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| The Tot |
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 The Tot World Chat Champion

Joined: 11 Jun 2004 Karma :    
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 Posted: 18:16 - 15 Dec 2011 Post subject: How to respray composite lids for £10! |
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I got my inspiration from my good friend G. I saw the state of his battered old shoei raid which i think Bendy sprayed up back in the days when he was club racing his SV. The fact that it was still wearable at the minomoto gave me an idea!
I basically had a Shoei XR1100 that I fell out of favour with. I got ridiculously drunk one friday night and decided it was a good idea to take a marker pen to my lid!
It resulted in the thing looking like
https://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/378672_10150504829315712_500990711_10701345_554093089_n.jpg
I was never keen on wearing it ever since I laid my hands on my Arai RX-GP, and the fact that it looked like my year 9 exercise book wasn't convincing me to wear it.
So, got bored and felt like getting high on solvents... £10 later, I got myself some masking tape and halfords satin black, and used some left over primer.
Here's how I did my lid.
Remove ALL vents and visor retention mechanisms. Stick cotton wool into any small openings and cover it up with electrical tape.
Go over the rubber trim with electrical tape - it makes it easier to remove, it's more adherent than the masking tape I was using, and allows you to conform to contours better.
Remove liner and cover all openings. I stuck a towel in there to make it workable when I was sticking it on a stand for spraying. I used baking paper which worked nicely enough.
Key your surfaces with 240 grit wet and dry - this unfortunately meant removing the ACU sticker and shoei decals etc. Give it a wash down with soapy water and dry it off with microfibre.
Mount on stand and start spraying. DO ensure that all openings are concealed. You don't want to
I asked a few of my engineers at work who are subject matter experts on polymers and paint systems and they assured me that acrylic paints would be safe to use on the shell, but must emphasize to not let it get in contact with the expanded polystyrene inner shell, which does the fair majority of the impact absorption!
https://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/386695_10150535565915712_500990711_10798866_1398371004_n.jpg
Work your way around the helmet doing 4-5 passes on each side at a time and leave 10-20 minutes between coats. I chose a satin black paint because I wanted to go for that stealth look. In short I did 4-5 coats of base coat. I sprayed the vent covers separately and reattached them at the end after laquering.
Leave the paint to dry overnight and begin laquering. Before applying the laquer, I rubbed the surface down with 1200 grit to remove any ridges and asperities and gave it a very light final basecoat.
If i needed to get to tricky areas of the helmet, I just picked it up and sprayed it at an arms length away. Very short, light coats.
Repeat the same procedure with your laquer. I didn't opt to rub down after my final coat because I wanted that dull satin appearance.
Either way, it's probably one of the better spray jobs I've done because this time I took care over preparation and was more patient compared to the previous jobs (see my car bumper respray OR my old ZXR250 for poor examples!)
Finishing touches to come in over the next few days (decals etc), but here's how it stands at the moment.
https://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/383283_10150535565405712_500990711_10798859_792176496_n.jpg
https://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/380402_10150535565485712_500990711_10798860_1008784287_n.jpg
https://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/387456_10150535565585712_500990711_10798862_954473443_n.jpg
So there you go, it CAN be done! So if you have an old and battered fibreglass lid, then by all means spruce it up for a tenna! At worst, it's a pretty good mantlepiece item.
https://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/385802_10150535565290712_500990711_10798858_259904492_n.jpg ____________________ The Tot 2019 Z1000SX - 2007 R1
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| Noxious89123 |
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 Noxious89123 World Chat Champion

Joined: 10 Jun 2007 Karma :    
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 Posted: 19:00 - 15 Dec 2011 Post subject: |
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I thought the issue with painting lids is that the propellant gas in spray cans can melt the foam inside? ____________________
'06 Honda CBR125RW-6 ~ '00 Honda CBR600F-Y ~ '07 Honda CBR600RR-7 ~ Bikeless
'53 Ford Ka 1.3 ~ '03 Vauxhall Astra SRi 1.8 ~ '52 Vauxhall Astra SRi 2.2 ~ '53 Vauxhall Astra GSi |
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| The Tot |
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 The Tot World Chat Champion

Joined: 11 Jun 2004 Karma :    
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| The Tot |
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 The Tot World Chat Champion

Joined: 11 Jun 2004 Karma :    
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| steven_191 |
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 steven_191 Nearly there...

Joined: 31 May 2009 Karma :   
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| MarkJ |
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 MarkJ World Chat Champion

Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Karma :   
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 Posted: 16:09 - 16 Dec 2011 Post subject: |
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| mad4it028 |
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 mad4it028 World Chat Champion

Joined: 04 Jul 2006 Karma :   
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| shereen |
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 shereen World Chat Champion

Joined: 15 Mar 2011 Karma :  
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 Posted: 19:22 - 16 Dec 2011 Post subject: |
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I liked it better before  ____________________ "The Internet is the first thing that humanity has built that humanity doesn't understand, the largest experiment in anarchy that we have ever had" |
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| Teflon-Mike |
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 Teflon-Mike tl;dr

Joined: 01 Jun 2010 Karma :    
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 Posted: 20:03 - 16 Dec 2011 Post subject: Re: How to respray composite lids for £10! |
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| The Tot wrote: | and the fact that it looked like my year 9 exercise book |
And THERE in lies the argument to support the fact that standards are NOT falling in education.....
System NOW demands that children MUST be able to count the years to a number higher than five....
Unlike in my day, when it got a bit hazy, with the forth form, then fifth, then only the BRIGHTER kids got to stay on for the sixth form, and... oh crikey, FAR too big a number ... I know, we'll just call it the UPPER sixth....
Trouble with maths; it was invented by Greeks, and never translated... and only the GRAMMER school toffs got to learn Greek.... my excuse and I'm sticking to it!
As for the hat... I have to confess, I did actually preffer the 'Original' Year 9 - text-book art, to the boring black and even more boring, see it every where, got a bike, must have the sticker, Monster Energy 'M'... though it is actually not dissimilar to the 'Scorpio' M of my monagram, I put on a hat when I was younger.....
Would have been tempted to get some Tamiya Acrylics in day-glow colours like a set of school high-lighters and 'colourise' it like a text book cover, with an air-brush...
Would mean pulling air-brush out of the atic, going to Hobby Craft, paying an exhorbitant sum for some canned air, to find that twenty years in an atick the nozzle has corroded, and after checking e-bay for the price on a new set of nozzles, put paint, and half finished lid, in a box, pending gettig a 'New' air-brush and mini-compressor.... and in ANOTHER twenty years, when I got round to buying it, finding the paints solid in the pots and the hat crumbled to dust..... but that's just the way I am.
Even without canned air or broken air-brush though, last time I bought Acrylic 'model' paint to do a lid, they were something daft like $ (my chuffing pound symbols bogged off!!) 3.50 a pot! So probably not the cheaper option! ____________________ My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?' |
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| The Tot |
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 The Tot World Chat Champion

Joined: 11 Jun 2004 Karma :    
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| Teflon-Mike |
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 Teflon-Mike tl;dr

Joined: 01 Jun 2010 Karma :    
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 Posted: 08:59 - 17 Dec 2011 Post subject: |
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| The Tot wrote: | but a composite contoured helmet and acrylic airbrush isn't really in the same league! |
Random Blather: Took my 13 year old Daughter Ice-Skating for her Birthday. She had new skates; so is getting Skating lessons for Christmas.
Quarter of a century ago, while doing my A-Levels; we had 'Activity Wednesday' to do a 'non exam' subject. Were supposed to do a different one each term, but first two terms, I did 'Engineering', a slight 'cheat' to back up Maths, Physics & Chemistry to get entry for Mech Eng Degree.... and built a go-kart. But by term 3, too many of the 'team' had lost interest, and some-one suggested Ice-Skating... turned out it was a euphemism. There was a licensed bar and a gaming arcade at the ice rink....
So, every-one piled off the coach, went and got their skates, then straight into the bar or arcade....
HOWEVER: I'm 6'2" with red hair, and ugly mug; I KIND of stuck out from the crowd, and first session; the Skating Teacher, who just HAPPENED to be one of my Physics tutors, hailed me, and dragged me on the ice, before I could follow the rest of the lads into the pub... 'The Girls' it turned out were all rather more keen to actually learn to skate.... figure skate...... and there was a distinct shortage of 'partners' for the pairs lessons. I was an easy 'target' to remidy this deficiency.
Consequently, I ended up doing skating for the rest of my A-Levels; convinced to sign up for each successive session, to work for the next certificate.... and give the girls some-one to clamber on in the ice-dance sessions... Look, I was 18, do you REALLY think I was going to argue very much?
ANYWAY; you have to picture the scene; it's a Thursday morning, and the Physics Mistress, is stood at the front of the lab, about to expound on Newtons Theory of Gravity..... offering...
"This is an immutable law of nature; the attraction between bodies.... ALL that is except for Mr Willams' at the back there....."
Cheers, I know I'm ugly, don't need to rub it in.....
"Who! If you witnessed him skating yesterday, some-how manages to DEFY all conventional principles of space and time, and I believe must be utilising STRING THEORY, because I CANNOT! Conceive of any other explanation for how he managed to get his Level 3 yesterday.... but invisible strings of an alternative dimension holding him up, when ALL reason says he ought to have fallen down!"
This SORT of sums up my artistic endevours; The IDEA is there, but the execution is rather clumsy, and I have all the style and grace of an arthritic Bull Rhino with piles.
My Draftmanship's not TOO bad though; but ART? nope. I know my limits.
The Point What have you got to loose?
It's mostly practice and trial and error. And Air-brushes with compressor these days aren't hugely expensive. While paint? Not exactly cheap, BUT... so is petrol, and we burn that at a hell of a rate and have little to show for it?
Ultimately, I found my artistic outlet in photography; which blended nicely the science of physics and chemistry, and a 'little' art. But thousands upon thousands of photo's; thousands of pounds worth of films and chemicals, for probably a few dozen actually 'good' pictures.....
Interests can consume as much time and money as we let them. People spend thousands of pounds and hundreds of hours on green-fees to spoil a perfectly good walk in the park knocking a plastic ball down holes; others almost as much on permits to dangle a bit of string in a puddle in the hope of out-witting a fish!
So, why not give it a go? Get adventurous, see what you can do?
Who CARES whether it's above your legue? There's lads out every Sunday in the park, kicking a ball around, without EVER being likely to make the Premiership; but doesn't stop them having fun trying... and SOME of them make it! ____________________ My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?' |
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Old Thread Alert!
The last post was made 14 years, 39 days ago. Instead of replying here, would creating a new thread be more useful? |
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