive side, first draft of the non-drive side.

I redid the non-drive side, sanding it down to work out more of the dents and scratches, starting with 320 then 400 wet, then back to polishing buffs and compound. There will still be some marks in it but it did start out pretty beat.
I used the $20 harbor freight aluminum polishing kit for the buffs, but the compounds that come with it are trash. I used Dico E5 compound, which is pretty course, but it worked fine from everything from knocking down the scratches from the sandpaper to doing the final shine. Plus, I already had it. Now to do the stem and brake levers.

Also started laying down the yellow basecoat. I'm thinking I'm going to have to finish off the can to get decent coverage.

 

[streetpirate]

Re: Rat Salad - 6/30 - polished aluminum and YELLOW

I wish my welder was handy and I had more time, I would have loved to put track dropouts on this frame

 

[kingfish254]

Re: Rat Salad - 6/30 - polished aluminum and YELLOW

Nice buff work.
What kind of buffer do you have set up? Just a buff wheel on a bench grinder or what?
Love that frame!

 

[streetpirate]

Re: Rat Salad - 6/30 - polished aluminum and YELLOW

Nice buff work.
What kind of buffer do you have set up? Just a buff wheel on a bench grinder or what?
Love that frame!

12v dewalt xrp and two half wore out battery packs. I probably swapped packs on the charger 20-30 times

 

[MazdaFlyer]

Re: Rat Salad - 6/30 - polished aluminum and YELLOW

I'm liking your frame geometry, the curves, double top tube, lugs. The paint is looking good as well.

 

[streetpirate]

Re: Rat Salad - 6/30 - paint down, ready for clear

finished off the can of yellow yesterday covering the frame, and made a makeshift paint booth under the apartment stairs this morning.



I'm using this order of operations for paint

OMG! THERE'S GLITTER EVERYWHERE! IT'S IN MY EYE!

That made a ridiculous mess. I'm going to be finding glitter in places I forgot I had for weeks.


Let that sit for a couple hours and sprayed on the green x-metals. I had a hard time keeping the coverage even. Since its like green tint in a can it's really easy to have it turn out striped and blotchy, but I'm reasonably pleased with the result.

the flake (glitter spray crap) just doesn't show up all that well in the pictures, but should look much better clear coated and in direct sunlight.

I'm estimating 5-6 cans of clear to bury this stuff. I might end up right at the time limit letting the clear outgas in between cans.

 

[kingfish254]

Re: Rat Salad - 6/30 - paint down, ready for clear

That is insanely awesome!!!!!!!!

 

[streetpirate]

Re: Rat Salad - 6/30 - paint down, ready for clear

just dumped about 3/4 can of clear on it, 5-6 cans for the whole bike is a bit conservative. It might be double that. It's starting to seem a bit silly.

 

[kingfish254]

Re: Rat Salad - 6/30 - paint down, ready for clear

LOL, you're gonna end up with a quarter inch of paint!!!
But it will be wicked paint!

 

[streetpirate]

Re: Rat Salad - 6/30 - paint down, ready for clear

eeewwww, glittery green boogers. If I was smart I would have worn a mask

 

[kingfish254]

Re: Glittery Green Booger - 6/30 - NEW BUILD NAME!!!!!

eeewwww, glittery green boogers. If I was smart I would have worn a mask

There you have it!!!!!!

I now christen the "Glittery Green Booger".

What an awesome build name!!!!!

 

[kingfish254]

Re: Rat Salad - 6/30 - paint down, ready for clear

There ain't no way, I mean there ain't no way on heaven or earth that you shoulda been able to find an animated sparkly green bunny. Ain't no freaking way!

Do a google image search for glitter bunny. It's within the first 25 images.

There is even a pink one that is picking out glittery boogers!!!

Don't worry, I ain't even gonna do a search for an image of glittery boogers!!!!

 

[streetpirate]

Re: Rat Salad - 6/30 - paint down, ready for clear

There ain't no way, I mean there ain't no way on heaven or earth that you shoulda been able to find an animated sparkly green bunny. Ain't no freaking way!

Do a google image search for glitter bunny. It's within the first 25 images.

There is even a pink one that is picking out glittery boogers!!!

Don't worry, I ain't even gonna do a search for an image of glittery boogers!!!!

DUDE YOU ARE OUT OF CONTROL WITH THE BUNNIES!

 

[streetpirate]

Re: Rat Salad - 6/30 - paint down, ready for clear

finished off can #1 of clear. Now I have to let it outgas for a week.