The Hepkat * I'm back!!

[late for dinner]

Your pioneering use of Pearloid or 'mother of toilet seat' is a great idea that I'm glad to see. It'll be perfect on your bike, which has been one of my fave no rush evolving builds over the years.
I've had some Tortoise shell material up my sleeve for years that I intended to debut on a bike, but just never got 'round to it.
I also kind of expected Carl would be the first.

 

[Bike Bum]

Your pioneering use of Pearloid or 'mother of toilet seat' is a great idea that I'm glad to see. It'll be perfect on your bike, which has been one of my fave no rush evolving builds over the years.
I've had some Tortoise shell material up my sleeve for years that I intended to debut on a bike, but just never got 'round to it.
I also kind of expected Carl would be the first.

Thanks. Yeah, I'm surprised Carl hasn't done this either. I love this pearloid material, I'm also using it on my dashboard to hold my gauges on my '32 Ford truck build I'm doing. Another great material is drum wrap. It's thinner and flexible. Check out this old Riviera with pearloid drum wrap.

 

[Bike Bum]

All this rain is getting ridiculous. Go away El Niño, I need to get some painting done!

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Looking forward to seeing that flake on there!

 

[Bike Bum]

Looking forward to seeing that flake on there!

Me too. It's rained every weekend for three months straight here. Ugh!!

 

[Bike Bum]

I know, I've been a little slow on this build. It's finally cool enough to go outside and not melt, so over the weekend I started to tear down the Hepkat, fixed some minor imperfections on the tank then started the primer. Wohoo! It's finally getting there.

Got lots of shiny stuff. Time to get crazy!

 

[Bike Bum]

Got the blue base coat down on the tank this weekend and I'm liking the color. Now it's time for the blue metal flake. It'll be a couple weeks before I can get to the flake since I have family coming into town this week and I'll be spending the weekend with the Brian Setzer Orchestra.

 

[Muttley]

I'll be spending the weekend with the Brian Setzer Orchestra.

 

[jetguy]

Where are you painting this? Garage? Looking good!

 

[GuitarlCarl]

Thanks. Yeah, I'm surprised Carl hasn't done this either. I love this pearloid material, I'm also using it on my dashboard to hold my gauges on my '32 Ford truck build I'm doing. Another great material is drum wrap. It's thinner and flexible. Check out this old Riviera with pearloid drum wrap.

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Haha! Just getting caught up on an awesome build and whoa! Ya'all talking bout' me? Well I did use black pearl pickguard stock on my Rockin' Rollfast tank. But I doubt I was the first either. It's just such an awesome material to work with. I just love the drum wrap console and THAT'S an idea I may "borrow". I've been thinking about revisiting an old bare metal build of mine. I'm wondering if I can pull off a Spectraflame teal, like the old Hot Wheels colors. Again brother this is a sweet one.

Carl.

 

[Bike Bum]

Where are you painting this? Garage? Looking good!

Thanks. I have a workshop in my back yard that I use to build small projects.

 

[Bike Bum]

Haha! Just getting caught up on an awesome build and whoa! Ya'all talking bout' me? Well I did use black pearl pickguard stock on my Rockin' Rollfast tank. But I doubt I was the first either. It's just such an awesome material to work with. I just love the drum wrap console and THAT'S an idea I may "borrow". I've been thinking about revisiting an old bare metal build of mine. I'm wondering if I can pull off a Spectraflame teal, like the old Hot Wheels colors. Again brother this is a sweet one.

Carl.

Yup, drum wrap is great. Buy it by the roll and you can do a lot with it. I'm always trying to find something that I can cover with pearloid pickguard or drum wrap. I love that spectraflame look. I still have many old Hot Wheels painted in that. That would be cool to see a bike painted with it.

 

[Bike Bum]

I thought I was going to get some metal flake on the Hepkat on Sunday but the weather just wasn't cooperating. I live on the Gulf Coast and our winters average in the 50's. But, this is what I came home from work to on Friday.

 

[Bike Bum]

Then Friday and Saturday I spent my time with the TRUE Hepkat himself, Brian Setzer. I'm getting heat in my workshop this week so I should be flakin' this weekend! Getting closer.

Sorry about the crappy pictures. I forgot my camera at home, both nights, and had to use my dumb phone. UGH!!

 

[Bike Bum]

Perfect weather on Saturday for painting. It's about time! So I started laying down some blue metal flake on the tank. After tuning in the paint gun just right then blowing the fuse in my air compressor, which made me drive to the auto parts store to get new ones, I was off and flakin'. It took about 4 coats to get the right amount of flake I was looking for. These pictures are without the final clear coats which will smooth out the surface, so they look ruff but it won't always look like that.

This is still without the final clear coats but this is the overall look that I'm going for.

Tonight I start the final clear coats, then wet sand, then more clear coat, then the final clear with blue pearl added for a little more pop!

...

 

[Bike Bum]

Note to self: Next time I metal flake, make sure I lay down paper on the workbench, the floor, the walls, the ceiling, me, the neighbors dog... This stuff gets everywhere! Part of my peg board for hanging my tools is now metal flake blue. Sheeesh!

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Metal flake OSB! There's an idea for Home Depot.

 

[Bike Bum]

Metal flake OSB! There's an idea for Home Depot.

It looks like a herd of My Little Ponies exploded in my shop.

 

[Indyjps]

Great build, cant wait to see the paint.
My daughters love that our white epoxied garage floor is now covered in multi colors of flake and pearl overspray, wife- not so much.

 

[Bike Bum]

Ok, I haven't forgotten this build. Computer died, have to use my phone now, I couldn't remember my password for this site and my email was a Hotmail account which this site doesn't recognize. Finally asked Steve if he could change my password. Thanks Steve!! Anyway, it's been waaaay too cold to do any painting so until It warms up I decided to start another project. But it looks like next week will be warm enough to do more painting so hopefully I'll get this bike buttoned-up in the next couple weeks.