[MadClown]

Lads and Lassies,
I have been asked by the almighty board of this forum to follow-up on my previous how-to thread ‘Paintwork on helmet’ with another one, this time dealing with the bike as a whole.
After a bit of thinking and short discussion I have decided to split this thread into two parts.
1st Part will be dealing with bare metal re-spray of custom build chop, including frame, as it happened in June of 2008. And this chop had her public premiere on the 2009 RDS bike show, so you might remember it from there.
It is written step by step and day by day and I will not take anything out. This is how it was.

2nd Part will be dealing with more common type of paintwork, which is done on the thins of a Drifter 1500.
The paint job itself is more complicated than in the 1st case, but it’s not bare metal re-spray as such. This bike is daily runner and if you are from Cork you could have seen it on the road or on the 2009 Cork bike show. And again it’s written how it happened.

And I really do appreciate your interest in those threads.

Thanks


So, let’s get started…
Part I:
How to paint Pin-up chopper step by step

This was an unusual project for me for a few reasons; firstly I have never shown my work in progress on larger things to anyone except my cats, because siht might happen and usually does, secondly I have tried some new things and materials, which I was not so familiar with, thirdly I had to do a Photoshop image of the final paintwork before I have even seen the bike and finally I had to say bye bye to my sandblaster who let me down big time, so there’s already been 5days delay on the work before I have started with the paints!



All that I had was a few pictures of the mock up of the chop and instructions and builder’s/owner’s idea on how the final paintwork should look. There will be a lot of red flakes and black and gloss and semi-matt clear coat. And the main thing - a gorgeous pin up girl on each side of the petrol tank. It should be a nice clean, old fashioned bike and the paintwork should reflect this.



I am in the process of sanding down both fenders and am hoping to get frame, oil tank and petrol tank sandblasted tomorrow.

[MadClown]

Part II:
How to paint Mayan Drifter step by step

As I’ve said this thread consist from two parts, the first part dealt with complete, bare metal re-spray and although the paint job itself wasn’t too complicated it gave us a good insight into the basics of any long lasting paintwork.
In this, 2nd part of the thread we’ll be dealing with much more complex and elaborate paint.
There will be a lot of airbrushing and less talking. And you will not see a lot of behind-the-scene work involved during the mask making, as this happened on the PC screen during few days…
Another difference is that this is not a full metal re-spray and I haven’t touched the frame. The only metal parts are petrol tank and speedo housing, the rest is plastic and it shows what is involved when working on a bike with good factory paint.
Maybe I should add that I have received the parts in the mid of February and it was ready for this year’s /2009/ Cork bike show, which was held at the end of March.

Again, this is what went on as I wrote it down after every part of the paintjob was finished:

This bike is going to be done in an Aztec / Mayan / Inca mythical theme.
My self and the owner had long discussions about the colours that should be used, although as the paintwork will develop and ideas will grow colours may change, but the theme remains the same and will tell the story of Creation.

[MadClown]

The start is the usual messy part of every paint work, sanding and filling and working away on the templates for the calendar and Mayan glyphs. I am stuck to the screen,
it's taking ages, but should be worth it at the end, hopefully

Full day of work stripping and sanding the old paint down, apart from the tank it's all plastic, so sander and lot of elbow grease was needed. You can see that I've left some of the beige paint on the less exposed and couple of hard to get to places. The epoxy primer should seal those areas and I believe that this will be OK and will not cause any problems latter.



It'll be fine sanded tomorrow together with the other smaller bits and hopefully primed. We’ll see


Another hard day, can't feel my arms anymore, sanding, sanding and more sanding.... and then a lot of cleaning... and when I finally get that primer ready I couldn’t hold full spray gun up longer then 30sec or so, so tired I am

BTW, it took 600ml of primer! Bloody mudguards, the size of them, but it'd make a nice base for the paintwork

[MadClown]

A wee progress to report: It's Black now.
Well, finally, took me whole morning to get this first step of the basecoat done, water based Black sealer applied in very light coats heat cured between each layer, ufff.



Anyway, I'm going to do some 'Mayan Cloudy Gold' basecoat, which is secret and something I will not share with anyone except our cats - and they don't really care.
So, what I'm trying to say is, I'm off to hiding and next time you'll se Jay's bits they should be Gold.
I'm not saying this will happen overnight as there are another 5 steps to go to get me there...



And I have one more news for you: Am just at the door from the spray room couldn't leave the gold unfinished and it looks good.
But don't worry, it's only base coat and most of it will be hidden under the following airbrushing.



I'm planning to start Mayan glyphs tomorrow, only hoping that my spelling will be OK.

[MadClown]

Is it just a week since I've started on that yoke?
I think it is and hopefully the worst and the less entertaining part of the paintwork is over, well almost, I still have to make template for the Mayan calendar. And the real fun may begin...

So only quickly posting up a few pictures of the Mayan glyphs and what had to be done to get there. You obviously can't see all the work done on the computer redrawing those glyphs into vector images which are essential for my little plotter to be able to cut them out from masking foil






Anyway just to keep you informed on today's progress:
- have spent most of the day plotting and weeding and applying that Mayan calendar template
- and managed to mess things up a bit.... anyone see a Gold anymore?
What you can see though is the rough shape of the pyramid at the rear of the fender.

This post has been edited by MadClown: 18 November 2009 - 11:51 AM

[MadClown]

I have started messing with the paint, finally. The paintwork is in its breaking point, in the stage where nothing is defined, details are missing and, generally, everything looks very messy. It always drives me mad and I'm never happy with the result. Well, so far anyway. I know that it'll click together at some later stage and I'll say, fcuk it was worth it.

Anyway I think that this is the last post before my departure for the weekend in the Big Smoke. I'll be pretty busy tomorrow packing all my stuff and getting ready all the bits and bobs which I will need on the RDS Bike show. So no time to waste on this bike



I just couldn't resist and instead of packing and loading up the van I've sat on my arse and was trying to get beyond that messy point. It looks much better now. I'm still not happy with the pyramid, but I leave it for now and will try to do something about it at the very end.



Now, packing, loading and getting ready

[MadClown]

Got the front fender finished on the show while doing airbrushing demos there and got it lacquered for the first time yesterday and brought it out today to see how it looks like in the real light, the colours are a bit wild and unusual for Mad Clown Design, but it's based on Mayan murals and I like it.




Oh, and I have started on the petrol tank and have done other invisible things which needs to be done before any paint goes down.

[MadClown]

And petrol tank is almost finished, well, one half of it anyway. I’m hoping to finish it off tomorrow




...and another couple of pictures of the petrol tank. It's done, finally and waiting for the clear, which will be done tomorrow.




Now the rear fender

[MadClown]

The 2 out of the 3 main thins /ehm, plastics/ are done at last, ufff

A final couple of layers of the clear went down like a dream, but not after spraying the main and the most important thing of the whole paintwork, The Mad Clown's head. It works so well with the overall paintwork that I could afford to use full version of the logo. Hope the owner doesn't mind.
Well, it's too late anyway




I have started on the rear fender as well and all the cloudy bits are done and I will have to pull a couple of 24hrs shifts to get it done on time for the Cork bike show.
Oh and look at my helpers, I keep them as a buffing pads and they should have been polishing other parts while I was messing with the clear, sleepy heads



Another day gone and almost nothing’s done. It looks like we will have to do some overnight shift before the show…

[MadClown]

Found this sculpture when looking for Mayan stuff on the web. It represents three stages of human life and I think that goes well with the 'creation' paintwork and finishes off the bike nicely.



And as the owner said: ‘and so it came to pass "Creation was born unto the planet Earth"’, well nearly there.


I haven't done too much on the paintwork over the weekend. In fact, I haven't done anything as I was busy carpentering in West Cork
And so today I've finally started on the last motif of the whole paintwork: 'the dancers' or whatever they name is. Ladies celebrating a new beginning as would be the official name.



So far I'm keeping a good speed, so it might be done on time after all


Now, I think, that these would be the last 2 pics you'd see from the painting progress.
I'm finally finished with the airbrushing, thank god, and all what's left to do is to get it cleared. This should be done tomorrow afternoon and second coat should follow on Sunday.

[MadClown]

And here she is, 8 o’clock in the morning before the Cork show:







It’s hard to believe that this is not a show bike, but daily runner. But from the other hand, this is what custom painting is all about and it’s nice to see a painter’s work being enjoyed by happy customer every day.


Now that's all, I have squeezed a month long journey into a few posts to make it easier to follow. I hope that you've enjoyed the process and that it gave you a bit of insight into what’s going on in those toxic stinky holes where custom painters are spending most of their days.

Thanks for looking

[wildkat]

Brilliant thread Madclown.
Your work is unbelievable.
Thanks for sharing the process with us.

[jamesobrady]

Man that really is mind blowing..the level of detail is impressive!

[yvo6]

Thank you so much for letting us see what goes on to create a masterpiece like this.

I have enjoyed every step of the way

Yvonne

x

[drizzle]

Amazing .. You must be one chilled out hombre.. i know i'd rush the stages

[POT]

Absolutely smashing thread, very very interesting to see all the hard work behind the artistry. Amazing

[laneminnow]

Excellent thread and an amazing job done on the Rocker bike

[MadClown]

Thank and the good thing is that both of those are daily drivers.
The best thing is, that those yokes have their own lives and I often hear nothing about bikes I've painted and it's always nice surprise to see them, unexpectedly, somewhere on the road or overtaking my van in Big Smoke - like the Pin-up chop in early spring. But sometimes, I don't even get to see the bike at all. Just hand the parts over and that's it...

[eamon]

Wow!

I had a look at the custom bikes on display in the RDS last year. I had no appreciation for the work and craftsmanship that went into painting each machine.

[declanb701]

that is absolutely stunning work