Painting my tank

[manshack_one]

While a very helpful member of our site was working on my carbs I decided it was time to give the tank a new paint job. I started by purchasing some clearance "stripper-in-a-rattle-can" at walmart and getting all the paint off. For a little while I thought about renaming the bike Silver Bullet because of how shiny that tank is when it's down to bare metal. But I decided against it and went ahead and shot some primer gray on it. Now, when i was talking with my daughter about it she said I ought to have some flames on it 'so it looks cooler'. Now, I'm not any type of graphic artist. It's outside my realm of creativity to mask off any flames but I was thinking of maybe just doing some type of stickers on transparent material that I could put on and then lay a top coat of poly on it to seal it in. Anybody else think that's do-able? If I can put stickers on and make it look like paint then I'm open to a lot more options for things like, oh I don't know, maybe xs11.com logos? Maybe some type of fancy cursive writing like, "yeah, it's still fast!". (to answer all those "i remember that bike" people). What do you guys think? Right now the tank is primer gray and hanging in my garage.

[tomatao]

It has been my experience that you can clear coat over stripes. Just make sure you really like it though.

[manshack_one]

that's what I was thinking. I can get a computer graphic to look like it was brushed on so I figured on just printing it out at kinko's on transparency or something, sticking it to the tank, and then clear coating it.

[Crazcnuk]

You can go to any Trim-Brite, or other sign shop, and they have catalogs full of motorcycle tank designs, and they can customize them as well.

Then they print onto exterior grade 'striping' sheets, and the machine cuts them out for you.

You can put them on and clear coat, or put them on over the clear coat. The ones on my Monte Carlo are 10 years old this year and look fine, w/o clear over top.

[prometheus578]

"read about something years ago..."

But have never gotten around to doing it.
making transfers of a sort.
Find a photo/poster or something from a magazine that you'd like to have on your bike.
Spray acrylic clear paint over the photo.
Place the photo in warm water till the paper softens and then peal away the paper that it was printed on.
Spray the backside with white to bring back the background color.
Use a razor and cut out your "decal"
Spray the back of it with acrylic clear and stick it to your tank.
Spray acrylic clear over everything.

Or something like that.

[manshack_one]

i'm always posting before i think

now that I'm looking around the net i see I should have been searching for "tank decals". Lot's of peel and stick vinyl decals to choose from. i figure you want to clear coat over it so it doesn't look like a sticker what with the edges showing and all.

[Wildkat]

I would think...

that even if you clear coated over the sticker, the edge would still be visible... well, if it can easily be seen before the clear-coat...
(I would think that most automotive decals would be thin to avoid said edges)
In fact... I have found clearcoat to be quite unforgiving of novice mistakes and edges... ahem...



John had the decals made for Twilite Special, no clear-coat over them and they seem to be holding up very well...
and I just went out to see how much the edge showed... not much at all... I tried to find the pics I know he posted... but can't at the moment...

Spraying certain types of clear-coat over certain types of paint... will cause the paint to run/ sag or sometimes bubble and crack... It might be the same with the decals... If you have room for a test on some of the excess decal material... that might be a good idea before you do the whole thing...

[Wildkat]

Re: "read about something years ago..."

Now this sounds like something I will have to try...
Looks rather intriguing...

Originally posted by prometheus578
But have never gotten around to doing it.
making transfers of a sort.
Find a photo/poster or something from a magazine that you'd like to have on your bike.
Spray acrylic clear paint over the photo.
Place the photo in warm water till the paper softens and then peal away the paper that it was printed on.
Spray the backside with white to bring back the background color.
Use a razor and cut out your "decal"
Spray the back of it with acrylic clear and stick it to your tank.
Spray acrylic clear over everything.

Or something like that.

[crazypainter]

Yes, you can clear over decals, BUT the clear will run veeeerrrrryyyy easy at the edges. You will meed to put a light coat on first to give the second coat something to bite into to.

Yes Prom you can take a picture from a magazine and clear it then dissolve the oaoer with water and you are left with the pic on a sheet of paint. Very difficult to get it layed out smooth to clear over.

It was done years ago with lacquer clears,I don't know if the urethanes of today would work the same, or if the inks are the same on photos.

[Guy_b_g]

Crazypainter...

That might be a good way to do new little decals for the lights & hand controls...?

White lettering on black backgroud....might give it a try.

[mro]

decals for the lights & hand controls...?

Was someone on eBay selling these decals for the XS.
Even had one for the piolt box.


mro

[Guy_b_g]

Never been able to find em..are they still out there?....even if I could...maybe worth a try to make my own...print em up..shoot em with clear paint...put em on with contact cement so that if they fade it'll be easy to take off, clean up and redo..

[Paintman]

As a painter ive seen some creative ways to do decals and stripes main thing is how you prep surface> when doing the clear make sure to see that it is compatable to what ever finish is on your tank. IE you can put a urethane clear over a laquer or enamel base but you cant use a Laquer clear ovr the other 2 as it will cause it to lift the finish. if you shoot nice light coats and allow to tack a good amount of time you can build your top coat and then just buff and no one will be the wiser.
PS i just airbrush the stuff think ive breathed in to mnay fumes hope this helps
John

[prometheus578]

Crazy Painter... yes, I believe it was lacquer.
Read it in a hot rod magazine back in the '70's, and I'm lucky I remember anything from the '70's at all.

[manshack_one]

www.decalpaper.com

This stuff should work right? No Kinko's in town so I have to find DIY versions of everything.