Between Ninja con this past weekend and a few career changes, my scooter has unfortunately been pushed to the side. I wanted to update you on the progress of the painting and the steps that I've taken. I'm almost finished with the entire body of the scooter, with a few mess ups here and there. Hopefully you can learn from my mistakes. This post is going to focus on the prep work before the paint work. This is the messiest and most exhausting part of the process, but gives you the greatest pay off in the end. I'll dive right into it:
Removing the parts: I know that this seems like a no-brainer, but it was actually harder than I thought it would be. Scooter parts are layered on each other to provide a sleeker put together look. Be very careful as to what you remove, you would do yourself a favor if you can get yourself an extra hand. The better of a handle you have on the parts, the less likely you will spread or make any new crack to the body. Another thing that you need to be careful about is grease and dirt build up. It can easily deceive you that the part is stuck to something or needs extra force to pry. I know this was especially a problem on the bottom part of my bike. Some cases, you will also go through corroding issues where bolts have completely locked in to the bike and won't release the body part due to rust. I had this happen to the fender, and I was able to get it free with the handy use of my chisel and a hammer. I had to sacrifice the bolt because of it, fortunately it was a standard bolt.
Speaking of bolts, keep your excess smaller parts in a safe place. I simply put mine in a plastic cup off to the side. You can also keep track of all of the bolts with your mechanic manual, allowing you to put the pieces back in the right place.
Evaluating the damage: Once you have everything off, you'll have to take a look at what work needs to be done. You might have some major gashes and scratches, or you might find plenty of cracks in your body. One thing that I wish I knew before the project was to work on the parts with the worse damage first. You really want to make sure that the extra bonding bits dry well and that you give yourself plenty of time to sand them down. I'll touch more on this later on.
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| She's a natural red head! |
I found the chisel really useful for dried on gunk. The scooters emblems were these really thick resin stickers that were painted over (I found out that Lucky was originally red!) by the blue coat that was over the scooter. The previous owner also kept the scooter together with some duct tape. The chisel really helped to get these things off of the scooter without any extra damage. It was a very slow process, but the results were a smooth surface without any buildup.
Rough sand: Take that 60 or 80 grit and get rid of all the major gashes you might have. This was such a life saver for the bottom of the scooter and the edges that looked like they were gashed when the bike dropped. Be careful around parts that have a crack in them, you might want to wait before you file those down in case all that you need is filler or a patch to even it out. Also be weary of sanding a surface to thin, if a gash is very deep and on the thin side, reach for the filler first.
Filler and patching: These will be one of a few steps that you will need to be very patient with. The drier the epoxy bond is, the easier it is to work with. It also gives you a smoother surface when you wet sand it to work with. I like to give my time to set at the very least half the day, but I would recommend up to 24 hours.
When laying out your patching, try to find the balance between thick and thin. It just creates a better seal. Too think will make the patch brittle, and too thick will destroy its flexibility. I think another great tip I learned is to give yourself a 5 minute working time frame with the epoxy, if you have to work in smaller sections do so. It will give you less to sand in the finished product.
Final wet sand: When everything has dried, start giving it the final sand with the finer grit sandpapers. It also helps immensely to get yourself a wet sandpaper. Working a little water on the surface with the sandpaper allows you to see all the details and any minor scratches you might not have caught. When your sure your finished (or absolutely tired) give yourself a few hours to let the left of residue dry and wipe the surface with a dry paper towel.
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| Some painting preview |
- Always double check your cracks which you filled in case of some minor spider cracks you missed.
- I can't reiterate enough to be patient with the chisel. Watch some Netflix if you have to.
- You might have to fine sand more than once, or go back and repeat steps to get the desired smoothness.
- Make a day out of the epoxy. Dust and glue are a terrible combination.
- Pace yourself. It's so easy to get caught up in wanting to finish the project. But the slower you are, the more aware you'll be of detail.
I think that this is all that I can really say about the prep process. Next we'll get to move onward to the painting! Thank you for joining me on this journey, hopefully this will help some of you other painting armatures like me out there.
Cheers!
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