TOPIC:

Nice work as ever Howard, you are definitely "all over" this 3D printing alchemy 

3D printing is the future of making repro/prototype plastic and metal parts.

BTW: Am i color blind or did i miss something or is it a site bug? Someone/something changed  Wookie58  and  SWest  profil about the ranking status and attributs?!?!


 

Scirocco wrote:

3D printing is the future of making repro/prototype plastic and metal parts.

BTW: Am i color blind or did i miss something or is it a site bug? Someone/something changed  Wookie58  and  SWest  profil about the ranking status and attributs?!?!


 

 

Swest has stepped back  from moderating duties.. We thank him for his contributions and support.
Wookie  has agreed to help us out and we look forward to having him as  a mod. 
With Wookie  based in the UK we have a mod who will be available while we here in the states are still sleeping
Please join me in thanking swest  for his help over the years
And welcome Wookie to our Moderator staff
Thanks Guys
Dave

Off topic!!!
Oh, that´s very sad to hear about in this way, as Steve is/was a kind mod who brings things and statements to a point without a lot of "blablabla...."
Such kind of changes has to be comunicate in an offical threat and not behind closed doors or hidden curtins, just my 2 cents....
Heads up Steve...

It's my hope that Steve will continue to share his videos and technical advice as a regular member. He was also our prime driver to keep our funding needs in front of the membership.
Thank you for your service as a moderator Steve.
Bill

The Easter weekend has come and gone, and my plans have, mostly, panned out!...

Friday morning I set about preparing the parts for painting.
My mantra, when painting, as I have mentioned before, is: Proper Preparation Prevents Painfully Poor Performance...

The previous owner (painter?) paid little to no attention to the underside of the parts, and I could not leave them like that!
I spent the most part of Friday, sanding, (with 220 grit water-paper).

I applied the first coat of MS primer late Friday afternoon, and let it cure until Saturday morning.
The next step was a light flatting, with 400 grit paper, in preparation for the final primer coat.

However, (there always seems to be a "however")....I noticed some very minor "imperfections" on the tank and mud-guard, and, I could not let that alone!



So, more primer went on and more time to cure...

Saturday aternoon, I again, using a hard block with 400 paper, attented to the areas of imperfection.
Those "imperfections" showed up, big time!



Another coat of primer, and more time to cure...



Monday morning... RAIN!!!
Weather improved in the afternoon, so I flat the parts again, this time, dry, with with 800 grit paper.
I shot the final coat of primer on, at sunset, and left the parts to cure.

Roll on Tuesday afternoon, after a hard day's work art the salt mine...
"It's time for the green train to shunt" !!!

My super-green base-coat went on without a hitch.
I was advised to seal up the base-coat with one layer of clear, BEFORE applying the decals, after which a further two coats of clear should go on, over the decals.
Also, when painting the base-coat, resist the urge to apply the color such that a high gloss is achieved. Spray kinda "dry", so that the clear can "key" onto it.
As advised, I followed the green coat, immediately, with a coat of 2K clear.

I am satisfied with the result, so far.




Believe me, I'm seriously itching to apply the decals, but I will have to let the clear-coat cure until Thursday afternoon.
(Can't risk making marks while wrestilng with the  "not so trival" task of applying those expensive sticky sheets!)
I watched a couple of yootoob video's on the process, so now I'm an expert, right? NOT!
Alarmingly, not one of those videos explain the process the same way... first spritz water, don't spritz water, add ONE drop of dish-soap, DON'T add soap????

Never done this before...

More soon...

H.

Nothing like a dose of AAAS (Autumn African Afternoon Sun-shine) to speed up the curing process!



Daaaang, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna apply the decals!!!!!

H.

Nice work, the paint looks great!

Ok, so the 2K clear coat cured, and I could finally set about applying the decals.

I prepared the surfaces, by hand, using a 3M Scotch Brite pad. This "keys" the surface for the decal and the next clear coat, and also removes any surface 'ticks and hairs" that always seem to show up, no matter how carefully I prepare.
You can see that the surfaces are no longer glossy, and have a good "matte" texture.

I watched a youtoob video that showed how to effectively line the decal up, using masking tape and pencil marks.
 
On the tank, I used the emblem screw holes as the  "datum" to "centralise" the decal.

 

It is was pretty nerve wracking... These decals are very sticky, and are prone to distorting their shape if they have to be pulled off to re-postion them.

 

Upon peeling the top  positioning layer off, I could  breath again...





I followed the same procedure on the other side, but spent a lot of time making sure the decal was symmetrically positioned left / right hand side.
​​​​​


I then applied the fairing decals, which was quite challenging, to say the least, as those blue and white tips are very thin!!!
Again, I made sure of symmetry, left /right.
 

Next was the tail-piece and side-cover decals. These were much easier, as my confidence was now established.

 

Some months back I purchased (Ebay) replica side-cover emblems, but I was not impressed with the quality at all: the overall appearance was not to my satisfaction.

Having previously experimented with 3D printing the emblems, I was left with no choice but to persevere with getting the gold colouring to look authentic.
I was determined to use gold leaf, as, spray painted gold just did not look right.

First, here are the "raw" emblems, straight off my printer...

 

Next, showing the application of gold leaf, over a very thin layer of latex adhesive.
The adhesive is so thin, that the surface "texture" transfers to the gold layer, making it look like burnished brass.


Finally, the "R" had to be "filled" with red 2K paint.
I carefully "dripped", one drop at a time, using a plastic pipet.

 
(I made some spares, just in case...)

Here is the final result...

 

Next up was to apply the final coats of clear to the tank, fairing, side-covers and tail-piece, as well as the completed side-cover emblems.

 

I applied 3 coats of clear, waiting 15 minutes between coats.

   


 

 

Then, an excruciating 24 hour wait to allow the clear to cure, before I could reassemble...

Here is the result of 14 months of serious enjoyment!!!

 

Looks great

Let the pictures speak...















FINALLY, I have my green Kawasaki !

A big thank-you to all whom contributed and encouraged me, on this amazing, satisfying, fun filled journey. 

I still need to color the wheels gold, but first I NEED to get out and RIDE !

 H.