Skills (DIY) / 2014-01-06
Painting Your Motorcycle
This article was originally written in Turkish and translated with the help of artificial intelligence.
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Now that the training schedule had slowed down, I decided to paint the rather scruffy DRZ to smarten it up and make it a little more personal. There are simpler, cheaper ways, of course. A new plastics kit or decal set would do almost the same job. The difference is that this is a little more personal, and I think doing it myself will strengthen the bond between us. Let me warn you right away: painting a dirt bike may turn out not to be a good idea. It can get scratched, and the paint may even peel in places. Consumables may cost more than replacing the parts. Frankly, I am not particularly concerned about cost on this project. If I do not like it, I can still go and buy a new plastics kit.
As a first step, I removed the parts to clean them.
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I found a new use for the Jacuzzi. Before this, I had tried to get as much mud as possible off them outside on the balcony.
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This project will never end... :P
Today was spent preparing for paint. Trees, creepy-crawlies and everything else had left the plastics badly scratched. It was a demanding, tiring day. My out-of-practice hands and fingers certainly played a part in that.
I started with repairs. Two parts had breaks and cracks. Unfortunately, this kind of plastic is formulated to resist chemical reactions, which makes gluing it difficult, so I used an epoxy-based adhesive for my first attempt.
This part had already undergone an unsuccessful repair:
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Below is the other broken part:
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The most important thing to remember when using filler is that the more you apply, the more sanding you will have to do.
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After sanding the previous part, filler remains only in the scratches. I started with 100-grit, followed by 120, 180, 220 and finally 360-grit paper.
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It looks dirty, but I have actually achieved an almost smooth surface. I expect there will be some more sanding to do after a guide coat of primer. I will keep going finer, aiming to reach 440 or 500 grit before the paint coat.
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That is enough for today. I am tired. I also need daylight for the fine work. Let's see what tomorrow brings.
I applied a guide coat of primer:
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I will not be able to be as lazy as I had hoped; there are a few spots I missed on almost every part:
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Tomorrow these spots will get filler and sanding, followed by another coat of primer...
I have prepared the paints; there is no turning back now. Though if I manage it, I can always paint it again from time to time.
Repairs and filler on the tail are finished, ready for checking:
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The radiator shrouds after repairs, checking and sanding:
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The decal adhesive had eaten into the plastic. When primer failed to cover it, I went back to filler:
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Here it is half sanded. More filler means more sanding. I am tired...
If the weather allows, I hope to finish priming tomorrow.
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An example of the filler dust produced by each session. I have finally got rid of the traces of the Suzuki engravings (!). :)
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As I am gradually approaching the clean painting stage and do not have a proper paint shop, I decided to build a little room to keep out dust and direct sunlight and also act as something of a drying oven. I hope it will let me work on the terrace. I will use the wooden strips at home and whatever other materials I can find.
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After a short break, I am picking up where I left off.
I have finished the paint booth. It is makeshift, but it will do the job:
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It has a lid too:
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It is time for primer, but not today. The main purpose of the paint booth is protection from dust. The materials I use dry faster as the temperature rises, up to a point. The booth helps with that too.
More filler and sanding on some parts:
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Hey, we forgot the tank!
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It was full to the brim too; not all the fuel would fit in the jerrycan. The tank had been painted before. Its colour was already more of a chick-yellow. Underneath I found a coat of primer, a coat of filler, then another yellow, more filler and so on. I think I will strip it completely; the more I scrape, the more comes off.
All this scraping will later cost me a new tank. I do not know that yet and am sanding away enthusiastically. My advice is not to mess too much with the tank's seams. Repair was possible, but I could not be bothered; I wanted a plastic tank anyway. Today my DRZ has an Acerbis plastic tank. :)
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The remaining parts are now ready for paint.
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These are my little beauties:
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Sanding the tank gave me a lot of trouble. Finally I primed it:
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I have made a serious mistake! My primer and base colour are very similar. I struggle to see the paint I am applying over the primer. My advice is to change the primer's colour with a suitable paint, or get a primer that differs from your base coat. You can see the primer on the upper part and the base colour on the lower one:
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In the end, I applied the first coat of paint to every part. From here on it should be relatively quick, unless I make a mistake:
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I plan to finish the base-colour coats today. Off to work. :)
I worked hard today. I finished the base colour and started the camouflage. I moved away from my chosen theme to give it a little more of an airbrushed feel, but am still using the same colours.
I made the camouflage patches a little more playful:
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The front mudguard is ready for the third colour:
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You may have noticed the mask. I decided against decals and will paint those too.
Let's see what tomorrow brings. :)
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Hmm, I think it will be ready in time. I have applied the first coat of clear:
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They are not fully dry yet. I plan to apply the second coat late this afternoon:
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Assembly will have to wait until tonight at best, perhaps tomorrow morning.
I had a little (!) accident. As I moved the table, the jar of dirty thinners I use for cleaning brushes and spray guns, which I had left on the edge, spilled over the parts. I stood there shouting and braying with rage for a while, actually until my voice gave out. I repainted two of the damaged parts from scratch and repaired the other two. In the picture below, the part with the DRZ logo is repaired; the other was repainted from scratch. If I can apply and dry the clear coat tomorrow, it will be time to assemble it. :)
This time I added my lucky clover too. :)
I lined the inside of the part covering the exhaust with a material I hope will insulate it from the heat:
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Assembly is finished too. :)
This project ends here. Thank you for your patience and your confidence-building messages. The fork legs are next, but let me ride it a little first. :P