Sandcast Paint Correction

[JamesH]

In the process of cleaning up the paintwork on my Sandcast thought I’d share a couple of pics. I’ll try and do a full write-up of the process when I get a chance.

This is an original candy ruby red bike with tired but original paint. The objective is to clean up the bike ready for sale - it’s an incredibly original bike and would be a shame to restore, so I’m just servicing / deep cleaning her prior to sale..

Started work this evening on the side covers - at some point in it’s life the side cover badges have been refitted the wrong way round (god knows why).

Starting condition (some differential fading):







Nice silver paint run from somewhere?:





Reasonably deep gouging in a few places:

[JamesH]

LHS (the one on the right in the photo) cover clay bar’d, machine polished (mild correction):

[JamesH]

Both corrected. Next step some sealing polish:

[Green1]

Looks rather red for original paint. How long did they take you to polish? I hate polishing bikes the 550 desperately needs a good coat after spilling fuel over the tank yesterday. 

[JamesH]

It's the lighting Mick. It’s 100% original paint Mick. Took about 45 mins to do both covers.

Your 550 should take about 90 mins max I would say..

[Green1]

It will take longer then that to dig it out of the garage and that's before I clean the saw dust off it.
My poor bikes are in a shocking state at the moment. 

[JamesH]

It will take longer then that to dig it out of the garage and that's before I clean the saw dust off it.
My poor bikes are in a shocking state at the moment. 

[Green1]

What's with the smiley face do you want to clean them,
Your more then welcome you strange boy. 
Table saws and bikes aren't a good mix

[JamesH]

Bring it down Mick and I’ll clean it no problem

[UK Pete]

Looking good
How many sandcasts do you have or have had
I have now lost count of your bikes

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[Green1]

The only problem with that is if I turn up you wont have to work hard to flog me something 

[MrDavo]

You can see the original colour in that darker red strawberry shaped area, which probably hasn't, until recently seen the light of day since they stuck the badge on in 1969 - apart from the epsode where they got weirdly switched around, but once there was no Google to instantly check for pictures of similar bikes.

The rest has been faded by the sun, but for me clean but weatherbeaten original paint beats new copy every time.

Red is a b*gger of a colour to paint a car or bike that gets left outside in all weathers, UV from the sunlight degrades some pigment in it over time, yellow cars, vans and bikes often fade flat in the sunlight the same way . After we'd scrapped the Wife's red Sierra, that had turned a strange flat pink in the,  er, Manchester summers, I then bought an old red diesel Merc, thinking their paint would be better quality. Nope, it turned pink. If i Tcut it then polished, i could turn it red for a short while, but once I'd done a patch I'd have to do the whole damn car, and I had to sell it at night.

I dare say I'll soon start getting precious about having my newly painted candy ruby red CB750 out in the rare baking sun at outdoor events for too long, and look for shade to park in, which often is just not possible any more than you can get shelter for your bike if it rains, tough, you take your chances with the great British weather, or you don't go out too much.

[JamesH]

Cracked on with the rest of it this evening. Just the headlight bucket to do now. Has polished up nicely.

As stated previously this is more about originality and real patina than a perfect finish. I’m pleased with the outcome..more to come of the actual bike in a week or so. Currently have the front end off for an overhaul.

Tank before:







Fork ears before:



Finished set (just the headlight bucket to do):

[Green1]

The word patina is well and truly overused on eBay its used as code for rust bucket.
 
I like your bikes James as no amount of polishing hides the fact the bike had a history behind it. 
Also means I don't cry when they get caught out in the rain. 

[JamesH]

Are you by any chance using 5000 wet and dry to remove scratches in the lacquer?

Yeah I very gently hit a couple of spots with 3000 wet/dry but didn't really want to go too hard at it.

On modern paints you can wet sand / polish down to 1200/1500 grit and machine polish.

The machine I’m using is also new to me (normally use a dual action machine but this is a straight rotary so is taking some time to adjust to).

Happy with the results so far though - it's going to lift the bike definitely.

James