Manic Monday....

It actually started on Sunday .

Saturday came and went like a hurricane . A tornado of empty crisp bags in the school playground .
Didn't manage anything constructive with the bike job , but , did pick up the wheels .
So Sunday . fairly early AM , where I'd normally be going out for a spin , I went to my mum's .

Just looking at this pic . As a side note my dad lives in that plant . Since he died . It would have been his birthday tomorrow . ( 12 /9/27)
My mum said he'd go mad if he could see the state of the garage , what with the ( hastily constructed ) spray booth , and the pile of bikes , and .....
Anyway .....

I took this pic starting out with some grey primer .
I'll back up a touch .There's a story . As per ....

I was down in Stoke a few weeks back . I got the paint there from an auto spray mix place , near to where I was working . Dead helpful . Indulged me finding a fairly correct colour . They didnt have ' 1987 Muddyfox pearl white ' in stock . Hmm
The guy mixed me up a rattle can of a Yamaha finish . Er..... Crystal white . maybe .
 He said , though , I HAD to use WHITE primer . He said it like that . Capitalised . Thing was though , they had none in . Neither did his mate " up the road , me duck "
I picked up a can of grey , filler primer , and he went on to say it HAD to be white , as the ( maybe ) crystal white was ' translucent ' , and it would affect the finish , by showing through . I was listening , but I went on to explain , I'd put a coat of grey on , then the white . You can see where you've done , see ?
I've done this before .

He said " any " generic car shop white primer would do . I said i'd deffo get some locally .

So , I did , from our local auto paint mix specialist , as it happens .


So , FFWD >>>>>.
Make that high pitched ,squeaky scrambled sound, if you wish , for effect .

I turn the heater on in the booth , and it quickly warms the space . It was already very warm , to be honest .
I hang up the frame , and separately , the fork using a strong tie -wire system . This works quite well , as you can get all round without touching .
I faff around a little , to get the frame warmed , too , using the time to polish up some trinkets .

And now I'm ready . I first apply the grey . It goes on really nice .

And relax . Probably had a brew , or something . Or some more polishing , but either way , the primer had a good 20-25 mins to dry in a v. warm place .

So now for a coat of white . It went on lovely also . I had all about done the whole frame , when I noticed classic paint cracking . I'll just point out I have sprayed loads and loads of bikes , and bits ,over many years , since childhood . Really .
First one I did was a Chopper in the 70s .
Over the years I've had mixed results . Sometimes I'm happy just to quickly flash over . That old adage about the time preparing is proportionate to the finish , is spot on . I've had ' reactions ' too , with different paints , for instance .
Back to the cracking . I can actually see it getting worse , but not all over . Just the odd bit . A prominent bit on the toptube . I instantly stop painting , and do the obvious thing these days . Google a solution .

Mum offers to make a butty and I take it as a good opportunity to chill .
I'm really thinking that I'm going to have to strip it right back again . I dont really have the time .

I browse a few painting forums , and it appears to be very common . One possible is that the grey hasn't yet fully dried , and its solvents are still bleeding out , and this is causing the white to crack . I'm not convinced . It was plenty dry enough .
The other is a simple ' different brands of paints + different solvents =reaction ' . I'm more inclined to think that was the issue , but I dunno . It was a ' filler primer ' , and one guy said that can be dodgy sometimes .

So , I had a good 45 mins off , and all the time it was in the hot booth , so it's proper dry again . Using a v.fine ( 1200 ) paper , I sanded out the crazy bits and wiped it over again , and tack ragged it .
 I went over everything again with more white primer , and it was OK .
Again , I dunno . The spray gods were favourable .

I let this have another good half hour . More polishing . My Dia Compe cantis are per-ching.
I was concerned about applying the top colour coat , as the white primer underneath was the odd brand out. Everything , the grey, the top , and the lacquer , were all the same brand .
But I did it anyway .

It went on real nice , with no issues at all . The only thing was , where It had crazy cracked a bit , and I'd re-rubbed it etc , I could kinda see . It's just not absolutely cock -on . Ahk , that said , you'd have to reeeeeally look . So , whatever .
A bit later I lacquered it over . Looks good .

You'll have to wait for some pix though , cos I did nt take any .

Thing is , I mentally justified it's lack of absolute perfection . They were never that well painted from new . I'm convinced they were so behind getting the bikes out of the factory , they were assembling them with ' soft ' paint . Mine had a very definite ring around the seattube  where the front mech clamped . Back in the day , my original one looked very very tatty in no time at all , with some bad stone chipping with very poor paint adhesion . I sprayed it twice in 2 yrs. I bet the first time it was less than a year old .
My mind's racing ....
First time , I did it yellow frame , with black forks , as a nod to the much drooled over '88 Diamond Back Arrival . Next up , I did it a custom fade job in a one -off mixed, purple and turquoise . Both time's I did graphics with letraset .

They were simple times .

Today , foam grips arrive by special delivery . Although , technically , that was now yesterday ....

It's just gone midnight . Dad's birthday . Dont tell him about that bloody garage ......