Painting the Frame

I'll be honest, my part in the painting of the frame amounts to little more than sanding. Paint is a skill all on its own, and Doug said he could teach a 3-week class on that alone. So, Doug did most of the labor there.

I chose House of Kolor's Kameleon paint that turns from sparkling green to sparkling blue, depending on how the light hits it. Very hot-rod.

You can't tell here, but the Kameleon paint looks like pixie dust in its unmixed powder form. I believe, in this shot, we're preparing the black primer that that powder coat will sit on. We did two coats of primer, and in between each coat I wet-sanded the paint smooth.

This is my sanded and sand-blasted frame, ready for paint. I wanted to clear-coat the bare frame, but Doug said it tends to corrode under the clear coat within a few years. 

This is the extension I added. Those little gaps in the silver will be filled in with automotive putty before painting.

In the paint booth, before primer.

Here's Doug, spraying primer

After primer. The light is deceiving, but the frame is black. 

Here's doug sp

This is the frame after powder-coating, but before the final couple coats of enamel

My fork with its friends.

While we were screwing around with paint, my classmate was working on his custom heat tube extension. He made that little pattern there by hand. 

Here's my serial code. Don't steal my bike, please.

To make the contact points stand out, I went at them with a Swiss file and sandpaper and stripped away any lingering paint. 

Woof.

The frame, at this point, isn't totally done. The brazing process screwed up pretty much every thread, so I had to go at the frame with thread chasing tool and BB/Head tube facers. But, you know, it's mostly done.