For some stupid reason i thought i would try a different approach to my earlier successes and peel back the masking before gilding – ERROR!!!



I later tried to brush off the excess, but no chance, it had stuck to the tank!!! Balls!!!

Sat down with a couple of ales in a bad mood, thinking of how to salvage the situation. The only thing that came to mind was to try and pressure wash the leaf off, so I didn’t have to sand back yet again!

Now some of you may have seen that some mistakes work well as I posted before, the gold actually blasted off unevenly, and actually looks old and patinated.

The tank has been the bloody Bain on my life, god knows how many hours I’ve spent sanding this bugger down! Had a massive run down the tank which I had to sand back, then re paint, then went and bloody did it again.
This is my spray booth!!

Got it all finished and the final cover on and put it in the back bedroom for safe keeping. I couldn’t believe it when my bloody kittens had scaled up a small bookcase, which toppled over and smacked into the tank!!!!! Another session of sanding down, filling and re-spraying.

Had a bit of a play with gold leafing as previous, and wanted to have a bash on the tank. I wasn’t really sure what to put on the tank, had various ideas, which grew and grew until I had drawn up a design that looked like Lawrence Llewellen-Bowen had draw it up. After the comments on the back plate for the number plate looking like a sign for a gay bar, I had a re-think and realised that it doesn’t need to look perfect, and too contrived. So I brought it back to the shed built roots, and just decided to freehand some lettering on the tank. Armed with liquid mask and my beloved sharpies I just roughed out some lettering for leafing.




As you can see in the second picture, I could doodle about on the mask to get things right.

I also drew up some freehand outlines of a scallop type shape on the side of the tank.



Armed with a scalpel I cut out the designs as best as possible, and sized up the design one piece at a time

Next it’s a case of using a large flat brush to manipulate the leaf onto the size – its a bit tricky, especially in this heat with sticky hands!



Leave to dry for an age, then you can peel them off! (slowly does it!) I’m really pleased with the results. The photos don’t do the gold justice really, but when I’ve put a nice line around the outside it will look quality!


Getting a bit cocky, so trying something a bit more detailed – details to follow!

Had another good day on the bike today, albeit on the pretty pretty side of things.
Started up making a fake oil tank that will house all the leccys when the bike is done. Basically had an old CO2 bottle (empty) that a mate gave me when I said I had the TIG (thinking i could just that filled). Cut a good section out, and welded a few lugs inside to bolt some end caps to.

Made the end caps out of some old ally plate I had spare, and backed them with some rubber sheet I’ve been hoarding for years. Gave them a spray up to match the tank, and for practice for the gold leafing that i have been planning.


After much deliberation about what to put on the panels, i went for good old lucky number 7 (it is my first attempt at leafing after all)

Now I’ve deviated away from Scarlett’s way of doing things slightly in that I’ve some pretty detailed plans for the tank, so had a go at masking off with liquid mask. Ordered if from a hobby shop, and had watched a few tutorials on simply painting on the liquid mask.

2 thick coats and time to dry, and they were looking worth a try. I found a nice number 7 on t’internet, cut it out, and put on top of the mask. I then used a permie marker to trace the outline onto the top of the mask.

Then it’s a case of cutting out with a scalpel, and peeling off the inside of the 7. It was real easy to do!

I got some of the coloured 1 hour size from writes, and it is pretty easy to see where you have painted!!!

Had another big day tinkering about in the shed today, spent a good couple of hours welding up some mounts on the tank, then prepping for it to be sealed. using one of those 3 stage kits, so its currently got rust eater (stage 1) in it until the morning!

I also made a start on the number plate hanger, had loads of bits kicking about for it, so got a cheap plate knocked up in halfords for it in the week. I'm thinking of "borrowing" an idea ive seen on here wherby i will be using a detachable plate on the forward facing side and no doubt have a go at putting a design on there some how. Anyhow -- basically got my faithful sharpie pen out, and measured up the base plate to hold the plate, break light, plus 2 LED number plate lights i picked up cheap on ebay. After a bit of cutting and filing it came out like this

then tried all the bits on to see what it looked like, the only annoyance, i assumed the 2 mounting bolts on the back of the break light were horizontal, so its currently a but squint ! (scoolboy error!!!) i'll have to do some jiggery pokery to sort that out.

Picked up a pair of these lights to put on the front of the bike

paid a little bit too much for a Fogranger lamp to fit in it - still awaiting the arrival of that!

Spent more time on the bike this weekend - outside of course! i spend hours yesterday chasing holes aroung the welds i had to make for the new tunnel. started off with 2 tiny pinholes, but at one stage i got upto 6 leaks with the old - just one more lick with the TIG!!!! how frustrating.

With all the leaks bunged up it was a case of getting the filler out and getting it looking nice. I hadnt quite realised how the heat and cutting about had altered the shape of the tank, so as well as around the "blanking panels" the bottom had valleyed (the only work i could think of) making the underside a bit unsightly.

Now i'm not a fan of filler - would prefer not to have to use it - but ive had to have a good crack at this one to get it looking right. (ive spent the whole weekend looking like ive been lightly dusted in icing sugar!!!!)

This is where the majority of the filler is!

then set about it with various wet and dry grades before the first lick with primer to see how many small blemishes there were!

What do you think to my improved spray area!


Took another 3 sessions of filling and sanding to get it half decent, and this is how it sits tonight in its rightful place!

the more attentive of you will realise that there are no mounts for it as yet - they will be welded on shortly (ran out of Gas AGAIN!) and so no more work for the tank for now. in saying that its looking quite nice!

after the mounts i'll be lining the tank before spraying and maybe some fancy lettering before clear coat