JH Choppers, 2006 FXSTI EFI Chopper Project, Paint Process

Welcome to the JH Choppers 2006 FXSTI EFI Chopper Project Page.

With the Paint Preparation complete, its time for Primer, Primer Sealer, Base Coat, Flames, Kandy, Pearl, Pin Stripe and Clear Coat.

Metal Epoxy Primer: 3 Wets Coats of KD2000 are applied to the Tank, Rear Fender and Front Fender. It provides a tenacious adhesion, hi-build, excellent durability, and water and corrosion resistance. This will be wet sanded with a guide coat for a smooth finish.

Guide Coat: Apply a guide coat using a rattle can of black. The black contrasting color of the guide coat will remain in pits and scratches and become a guide telling you how much sanding is required to smooth out the KD2000. We removed the guide coat with 500grit and a few more sanding strokes before moving on.

Sealer, Base and Clear: 2 coats of Black Sealer is applied to separate the base coat from the primary and metal glaze. 3 coats of Base Black is applied over the Sealer followed with 3 coats of Clear. The clear is needed to protect the Base coats for artwork tapeouts and blends during the masking phase when the flames are laid out.

Wet Sand and tape out flames: The intercoat clear is wet sanded with 600 grit, this allows the next level to bond. Fine line 1/8 tape is used to layout the flames, the tape can be lifted up and moved until the desired looked is achieved.

Mask and Cut out the flames: Large masking is applied over the fine line tape and smoothed with a plastic squeegee. A new raiser blade is used to cut the masking on the fine line tape. The masking is removed and flames begin to take shape.

Marballize the flames: Marballizer is applied on one part at a time, you only have about 20 - 60 seconds to apply Saran Wrap before the marballizer dries. The Saran Wrap is placed onto the wet marballizer for a very cool effect.

Candy Cobalt Blue Flames Tips: Candy Cobalt Blue is air brushed onto the flame tips. Each pass makes the blue darker and darker. This is feathered out so the tips are almost black at the ends to match the base coat. This step adds depth to the flames.

The Unmasking: The masking is removed to reveal the black base coat. Now the flame Candy Cobalt Blue shows off its many colors.

Red Striping: A test panel is used to finalize the color of pin stripe. Both blue and red are tested with red being the winner. This makes the flames jump and the tips bleed. A couple more coats of clear and the sheet metal will be done!

Details in Pearl: A small JH Choppers Logo is cut out on vinyl masking film with Roland CX24 then weeded out. Backing transfer pager is used to place the logo onto the rear fender. A little pearl is mixed with SG100 inner coat clear and sprayed onto the rear fender. The masking is removed and the JH Choppers Logo is now ghosted into the paint.

Hard Clear Coat: The last stage is to apply a hard catalyzed clear coat. The first coat is applied a little dry to provide adhesion to the base layers. Then 3 wet coats are shot building up the clear to add depth and provide a hard top coat protecting the paint. Any small dust particles left in the clear can be removed with rubbing compounds and a high speed buffer.

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