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just about finished my restoration of a 1981 Ducati Pantah that was gifted to me. This is my interpretation of a classic Ducati motorcycle. My 6yo grand daughter wanted to be a bike model. I think she pulls it off well.
Rebuilt from the ground up and painted in the backyard. First paintjob I have took on. You may be familiar with the tail light! What do you think?

Beautiful paint, really accents the lines of the bike. Errr, yer tail light is upside down.

Could be OUR tail lights are upside down.

From what I can tell in the pics the paint looks great. What did you use? What are you techniques?

Cheers!
Ceuls

The pics look terrific! I love 80's style sport bikes.

Way cool! Congratulations on a great job! I loved the pic of your daughter hugging the tank! Awesome!!!

Very nice work!

I like the tail light, I think it fits very well.

Nice Duck and cute kid too

That is a classic - nice work!

SPECTACULAR!
(omgdidijustusecapitals?)

I can not stress enough the need for good preparation if you want a good result from any paint. First, rub rub rub to remove all previous clear coat so as to roughen up the previous base coat. Bog up any divots and dings and then rub, rub ,rub. dont be scared to hook in with some fairly coarse sandpaper as each step along the way will remove your previous work marks.
I used a primer and then a coat of spray putty, both out of rattle cans from the local auto store, then rub, rub, rub. any hi or low spots will show as the spray putty goes early on or is left behind. Use 800 wet or dry paper for this step
I use acrylic laquer as it is a very forgiving paint system for us novices.
Once you are happy with the surface prep give it a final coat of acrylic primer ( still with rattle can ) and then let it dry for at least 48 hours. Acrylic takes a while for all the thinners to "boil" out of the paint so the longer the drying period the better. A final sand ( no more than 24 hrs before topcoat) with some 1200 wet and dry paper, wash down with warm soapy water, rinse and let dry. About 1/2 hour before topcoat wipe down with prepwash to remove any remaining grease or wax.
Topcoat.
Set the piece to be painted so as to make sure you can get at the job as easily as possible. Get yer spraygun and wave it around the job to get a feel if you have the job in the optimum position. I hung all my stuff from the clothes hoist with tie wire and it works pretty good. I use a 500ml gravity fed spray gun that I purchased from the local hardware store only cheap but done a good job as you can see by my results. Mix ya paint to the specs on the can. ya best bet is to get a board or a 44 gallon drum and have a bit of a practice so you know how you and ya gun are gun na perform. I run about 50psi with a 3" wide paint fan. over lap your coats by 50% for a nice even finish. Allow at least 10 minutes and not more than 1/2 hour between coats. The ducati has 6 coats of base on it. Warning!!!! ya gunna get bugs in it when your spraying outside. Don't let it faze ya!!! just wipe e
'em off with a rag just before ya next coat. The paint drys to touch pretty quick so a light ragging wont hurt. when ya finished hang the piece out of the way for a few days to let it go hard.
Next step is rub, rub, rub, again with 1200 to rough it up a bit and to take out the last of the kamikaze bugs.
I masked the stripes with auto store pinstriping tape to get the lines sharp, then the rest with masking tape and newspaper. I went and got a elcheapo airbrush to do the stripes / graphics. they use way less paint and gives you good control. Again, it's best to go with a test piece 'till your happy with yourself. Go about 6 coats of each colour removing and remasking as necessary. When your happy ( startin to look good now eh! ) let it dry for another couple of days. another rub with 1200 and its time for the clear. Use exactly the same process for the clearcoat but put on about 12 coats for a real deep, looks like you could swim in it finish. Let it dry for a couple of days or longer if possible, rub it now with some 1800 wet cut and polish and then go get the missus to show her what a genius you are.
My Ducati looks better in person than it does in foto's and I still have to give it a final wash and polish.

YOUR RESULTS MY VARY

That is fantastic. Looks bloody brilliant. You have done a wonderful job.

Quote:

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Warning!!!! ya gunna get bugs in it when your spraying outside. Don't let it faze ya!!! just wipe e
'em off with a rag just before ya next coat.

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You should have left the fly in the paint. There are lots of stories of Ducatis coming out of the factories with flies in the paint. Leaving there would have added some authenticity.