How NOT to screw up a perfectly good paint job.

I have a tank that has had nice old nose art air brushed on it. I am having other body panels painted to match it. I am wondering if I should have the body shop put clear coat over that old air brushing or leave it alone. Suggestions anyone?

lstone wrote: I have a tank that has had nice old nose art air brushed on it. I am having other body panels painted to match it. I am wondering if I should have the body shop put clear coat over that old air brushing or leave it alone. Suggestions anyone?

Why do you have an "Old Nose" air brushed on your tank? Can you post a picture of it? I would love to see it.

Sorry, I had to think hard about this one. I guess you mean "Old Rose", is that correct? I sure there are many here with more expert advise, but I think it would be fine do clear coat it as long as you are careful when wet sanding the clear coat before the final buffing. I know you will find examples here of people clear coating after applying pin striping for example. ramtough_63 does a lot of air brushing. Hopefully he can chime in for you.

Let me clarify that. "Nose art" refers to WWII fighter planes and the graphics the pilots used paint on the "nose" of the plane. So anyway on the tank has some paint work that was done in years past and it is something I would like to preserve. I am wondering, if I attempt to put clear coat over it to make it a little nicer looking or if I shouldn't mess with it. I don't know what year it was done, but it is air brushed. That may give someone an idea of what type of paint it is and if I dare claer coat over it.

lstone wrote: Let me clarify that. "Nose art" refers to WWII fighter planes and the graphics the pilots used paint on the "nose" of the plane. So anyway on the tank has some paint work that was done in years past and it is something I would like to preserve. I am wondering, if I attempt to put clear coat over it to make it a little nicer looking or if I shouldn't mess with it. I don't know what year it was done, but it is air brushed. That may give someone an idea of what type of paint it is and if I dare claer coat over it.

Don't know the answer to your question but I do appreciate WWII nose art...I'd be tempted to keep it too.

lstone wrote: Let me clarify that. "Nose art" refers to WWII fighter planes and the graphics the pilots used paint on the "nose" of the plane. So anyway on the tank has some paint work that was done in years past and it is something I would like to preserve. I am wondering, if I attempt to put clear coat over it to make it a little nicer looking or if I shouldn't mess with it. I don't know what year it was done, but it is air brushed. That may give someone an idea of what type of paint it is and if I dare claer coat over it.

Got it! And after you clarified the term it seems may have herd that reference in documentaries before. But Anyhow, I understand your concern. I guess, paint /clear compatibility could also be an issue. Not sure. Still would love to see a photo of the art work and the bike as well.

with the new 2 part clears you can just about clear anything.
the trouble is adhesion.

It"s hard to say what they used to air brush it. if you can thin it you can use it to airbrush

with that said post a pic of whet you are working with.

You will have to scuff the tank for sure, here is where it gets tricky with unknown paint and not seeing what your artwork looks like.

you will have to remove any and all wax with a prekleen wax remover go easy to make sure it doesnt take your artwork off

scuff around all the art work with 800 grit I would then lighty go over the art work with 1000 or 1500 taking care not to disturb the look or sand through it

1 light coat of clear let it flash 1 medium coat. see what you have let it dry24-48 hours wet sand with 800 and reclear as normal

if the artwork is too unstable to sand with 1500 then omit sanding the artwork. and 2 light coats of clear letting it flash between coats and 1 medium coat.

i would think it's either laquer or 1 shot if it was done several years ago
while the possibilities are endless. Auto Air Createx Badger House of Kolor 1 shot dupont testors etc...

it's really easy dont let it intimidate you

I painted a tank with Tshirt paint it sat for 2 years I found it in the garage wiped it off an cleared it with a rattle can and it looked great for a couple years I let a buddy use it and he lost his bike (long story) as far as I know 8 years later it probably still looks good

I clear over murals, decals with no issues at all. The clear will likely make the art look better and will protect it for a long time to come

Thanks very much for the detailed responses.
I am going to have a professional do the painting but I wanted to make sure exactly how it should be done and not leave anything to chance. Your recommendations are very very helpful!
For those of you interested............ I will post pictures of my bike and the tank this weekend, so check back.
Thanks again for the advice.
I am new to the forum and a new (proud) KZ1000 owner, So I'm sure my first pictures wont be my last.

The mural work in the 70's and 80's was mainly done in one of a couple different types of paint. the first would be a lacquer(or more probably nitrocellulose lacquer), or secondly, an unhardened enamel thinned with mineral spirits or linseed oil(commonly associated with the brand One-shot) was widely used as well... recoat lifting and prep issues can be a factor for them both.

I would suggest avoiding 2 things on the art area,

1: oversanding.

even though you should get good mechanical adheasion on anything you paint, you will probably destroy the airbrush art if you agressively sand it. I would get as close to the artwork as possible with whatever you are prepping the rest of the tank with for clear(ie.: 800-1000 grit D.A. paper on an interface pad, and then finishing with a gray scotch-brite pad, in my opinion). Then I would just lightly go over it with a white or gold pad, carefully watching that it isn't taking off the old and probably very thin paint. I then use a clear adheasion promoter, such as a light coat of DuPont 222s to take care of clearcoat adheasion, but you should be OK without it.

2: precleaning.

If you are unsure of the stayfastness of the old paint, avoid thinners and reducers like the plague when it comes to whiping it down... I would stick to something far less agressive, such as a mixture of 4 parts water to 1 part rubbing alcohol, or maybe even aerosol glass cleaner, as to not "re-wet" the paint in question with solvent.

The rest of the tank could be precleaned with a regular wax and grease remover.

I'm sure that everyone has their own way, so I want to clarify that this is just how I would address this. I have had to do this on a few traditional hot rods, or "rat rods" if you will, to preserve old pinstripe art in the past. I've been met with good success every time but one.

Sorry for the novel, but I hope this helps... And I hope that you plan to have them use a quality 2 part urithane automotive grade clear to finish this off.

Matt

*edit: If you are having a shop do it for you, let them tell you how they want to do it and then see if it sounds right to you... When I painted professionally, that was one of my biggest peeves was listening to a novice customer tell me how their "buddy" would do it... Let the pros be the pros. Plus, if they screw it up, it's on them...

matt_finish +1

Thanks again for the continued responses about my paint job. Again Iam new to this so I hope I attached the file correctly for you to see them..
The second and third attch.s are close ups of some peripheral damage to the paint on the tank that I am hoping can be abated with out any distraction from the very cool shark someone put on the sides of this tank ( attch 1)
The base color appears to be Midnight Blue which I have now discovered is a factory color. I don't know if this is original paint but the other panels I have are also midnight blue. I have located Deltron DBC mixed in Kawasaki Midnight Blue but as I study up on this, it seems that the factory process was actually a layering of maybe silver, purple and then the midnight blue to get the depth and richness of color. At a 150.00 a pint that will add up fast, but Im thinking of repainting everything that is on the bike currently (attch 4) so I may make use of the silver and/or purple if it is recommended that this application get three colors.
Thoughts on Deltron and am I crazy for liking this paint job?????????