Reasonable '75 Commando paint jobs, New question

I got a quote for the same paint job on my 74 roadster of 1300 dollars with sealing of the tank! That floored me,I am sure it would be a nice job,but there must be a better alternative.

If you priced out a good "rattle can" DIY paint job and paid yourself for labor, you'd be very close to the cost of a proffesional job.
I'm finishing up my Norton paint as we speak. I'm not a pro, but I do have a lot of experience with paint and rattle cans.
Here is a quick workup:
Interior tank prep:
Evaporust: $25.00
Acetone & MEK: $10.00
roofing nails: $10.00
P.O.R. Prep & Ready: $35.00
Caswell liner: $40.00
4 hrs labor @ $50 hr: $200.00
Total interior Prep Cost...... $320.00

Exterior finishing:
paint stripper: $10.00
sand papper: $20.00
body filler: $20.00
Primers, etching, filler, sandable & sealer (Duplicolor) $30.00
Gold undercoat - for striping and logo (Duplicolor) $20.00
Base coat (aerosol cans from automotive paint house) $90.00
Clear coat (SprayMax 2K) $100.00
decals-used for stencils and masking tape: $20.00
10 hrs labor @ $50hr: $500.
Total exterior finish........$810.00

So for a "rattle can" paint job, I've got about $1130.00 into it. albeit I have some leftover material.

but then again, I know the right way to do things and as mentioned have experience painting. IMHO, I have done my own pro job. My last Norton tank I did in the mid 80's is still very much alive last I saw of it when I sold that bike in 2002. The one I'm doing now should last as long, if not longer as the materials I'm using are much better than what was available then.

I agree with the other poster, if your going to do it, do it right the first time, and it WILL last.. Unless youget it right, you can expect to have a few "do-overs", plus the added time and cost for those do-overs.
It's a learning experience. Or if you don't have the time, it's about the same cost as farming out the job to a pro.

JD

I found a guy here in Houston on Craiglist that paints bikes in his spare time. He fixed a sizable dent, did the prep and base coat/cleared coat the tank and side covers for 400$. Came out beautiful.

If you live in a major metro area there are bound to be several people that do this as a side line. Be sure and ask to see some of their work or references though.

Guys: This is a painter whose work I've seen, it's nice. I've never seen a V-V paint job in person, I'm sure it's very nice. This painter is going to do it with a real paint gun and clear coat. It's his living. The bike builders that use him said they've never had a problem he didn't accept and correct. It's local and I can see each step along the way.

That being said, the paint house I use locally will make up rattle cans with their own colors. The main difference I believe between sprayers and rattle cans, outside of the fact some paint types aren't available is the amount of paint that you put on. So I think you can do a good job with them; you just have to use a lot of layers.

My latest rattle can tank, sitting in the sun while the clearcoat cures. needs a wet sand, then some more clear, another wets sand, final clear, final wetsand, then polish.

JD

Nice work Jeff, looks good.
With that 2k clearcoat, should last well too.

How did you do the pinstriping ?
Tape, with that 2k clearcoat to seal it ?
(Have a tank that needs pinstriping)...

I'd comment that some of these custom Harleys with $million$ paint schemes are done with rattlecans too - anyone suggests that that looks 'cheap' ???

BTW, the paint on original Commandos wasn't real flash or long lived either, when was the last time you saw a Commando with 'original paint' looking good...

1st coat (after primer stages) was gold. Painted the entire tank Duplicolor gold, (Ford color). Let it dry and cure for an appropriate ammount of time.
Then I applied 1/8" 3M green masking tape for the stripes and "Norton" stickers. After I positioned the taping and the stickers to my liking, I painted the entire tank with a basecoat (Chrysler PDR graphite metallic) using paint house supplied aerosol spray cans. Two coats. Before the basecoat cured completely, I carefully peeled off the tape and decals. There's a trick, If the paint is too wet, it will smudge, if it too dry, it will crack off when you peel the tape back. This leaves a negitive.. i.e. the gold undercoat appears as the pin stripe and the logo. I did a fine grit (2000) on the color bascoat to get rid of the small ridge that's left boardering the striping and logo after they're removed.

When the basecoat is fully cured and dry I shot the clearcoat. (and will be giving a few more coats with 2000 / 3000 grit wetsanding between shoots).

Prep is where the hours of labor come in as well as wet sanding time. The more prep and attention to detail, the more hours involved. The more atention to detail, the better the final result.
THAT is why pro tanks are priced as they are.
And despite the care I took, I can find a few "oop's" here and there, but then I have a VERY critical eye.

JD

Rohan said:

Nice work Jeff, looks good.
With that 2k clearcoat, should last well too.

How did you do the pinstriping ?
Tape, with that 2k clearcoat to seal it ?
(Have a tank that needs pinstriping)...

I'd comment that some of these custom Harleys with $million$ paint schemes are done with rattlecans too - anyone suggests that that looks 'cheap' ???

BTW, the paint on original Commandos wasn't real flash or long lived either, when was the last time you saw a Commando with 'original paint' looking good...

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Nice job Jeff, I also paint my own tins, maybe because I can but deffinitely because I feel satisfied with a great job. I am not as fussy about the pin stripes and logo as you. I use norton decals and just clear coat over. I have done a few tanks this was and never struck a problem. Maybe once on a Trident tank with gold stripes, was shocked when the gold strip wrinkled, but it settled back when cured thank god. I now do the first clear coat very dry and sort of tack coat, then get more adventurous on 2nd & 3rd.
Regarding the stripes on the white, blue & red job, I set the tank and side covers on the bike, with the initial Diamond white base coat applied, then using Jeff's green 3m tape I marked out the lines, and stood back to check the alignment. It would be very hard to get this right with the tank and side covers not mounted. Especially the tank as there is nothing on the bottom to register off.
I did post the results on here, would have been last august or october I think?

Cheers Richard

I have found this thread most interesting. If you have one of the Fireflake colours, is there rattle can paint available for that also?

Steve,
AutoZone (Ugh) has Duplicolor MetalSpecks in blue, red and silver. I used the blue on my tank and silver on the tail lamp fairing. The flecks are certainly not large like the original or what you can get with a good automotive paint, but acceptable to me. I covered it with Duplicolor High Performance Wheel coating clear. If you have availability to use the Spraymax, that would be even better. Cost me maybe $50-60. Of course there was a lot of prep work and it's still not perfect.

Dave
69S

Main problem with rattle can spray jobs is that the clear coat isnt resistant to petrol, which makes it less than ideal for refinishing a tank. Best way to do a budget paint job is to rattle can the colour, apply decals and lining, and then get a pro to clear coat using proper 2K material.

That's where SprayMAx 2K comes in. It's a true 2 part catalised urethane which IS resistant to chemicals and petroleum / gasoline. It is a rattle can, true, but it has it's activator within the same can and you must follow their instructions to break the internal container. If you go to the link I provided earlier and read their instruction it will show you how this is done. It's quite easy. Once activated the aerosol can is only good for about 24 hours of use.

Normal 1 part rattle can clear, be it acrylic or lacquer and even 1K urethane, WILL DEFINATELY be affected by petrol. What is good about the Spraymax 2K is that it can be applied over either acrylic or lacquer without damaging the existing clearcoat. SprayMAx 2K is a great PROVEN product. It is NOT that expensive and lays down quite evenly. Can be wet sanded, buffed and if you need multiple coats, it can be applied over itself, even if already set up. It is not that expensive in the grand scheme of things either. Do some research on it.

JD

Carbonfibre said:

Main problem with rattle can spray jobs is that the clear coat isnt resistant to petrol, which makes it less than ideal for refinishing a tank. Best way to do a budget paint job is to rattle can the colour, apply decals and lining, and then get a pro to clear coat using proper 2K material.

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Where do you buy the SprayMax 2K?

I bought from these guys, RE Paint supply. Here's the link to the product page. Best pricing I could find and they shipped right away.

http://www.repaintsupply.com/pd_2_part_2k_aerosol.cfm


JD

htown16 said:

Where do you buy the SprayMax 2K?

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jeffdavison said:

I bought from these guys, RE Paint supply. Here's the link to the product page. Best pricing I could find and they shipped right away.

http://www.repaintsupply.com/pd_2_part_2k_aerosol.cfm


JD

htown16 said:

Where do you buy the SprayMax 2K?

Click to expand...

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Sounds good stuff...........certainly much better than the usual rattle cans!

But you don't want to be breathing that stuff.

Dave
69S

I could use a little clairification on how the tank "decals" are used as stencils. Do you lay them over the green tape & cut around each little piece, then try to get it all on the tank in line again? Or do you put it on the tank in one piece & then cut the extra parts out after it's on?

NASTY stuff that you DO NOT WANT to get into your lungs and blood stream. A respirator / fume filter mask is a must have!

For any painting for that matter, can't be too careful. I even use hearing protectors for power tools, and eye protection as well.

JD

DogT said:

But you don't want to be breathing that stuff.


Dave
69S

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I applied the stickers to the tank which was first painted gold. I painted the basecoat color over the stickers. Then peeled them off before the clearcoat. This just left the gold paint exposed where the sticker used to be.

JD

gtsun said:

I could use a little clairification on how the tank "decals" are used as stencils. Do you lay them over the green tape & cut around each little piece, then try to get it all on the tank in line again? Or do you put it on the tank in one piece & then cut the extra parts out after it's on?

Click to expand...

I think it's really called a 'stencil'.

Dave
69S