Painting Gold

[rekievit]

Hey everyone,
I have a midnight special and am in the process of painting the parts that need it, which is basically all of them. I have done a pretty good job of the exhaust and engine, but now I am getting to the gold.
I have searched the forum and there is a lot of good info on ways to this but I was wondering if anyone had tried the dupli color spray cans found in any autoparts store that are the metallic gold color.
I am positive that they will not give near as nice of a result as plating or chroming. I do not have the money right now for them.
But has anyone tried the spray can approach? How did it come out? Any tips? Any other ideas?

[DiverRay]

I have been looking at the gold paint for my midnight. I found a match with the wheels in a Dupont paint, but have yet to look for the "plated" part replacement. If you do use a rattle can, have someone at a local body shop give it a clear coat when you are done. If he uses the two part Urathane(sp?) clear, it will hold up to anything. You should be able to have them spray a few small parts for a sixpack, as they can do it while they are doing a car! JAT

[rekievit]

Clear Coat

I've seen a clear coat spray can as well, does anyone know if that is similar to the urethane applied by auto painters you are referring to?

[Bigfoot]

I have tried some of the cans of spray gold and chrome with very disappointing results. Not even close to the way the cap looks let alone the original plating. Maybe I am doing something wrong, but I don't think so.

[webbcraft2150]

Find an outfit in your area that does plastic plating for care dealers. These would be the guys that take a "chrome" car emblem and make gold. There are some outfits you can send your plastic parts to and they will plate them in either chrome or gold. Goggle "plastic plating".

[rekievit]

Thanks for the ideas,
Would the plastic plating hold up on things like the carbs where this is some heat? Or the grab bar which is metal? I'm sure it would do well on the airbox which is already plastic.

[webbcraft2150]

Plastic plating ain't gonna hold up on carbs or other high heat areas. The carb bodies could be gold anodized as well as the grab rail.

[rekievit]

Thanks for the advice, I figured the plastic wouldn't hold up there, might be good for the airbox though.
Any idea how much that runs? Anyone have it done before?
How have any of you midnight owners redone the gold parts?

[cajun31]

I have not tried this, however for the cost I thought it might be the closest thing out there.

http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/plugnplate.htm

[DiverRay]

rekievit wrote:

Thanks for the advice, I figured the plastic wouldn't hold up there, might be good for the airbox though.

The airbox is plastic, but the "gold" is plated on four metal parts attached too the airbox. If you look on the inside, you will see the single point on each part that goes through the box.

[xsilerating]

Hey rekievit;

I've tried the Duplicolour rattle can gold colour - as well as others - and, the results were disappointing.

However, I remember a thread about a year ago (unfortunately, don't remember the exact one) where photo's or repainted bikes were displayed (may be one of the bikes and babes threads???) .

I remember one of the bikes pictured, a midnight special with the gold repainted and, it looked great. What really caught my attention, though, was that he apparently used a gold, rattle can paint from... Wal Mart .

If anyone out there remembers this thread or, the XS'er who did the paint job, maybe you could refresh our memory .

I haven't gotten around to repainting the gold parts on my MNS yet and, have forgotten to check for the paint at Wally Mart (don't go there very often).

There are also 2 or 3 other brands that I want to try and, if/when I do, should the results be positive, I'll post my findings .

Hope this helps, for what it's worth.

[btdtdan]

Gold parts

I redid some emblems a few years ago with Gold paint pen that I found at Michaels. It had about a 1/4 wide tip with beveled edges. Went on pretty nice. Then I clear coated them and they looked PDG. Probably most art/craft type stores will have those paint pens. As I recall they had two different colors of Gold. You decide.
Dan

[Do Lee]

I've been talking to one of the powder coaters in town on the gold parts for the midnight specials. He suggest that the gold should be coated with the gold candy coat to give it that gold crome look, also he can make the exhaust look like the black crome. He did tell me that the exhaust might no hold up to the heat. If you want to see some of his work go to
www.grimmbrotherspowdercoating.com

I'm waiting for him to get his larger oven to do the wheels, exhausts, frames and other parts. Will post pics when I get my parts finished.

[rekievit]

Thanks for more info.
I saw some gold metallic paint at walmart but can't remember the brand.
If anyone finds that thread please post it, i looked but no luck.
I might give it a go soon and will post my photos as well.
Thanks again for the replies.