1979 Laverda 1200 Mirage green???

[Paul LeClair]

started on the paint for my 78 Kawasaki 650 SR project today while waiting for the 79 1200 paint job to cure enough to assemble on the bike.

for the 78 650 SR I am shooting water base product, HVLP gun, 1.3 tip, 23 psi gun inlet pressure. Amazing working with this water base stuff, the gun puts down a lot of solids quickly, very little overspray, and everything actually does clean up with water. Not sure how happy the girlfriend is going to be about the slight silver metallic sparkle now in the new granite kitchen sink, though....... If I had been smarter I would have cleaned the silver metallic in both sides of the sink, rather than just one, then at least both sides of the sink would match 8)

a few progress photos of the candy red metallic I am shooting. Grey high build primer, three coats of silver high metallic, three coats of red colour coat. I am letting the paint rest overnight, then I will wet sand the colour coat, then spray one clear coat with 0.4 micron silver metal flake, then two clear clear coats to bury the flake and give a nice glossy surface to wet sand/compound/polish in a week or so, not sure how long all this water base stuff takes to cure...

Paul LeClair

 

[Spub]

Paul: I had a 1979 SR650 that I sold about 5 years ago. Well, I in fact bought it for my son, but truth be told, I was the one who ended up riding it the most. It was stock purple-ish blue, and I knew I would never be able to come close to matching the color, so I just polished the paint best I could and rode it. I loved that bike. 650 is a "tweener" size, but it felt pretty good. A bit more substantial than a 500, but smaller and a bit more manuverable than full on 750 (though it certainly pulled more like a 750 than a 500). 

 

[Paul LeClair]

Paul: I had a 1979 SR650 that I sold about 5 years ago. Well, I in fact bought it for my son, but truth be told, I was the one who ended up riding it the most. It was stock purple-ish blue, and I knew I would never be able to come close to matching the color, so I just polished the paint best I could and rode it. I loved that bike. 650 is a "tweener" size, but it felt pretty good. A bit more substantial than a 500, but smaller and a bit more manuverable than full on 750 (though it certainly pulled more like a 750 than a 500).   

I bought a 1978 Kawasaki KZ 650 SR brand new in 1978 and did a lap of the North American continent on it before it had to be sold to satisfy the University tuition gods.....

I have totally rebuilt this one from the bare frame and bare crank, all the wear parts are brand new, and all that is left to do is the paint. I doubt I wil get all that  close a match to the 1978 metallic red, but I will do the best I can. Polishing out the stock paint wasn't an option, it was all sun faded down through the red into the silver metallic, and through that as well. Nothing left to polish, unfortunately. This is a particularly stupid rebuild project, no way to get the money "invested" back out, I just did it for myself. The 650's with their plain bearings are a much more robust motor than the Kawa 900/1000 motors that I used to drag race. Anyway, this will probably only get occassional use, the fun has been mainly in the project itself, so far at least.

Paul LeClair

 

[Grant]

I thought it was for your son.       

 

[Paul LeClair]

I thought it was for your son.       

guess who wound up doing most of the work.......

Paul LeClair

 

[Spub]

Perhaps every Kawi 650 SR ever sold was bought for someone's "son", but we all know who they really are for.......

 

[Paul LeClair]

a bit of a setback on painting the Kawa 650, went to sand the colour coat for clear, found some adhesion issues from incompatible products apparently, and wound up stripping everything back to bare metal and bare plastic.......... Those of you who have done some painting will understand how much work is conveyed by that single sentence The paint supplier had a VERY unhappy customer to deal with earlier today!

I just came in from the garage from spraying the first coat of primer on the bare metal, and adhesion promoter on the plastic sidecovers. As the paint supplier has "offered" to replace the paint wasted, I am now considering my colour options once again, I didn't like how the candy apple red metallic was turning out anyways  :-\

Paul LeClair

 

[lemonjelly]

I m gonna top myself Paul

Shaun

 

[Paul LeClair]

the paint supplier admitted to selling me incompatible products, and provded "no charge" fresh primer, and colour. If they had any class at all they would have compensated me for all the extra work and wasted time, but noooooooo.....

after taking everything back to bare metal/plastic yesterday, I etch primed/sprayed plastic adhesion promoter/shot first coat of high build primer last night. Unfortuantely I had to redo all the dent repair on the tank today as stripping the tank damaged the previously completed bodywork, so I redid the dent repairs and resprayed high build primer this afternoon on the tank, waiting for the that to flash off so I can fine sand with 600 grit, make sure the dent repairs are pefect, and once perfect, get ready to spray colour and clear (but likely not until Saturday now).

this time around I have gone for the brightest non metallic red I could find from the colour wheel, and I am debating which metal flake to add into the clear - fine silver metallic, or fine silver prismatic, or fine gold metallic, or fine gold prismatic, or some combination thereof.....

Paul LeClair

 

[Dellortoman]

Paul, I have an old Kawasaki Z1300 that needs a paint job. Can I send the tank and body parts to you. You're more of a perfectionist than any commercial painter I know. 

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Paul LeClair]

Hi Cam and all

Cam, I am painting again today for hopefully my very last day, then I am tearing down my homebuilt temporary paint booth, so you are probably out of luck....

today I am just shooting clear with half prismatic and half silver flakes on my 78 Kawasaki 650 SR, then I will get to wet sanding/compounding/mirror polishing everything, then assemble both the Kawa and the Laverda in the next week or so with their respective freshly painted bodywork. I'll post a few photos when completed.....

Paul LeClair

 

[Paul LeClair]

I just finished polishing out the fresh red paint on my 78 KZ 650 SR project. I went with the brightest red from the colour palette I could find, then sprayed the clear with half .004 micron silver flake and half .004 mircron prismatic flake, then a few more coats of clear clear.

the photos really don't capture the 70's glitter, unfortunately. The clear polished out like mirror glass, gorgeous. I have had to do a few touch ups on the 79 1200 Laverda parts, including stripping the damn tank back to bare metal and redoing it completely. I just finished that on Friday. After I wet sand it and polish it out I'll post a few photos of the Laverda paint in a couple of days.

Paul LeClair

 

[motoddrob]

Nice job Paul, is the pin stripping tape or did you mask and sprayed?  Redo the 1200 tank??? it was looking pretty good in the fotos, what happened?
Later in the year I'll be painting the Motodd frame and highlights in the carbon tank and panels. Toying with the idea of using some sort of pearl/flake too.
Might have to tap your brains about methods when I get closer to that operation.

 

[Paul LeClair]

Hi Rob

pin striping is 2 mil cast vinyl from  www.speedstripes.com  in ultra metallic silver. It comes with a backing over the adhesive which you peel off, place the stripe, then peel a really thin clear coat layer off the stripe once in place. Really really thin. I am not certain of final placement, and want to be able to remove them so I didn't want to clear over them. Would be easy to do a final clear over them, they are so thin I bet one coat of clear would bury them smooth. The multi line dual stripe is part #25, 5/16 inch, and the borad 2 inch stripe is part #132. They have a huge range of colours and combinations, there is a wholesaler local to me in Calgary who carries a huge stock, Victory Vinyl. Problem is they come in 75 foot roles, so everything I own is likely going to end up with ulta metallic silver stripes....

what happened to the 1200 tank? Well, I had the same problem with the primer on the 1200 tank that I had with all the 650 stuff, and after it was completely finished and sat for a couple of days after I polished it and striped it, the primer under all that paint and clear cracked, and the crack came all the way to the surface through the clear, and cracked all the way across the top of the tank... :'( I was able to peel all the clear and paint off the tank in big sheets, then took the tank back to bare metal, redid all the bodywork, and started over. I had to get a fresh batch of orchid green metallic mixed (free of course), use a different primer, etc. A huge job, but now I have painted the 650 stuff twice, and the 1200 Laverda tank twice, and the Laverda tank came out even better this time around. I haven't striped it yet, but my girlfriend reminded me I did the final paint on it on Thursday, not Friday, so I just spent a couple of hours wet sanding/compounding/polishing, so here is a couple of photos from a few minutes ago out on my back deck sparkling in the late evening sun.....

I guess if something is worth doing well once, it must be worth doing even better the second time..... :-\ : 8)

Paul LeClair

 

[3patC]

You've got more patience than I have Paul, thats for sure.

 

[Paul LeClair]

here's the finished 79 Laverda 1200 Mirage paintwork, my 2011 interpretation.....

I just need to let the paint "rest" for a few days now, baking in the sun if possible, then I can fit the fuel taps and put the bike together.

a couple of photos of the (hopefully this time) finished product.

Paul LeClair

 

[Paul LeClair]

did I say let the paint rest for a few days....hah! Beautiful day here today, finally reached 20 Celsius, grass has turned green and my apple trees are in bloom, so went ahead and put the 79 1200 together.

a couple of photos of the finished product (although the photos just don't do the paint any justice), and my faithful hound fiercely guarding the Laverda from the front yard

this is the first time the 79 1200 has been started this year, my god what a sound...... I tend to forget over our long long winters what a brute this thing is

Paul LeClair

 

[spaynenda]

Lookin' good, Paul. How satisfying it must be after all the time and effort.

 

[Davo]

Looks like camo paint in the 1st photo. Blends well with the lawn and the road. A cunning method of escaping detection by the traffic cops perhaps?

Looks great in the later photos when I can see it 

 

[Paul LeClair]

Looks like camo paint in the 1st photo. Blends well with the lawn and the road. A cunning method of escaping detection by the traffic cops perhaps?

Looks great in the later photos when I can see it 

it is a "Mirage" after all..........

Paul LeClair