Anthony's Alien Tank Is taking Shape....

This brandy-new alien tank was sent to me from Anthony in Maine, along with some pics of how he wants this black/grey/silver design to look.  Well, the painting and airbrushing has been completed and it's readay for clearcoating.

Just Another Big Ole Roll of Fine-Line Tape

This is a brandy-new alien tank sent to me by Anthony... gonna be all done in silver, black & gray.  I love this style but NOTHING happens until the tape-out is designed and laid out

Triumph Manx Tank

Just completed this tank for a local young man building a 1970's Triumph. These are also the side-covers done with a stencil laser-cut by my local graphics arts shop.

Flaky Golden Goodness

Cool little tank sent to me by Anthony in Seattle. The poor little abused tank had lots-o-dents and required lots-o-bodywork... much of it very subtle. But now it's all straightened up and wearing HOK Zenith Gold, HOK Gold Mini-Flake, HOK Kandy Pagan Gold and HOK intercoat clear. Now it's time for final clearcoating, wet-sanding and buffing before heading back to the Pacific Northwest to be installed on Anthony's Panhead chop.

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Beginnings of a custom-painted alien tank

This tank was sent to me from Anthony in Maine... we have an excellent asymmetrical paneled design planned to be rendered from silver, black and black candy!

Triumph Boardtraker parts completed

This bike is a real work of art... much of it hand-built by its owner.  It's a 70's Triumph built into a boardtracker complete with a leaf-spring front end.  He hand-fabbed these gas tanks... which straddle the cross bar and hang super-low... and the cylindrical oil tank!  Top-notch fab work and I put a top effort into the subdued yet ridiculously glossy paint.  I'm looking forward to pics of this bike re-assembled.

Paint Buffing 101

Lots of guys are always asking about wet-sanding & buffing the clearcoat over top of paint. Drew sent me such a question yesterday and I just happened to be down in my paint-shop buffing these custom-made triumph tanks... so I shot a pic of what I was doing.

In the foreground two flexible sanding pads... these happen to have 2500-grit and 3000-grit. When I wet-sand, I have just straight water in the Magic Orange Bucket, dip the paper/pad into the bucket every 10 seconds or so, and just sand until the surface is flat and shows no orange-peel (the clearcoat on these tanks flowed out beautifully so I was able to start with 2500-grit... typically the process begins with 2000-grit, 1500-grit or even 1000-grit). I wet-sand and wipe down dry continually to check progress.

Once I'm through 3000-grit, I go to the buffer. This is my high-end Porter-Cable detailing buffer that I've used the past 2-3 years... before that I used a series of of little cheapie detailing buffers rom the auto-parts store and they do a fine job. I like using a wool buffing bonnet... but I am going to test-drive a foam pad here pretty soon on something of my own and see how it cuts. I love the Meguiar's 105 Ultra-Cut Compound... does an incredible job.

Just thought that I'd share this pic of the real "glamour" side of being a rock-star custom painter (lol)... yeah, this is some of the most boring and tedious stuff. I have a stereo and a TV behind me (so I am not overly distracted while working) to keep me amused for the endless wet-sanding and buffing process.