Rohan said:
The Fireflake Blue NOS Fastback tank that Norvil had for sale recently seemed to have the flakes incorporated into the fibreglass.
We need more samples of genuine tanks, who knows what may have happened to some of them over the past 40+ years...
Bernhard said:
Re; fibreglass tanks. These are not normally painted but come with a coloured Gel coat. Hence you do not have to paint them. HTH.
B+Bogus said:
Not strictly true - I have proof!
Yes, the silver ones were flake in the gelcoat, also the straight colours, I.e., yellow & orange, but not the Fireflake blues - The flakes were definitely painted on.
Bernhard said:
Please note the words "not normally" :!:
Until the need arises to attack the paintwork with sandpaper it's really difficult to say, and I'm sure we'll never put this one to bed, but I repainted a fastback tank last year, and sanded through the blue flake to a black basecoat. Had it been in the gelcoat it wouldn't have done this - I did a silver 'S' tank where the flakes were definitely in the gelcoat - no colour change with sanding. I'm no fibreglass expert, but as I understand it the gelcoat goes on pretty thick.
The blue wears through pretty rapidly and is a fine layer under a layer of clear:
Note there are a couple of patches on the 'S' tank where the lacquer wasn't broken through, and the flake still looks good underneath.
The NOS sidepanels I saw were a little orange-peely, which I doubt was a reflection of the mould surface, based on other 'glass sidepanels I've worked with.
Didn't sand through those... :shock:
I have to admit I've never seen a NOS fibreglass tank, but I'm pretty confident the ones I worked with here had just experienced typical wear & tear, and hadn't been painted before.
Sanding through silver flake just reveals more silver flake, hence why it's OK to just leave it as gelcoat, but any other colour is a total no-no, as the pigment layer on the flakes gets taken off, revealing the aluminium substrate... and a repeat of the painting process :roll:
I find these discussions useful, as some new stuff can turn up to prove me wrong, and I really like the industrial archaeology thing :wink:
Having said that, if you want a metalflake Norton, you'll need to get it painted!
In my experience, the only satisfactory way of doing this is with 2-pack clear, which needs very careful handling.
The only way this will deteriorate is due to issues with the substrate - it won't fade, and good quality lacquer doesn't chip very easily - although cheap stuff isn't as scuff-resistant.
Coincidentally, I have a tank (or two) on order for when they arrive in the UK - just deciding on schemes...