Wet Paint - do not touch!

My skills at painting start and end with my ability to spill some colored liquid onto the walls of a house with a 6 inch brush (or broom).  Painting is NOT what I am good at, and although there are only 5 parts that need to be painted (apart from the frame), they will either make or break the project in terms of aesthetics.  So I wisely decided that I would find the best bike painter in town and pay him whatever he wanted to do a good job on those 5 bits.

BMW are well-known for their paint quality.  Especially the pin-striping on the tank and fenders.  These were hand painted at the factory using a small group of specialist artists whose only job was pin-striping.  It was so important that each bike was a separate project and the artist actually signed his or her work under the tank!  BMW briefly experimented with stick-on pin-striping.  No-one would buy the bikes and BMW owners howled so loudly in protest, the artists were re-hired after a few months and the hand painting tradition continued.  So, it was important to me that the paint job was the best it could be.

here are the signatures from the two tanks I have


Anyway... guess what?...

The best place in town is Ron's Auto Body & Paint.  All the best custom bikes seem to be done there, so he was "da kine" - the guy to go to.  I turn up with my fenders, side covers and tank while he is in the throes of doing a quote on a beautiful custom Harley (not my cup of tea, but beautiful nonetheless).  I wait patiently - its one of those rare sunny days in Hilo so I'm baking out there waiting on the shop's apron.  Finally, he finishes with the previous customer, and its my turn.

And he makes all the excuses under the sun NOT to take the job!  I had a fat roll of money in my pocket and would have paid him anything he asked.  I dunno whether its because it wasn't a Harley, or I looked poor, or it was a task somehow beneath him... At first I was embarrassed, then miffed, and finally offended.  What a bum!

But it was a turning point for me as well.  When I first started, my plan was to do the things I could, and take anything that was too hard to an expert.  That way I figured I could have some limited involvement in the restoration but end up with a good professional job at the end.  This was not going to happen. There are no bike mechanics on this island who want to work on vintage BMW's, and now even the painter won't paint the panels for me!  This project turned into something where I wanted to do as MUCH as possible myself, rather than the least I could get away with.  I was going to be riding something where every bolt, screw, adjustment, washer, torque setting would be my own doing!  If/when something fails, falls off or whatever, it was gonna be my own damn fault...

Back to painting motorcycles.  This was definitely something I was not good at doing.  I painted the tank on my first motorcycle (a 1974 Honda CB250) for no good reason and it was not pretty.  By the time I was in my late 20's, I just did not bother anymore.  Below is a picture of my XT500 Yamaha cafe racer project (peeking out behind the Suzuki GS1000 Cooley special).  Notice the tank only has primer on it...

My impression of painting was that to do a good job required 99% preparation and that actually applying the paint was only 1% of the job.  This is about right, except my technician Michelle pointed out that the after-paint rubbing, buffing and finishing actually comprised about 1/2 the job.  WTF is rubbing and buffing?  Back to the internet, and sure enough, once painted, you need to methodically and carefully rub back the paint with fine sandpaper, take out all the lumps and bumps, then buff it with a buffing compound.  I never knew that! - epiphany!

So I curb my natural impatience and desire for instant results, spend an awful lot of time pre-sanding, puttying, smoothing and other general preparation activities.  Then, when I was satisfied all was good, apply paint (5 coats) and then clear finish (another 4-5 coats) and wait to rub and buff the panels.  But I did not wait long enough...

It turns out the base paint I used was slow drying.  That's good because it gives the paint time to slump down and produce a smoother finish.  The clear coat I used was fast drying.  That's also good because that gives dust etc less time to fall onto the completed job and ruin it.  BUT...  When it appeared to be dry, the base coat was still malleable.  I picked up the pieces to admire my work and start rubbing.  It was easily touch dry, the instructions on the clear coat can said it was ready to rub down, but the base coat was still wet.  Everywhere I touched ended up with ugly and deep fingerprint impressions.  Shit! - gotta do it again!

And I did...  The end result was not perfect but "ok".  I made one concession however.  The only other guy on the island crazy enough to play with these bikes had a spare tank with original paint.  The tank was not perfect - has scratches, a little ding and some paint wear (he called this "patina") but absolutely original.  That's a rare thing.  40 years is a long time for a motorbike tank to survive with original paint. And then I manage to buy another tank for $80 - the value of the gas cap alone (they are worth $100!). This one definitely needs repainting. So now I have the best of both worlds - an original tank which I shall wrap in cotton wool and hermetically seal in a vault, and an every-day riding tank that I can repaint but not worry too much if it gets damaged.  On special days, I can install the original tank...

So the lesson I learned here?  Wait another day before touching wet paint!  Patience saves a lot of work.