Here are some updates on my work. Prep of the fairings is nearly done as most of the big repairs. The hole for the screw on the lower cowl was a bit complicated but I got there in the end.
Most of the fairings are ready to be primed. I've found another cracks on the rear cowl so I've put a couple staple and some plastic filler.
I've had a rather bad surprise with the fuel tank, it is quite badly rusted inside and out and will need a good clean as well as a sealant treatment. I have also dismantled the fuel cap as it was a pain to work and I will save the lock to fit onto a new one.
A wee update : Last weekend I've managed to sort out my rusty tank by using a Por-15 tank sealer kit. Quite a long and strict process but it came out quite nice at the end. Hopefully that will keep the tank in shape for a couple of years.
In the following pictures you'll the original state, how it looks after the after the cleaner and the metal prep step, and the last one how it is now.
Yes, I've buffed it from P500 to P2000 and put two quick coat of lacquer on top of it. Now I need to do the rest of the indicators as well as the rear light !
Just a quick update on the bike. She's coming along slowly but we're going forward. I made my first draft for the graphics, looks alright so far, at least to me 😬)
All the plastics have been wet sand and are ready for either the next color or another coat of lacquer. Will do the rest of indicators and tail light at work this week.
Still unsure for the wheels. Gold, white or black, can't really decide yet.
It's important to do everything step by step, and to set yourself several small goals, it helps to manage that "I'm never gonna finish that" feeling. Or at least, this is what I'm trying to do. 😁
And yet another batch done. Once again, I had issues with the basecoat peeling off with the tape, leaving "dirty" lines, which I'm going to sort out later. Might worth mentioning that I'm using Octoral with the red and the black color but when using Standox basecoat (on the dark blue at the moment) it comes out great.
I understand what you mean, but it is because I chose to take my line straight along the curve of the back seat, like so [image: IMG_2025-05-18-15-01-22-354.thumb.jpg.734317ce52a950cb9ed86a65632c720c.jpg]
I'm not sure if that's gonna look right or dumb, I guess I'll have to see later 😬
Ah, got it 👍 Looking at the other picture I thought the front edge on the lower fairing was also a bit tilted backwards. I am sure it is going to look nice.
Perhaps make the angle right and just move the break between the black and white rearward a little. That would also move the bolt and hole into the white section.
It is a tad tilted @V4 Rosso you got that right, but I belive it matches the angle of the seat cowl, or that was my aim so far. If it does not look right, I'll just correct it with a couple of extra hours of work, to this point, I've stopped counting 😂
That's a good idea @bmart if plan A doesn't work, this should be plan B 👍
Here are the progress and set backs from this week and last weekend.
A lot of masking, painting, bleeding, re-masking, airbrushing, repeat. If anything, that job is teaching me patience and accepting my mistakes.
Still unsure about what happened about on the "RC36" on the right hand side on the seat cover. Most likely a mix of airbrushing too thick, too soft sanding (p1200) and possibly a bad vinyl ? But once again, that will be adjusted on the next step. Slow and steady wins the race ! 🐢💪
From now on, it might get a little slower (yup, even slower than now 🙄) as I just moved out and don't have a space on my own to work from, I'll have to do whatever I need at work during breaks.
Also, before I put her back together, I've got to spend about 1k in parts and quite a few hours, the lady needs a lot of attention ... The most worrying is that constant oil sweating at the top of the engine, I've moved the bike to a storage unit 3 days ago and noticed today that it keeps leaking a bit under even though the engine has been on for over 6 months.