Hello all, my first post here on this forum. I stumbled it across it almost by accident a few nights ago and registered/activated shortly after - looks to be a great source for tips.
Anyways, I have a 1995 Suzuki Intruder that I am going to be repainting this winter. I put the bike away last weekend, and took the tank, fenders, and side covers off. I went to school a couple years ago for sign painting / airbrushing / pinstriping, etc. so I have some background in that. I currently work in a sign & truck lettering shop and I love it. I have not done a full paint job, however. I have experience airbrushing, but nothing on a large scale yet (unfortunately). I've used basically only One Shot enamel paint when airbrushing. The factory paint on my bike is called "candy president maroon" I believe, color code 20F.
The bike got backed into by a dump truck this spring, giving it some dings/scrapes on the tank, and a couple small ones on the fenders. Nothing major, and I am planning on bondo-filling them. I am going to be using my bike sort of as a showpiece for my own work, though it isn't going to be anything unreal. I am going to be leaving the sides of the tank maroon, while wrapping a thick black stripe up the middle, coming around the front of the tank and down under the sides (almost making the maroon on the sides into a panel). I am going to be doing a gold leaf (regular or variegated) stripe, about 1/8" or 3/16" separating the two colors. I would like to do something neat inside the black... maybe a marble look or just something subtle, but unique - not quite sure yet (ideas?). I will be airbrushing sort of a "ghost" Suzuki lettering onto the maroon on the sides, so it's subtle. Planning on hitting the top left of the mask with a dark/black/shadow color to make it look recessed into the tank somewhat. The fenders will be more simple - just shot maroon with a black stripe up the middle, with the gold stripe dividing them.
So, I've got the ideas, but now I need your help. I have not actually shot paint onto a tank as a basecoat or anything yet. I am planning on buying a touch-up gun to do it with, and I'd like some advice as to what to buy (and where). I've got a Paasche airbrush, with a good airbrush compressor, and we also have a large compressor in the garage that we use to power our air tools, etc. I am assuming the larger one would be better one? I don't want to run the airbrush one into the ground. There is a water trap on the large one as well. I don't think I'll be doing the clearcoat myself... I'll probably bring the parts down to a body shop and get that done.
Sorry for the long post, and I appreciate it if you're still with me thus far! I think I'll be able to shoot the basecoat down myself okay. I'm wondering what the best gameplan would be in terms of which color to shoot first, when to lay the goldleaf, etc. I know airbrushing is best done when the basecoat is still tacky, but I'm not sure how it'd work in this case.
Thanks for reading and I appreciate any help in advance. Here's a picture of the bike I'll be doing the work one (getting overhauled with some new parts this winter)...
Alex B
Anyways, I have a 1995 Suzuki Intruder that I am going to be repainting this winter. I put the bike away last weekend, and took the tank, fenders, and side covers off. I went to school a couple years ago for sign painting / airbrushing / pinstriping, etc. so I have some background in that. I currently work in a sign & truck lettering shop and I love it. I have not done a full paint job, however. I have experience airbrushing, but nothing on a large scale yet (unfortunately). I've used basically only One Shot enamel paint when airbrushing. The factory paint on my bike is called "candy president maroon" I believe, color code 20F.
The bike got backed into by a dump truck this spring, giving it some dings/scrapes on the tank, and a couple small ones on the fenders. Nothing major, and I am planning on bondo-filling them. I am going to be using my bike sort of as a showpiece for my own work, though it isn't going to be anything unreal. I am going to be leaving the sides of the tank maroon, while wrapping a thick black stripe up the middle, coming around the front of the tank and down under the sides (almost making the maroon on the sides into a panel). I am going to be doing a gold leaf (regular or variegated) stripe, about 1/8" or 3/16" separating the two colors. I would like to do something neat inside the black... maybe a marble look or just something subtle, but unique - not quite sure yet (ideas?). I will be airbrushing sort of a "ghost" Suzuki lettering onto the maroon on the sides, so it's subtle. Planning on hitting the top left of the mask with a dark/black/shadow color to make it look recessed into the tank somewhat. The fenders will be more simple - just shot maroon with a black stripe up the middle, with the gold stripe dividing them.
So, I've got the ideas, but now I need your help. I have not actually shot paint onto a tank as a basecoat or anything yet. I am planning on buying a touch-up gun to do it with, and I'd like some advice as to what to buy (and where). I've got a Paasche airbrush, with a good airbrush compressor, and we also have a large compressor in the garage that we use to power our air tools, etc. I am assuming the larger one would be better one? I don't want to run the airbrush one into the ground. There is a water trap on the large one as well. I don't think I'll be doing the clearcoat myself... I'll probably bring the parts down to a body shop and get that done.
Sorry for the long post, and I appreciate it if you're still with me thus far! I think I'll be able to shoot the basecoat down myself okay. I'm wondering what the best gameplan would be in terms of which color to shoot first, when to lay the goldleaf, etc. I know airbrushing is best done when the basecoat is still tacky, but I'm not sure how it'd work in this case.
Thanks for reading and I appreciate any help in advance. Here's a picture of the bike I'll be doing the work one (getting overhauled with some new parts this winter)...
Alex B