First of all, the big news: I’ve sold Mermie, my custom VLX600! She’s going to California, not too far from Wyland’s studio, and the thought that one of my art heros may someday set eyes on that bike is too cool. I am picking up my ‘98 1100 ACE Tourer next week, and so I’m like a kid waiting for Santa!

Now here’s where we’re at with the 750 paint progress:
John finished prepping parts, and I geared up to start the artwork. It took many hours to get all the masking done, as the skulls have so many tiny parts (I cut them on my plotter, but still had to “weed” the masking material).
 
Here’s the process: I masked off the flame shapes, then applied the masks for the skulls right over that, then taped off anything that wasn’t skulls. This way, I can remove the masks in layers, and not have to remask the whole tank. I sprayed silver metallic into the skulls. Removed the skull masks and came back in with black to detail the skulls with shadows/cracks. Removed the rest of the masking from the flames to add the wisps of smoke. I then sprayed Burple Kandy over the interior of the flames, covering the skulls and smoke with that beautiful color. Then removed all the masking material from around the flame shapes, and checked for any overspray - woohoo, none of that silver metallic got under (the stuff is notorious for finding the tiniest hole).

Today, I’ll give the artwork a coat of intercoat clear to protect it, and the parts are off to the clearcoater tomorrow. I was going to paint a chrome-looking strip or pinstripe around the flame shapes, but we decided we liked this much more subtle look for the 750.

Here’s the bike before:

Here’s the tank (the rest of the parts can be seen at http://www.eclecticdawnarts.com/750  )

I can’t wait to see what the parts look like on the bike! Well, I’m off to the spray booth again…work never ends… Until next time, remember to wear your respirator!

Eclectic Dawn