Modern Vespa

That's not bad at all!

More progress.

I sanded and filled the glovebox cowl and door today, so they're basically ready for primer now.

I'm just going to sand the mudguard with some 400 grit and not cut through the clear coat. The scratches are not deep enough that I need to do a full respray, so I'll just be sanding down my previous drips and then shooting a couple of new top coats.

The legshield is going to be the next big piece. I may tackle it in the morning, we'll have to see how I feel. I need to remove the rear brake pedal, the rest of the leg rails, the center matt, and the side stand, then decide how much prep work will be needed from there.

And today's obligatory video, which unfortunately is missing two sections. Meh.

There is a guy on YouTube from down under that shows "smashing" on clear. Basically shooting it close so no orange peel. I found it interesting

Got a link by any chance?

I shot my clear about 6" off the surface with a 1.2 tip, I think (it's up in a previous post, I'm pretty sure), and other than some drips, it came out nicely.

There's no "right" distance for all situations ... getting a good finish depends mostly on the gun setup, the nozzle, the fan pattern, how well the paint is atomizing, and how you move the gun. But, yes, you need to find the sweet spot - usually somewhere around 6-10" - where the paint flows but doesn't sag or run.

Totally agree, SoCal. I'm consistently surprised how the setup that works fine with one batch of paint can be totally different than what works with the next batch I mix of what should be the exact same paint.

It took a couple iterations to really beat it into me, but I eventually learned that lesson the hard way on this project.

In a previous life I used to troubleshoot issues with a roller coater. We used a Zahn cup to measure viscosity of paint. We used a heater that warmed the photo resist or paint bath to a temperature warmer than ambient temp about 100*F. As we worked on process controls we figured out variables we didn't account for previously. Humidity, barometric pressure etc. All things we could control but didn't know we needed to early on. That machine ended up in its own environmentally controlled room. We could control a runny bath of resist by lowering the bath a few degrees.

Long, long ago, I work in a research facility developing semiconductor manufacturing technologies. We ran into similar issues, only more so, and that was in addition to having to deal with clean room challenges.

Today, I got out in the workshop for a bit and did the initial rough sanding and final hammer and dolly work on the legshield. Block sanding really shows up the low spots and I worked pretty much all of them, alternating hammering and sanding until they were gone.

Worst part was that the scooter shifted and hit my hurt knee, probably set healing back by at least a week.

My paint order from Summit Racing is set to arrive tomorrow, so I'll have it before I'm ready to start shooting.

I still need to fill and fair the legshield, then re-sand everything with 320 before I prime, but I'm making solid progress.

Glad you're fine and getting back into it, but please, fix those legshield edges before respraying. Making the tool is easy...

I second that, it'll making installing leg shield trim easier also.

Remember, I'm the guy who still can't weld, so making them is not so simple for me

If I *could* weld, I'd already have made myself one, though.

Get the two parts ready to go and take them to a muffler shop. Bet they won't charge much to weld them up.

That could work...

They don't need to be welded to the Vice Grip to work.
You could also bend the rod for some areas. Two clamps and a hammer

just watched the cowl installment - thanks for making these videos, super useful!

Yay, me!

Seriously, I'm doing it because 1) I felt like there was a shortage of videos out there for someone who didn't already know how to do bodywork; 2) It helps me document and better recall what I did for next time; 3) It forces me to organize my thoughts as I work; and 4) I enjoy doing it.

I'm going to put together a short video of how I used the sanding process to find and hammer out even more dents in the legshield, but I didn't record the whole thing because the bike shifted on the lift at one point, banged my knee and re-opened the gash, so I think the last of the video is basically me jumping back screaming "FUCK!" loud enough that the kids at the daycare a block away learned a new word.

SoCalGuy suggested I try Evercoat Easy Sand, so I'll be somewhat on hold while that ships. Fortunately Summit Racing stuff usually arrives in a day or two, so I should have it by Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest.

In the meantime, I'll just keep on sanding. I hammered the mudguard, so it needs to get sanded for primer, but I don't expect that I'll paint until after Labor Day because it's supposed to be pouring rain as Hurricane Ida's remnants pass over us and all that humidity makes the process even harder than it needs to be.

I'm wondering if I'm going to wind up with noticeably different levels of gloss between the new and original paint when this is said and done, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

The front of the leg shield should be easy as far as matching. Spray past the bend in leg shield where you can't easily see.

The drivers side is going to be a bit harder. Is there a spot with a bend you can tape off so your eye can't see across it? Maybe where the floor board joins the tunnel if your not painting the tunnel? The rails and 90 would break up the site line.

That's exactly what I'm doing

The legshield gets paint down to the first cross-brace, which is out of sight, and the inside of the legshield I'm just doing the legshield, because the tunnel is fine.

It also lets me finally get rid of a glove print on the back of the righthand floorboard that I saw and was irritated by every time I went to start it, because it was right by the kickstart lever.

Instead of writing your name in cement, you could let it get tacky and thumb print it. If it ever got stolen you could ID it by the thumb print. 😀

Following these painting threads with interest. I've spray painted using air and airless for house projects such as cabinets and metal doors. A few old snow mobile trailers. Never a scooter.

Given that the VIN is literally a sicker inside the glovebox, that's not the worst idea you've ever had

Part 4 is up. You can watch me sand, hammer, and eventually injure myself. So it was pretty much just another day in the garage, only on video.

Some of my best ideas start with "Hold my scotch and watch this"

replaced the floor and a color change on this smallie

Damn that looks sharp!

That also looks like a much better paint booth than I'll be using.

not sure how much space or what kind of temperatures you have but you can make something that will suffice adequately and is re-usable
2" plastic plumbing pipe ,T pieces ,elbows and plastic sheeting rent yourself an extractor and you are good to go
i use this method for spray painting small sections on big yachts
hope this gives you an idea

I have a dedicated workshop, but no air conditioning, so I'm a little at the mercy of the elements for temp and humidity. I wanted to see if I really needed needed one, and have decided I do, so that'll happen before next spring, but not this year.

I use a box fan with an air filter on it as an extractor and have a plastic tent I made out of drop cloths that I can hang from eyebolts in the ceiling, so I could be a lot worse off.

Fix the legshield!
It isn't hard to do with 3/8 to 1/2" rod and the tools you have.

Don't worry, the legshield edges are going to get fixed. SoCalGuy shipped me a tool today and I won't paint anything until they're sorted.

No progress today, as I'm waiting on the Evercoat to arrive tomorrow.

Yesterday, I did a lot of sanding with 320 grit, getting the cowl, legshield, and floorboards ready for cleaning and priming. I also wet sanded the mudguard with 600 grit to prep it for more clear coat since the scratches weren't into the base coat. It actually looks pretty sharp as a satin finish, not that I'm going that route.

I also filled and faired the legshield, and then today, I received a little present from SoCalGuy...my very own legshield edge pliers! (Thanks!) They were originally a gift to him from Voo doo, but he made his own and sent the OG ones along to me, where they'll start earning their keep tomorrow.

So assuming no unexpected surprises, I expect that next week will be painting and this thing will go back together by the weekend.

Here's the AU guy. I like his teaching style.[/url]

I'm not all the way through this one yet, but it's a good overview of how to prep & paint. I'll check out the Aussie in the morning.

I just ran across this post looking for something else in this thread.

Christopher nailed it back in May.

Just catching up. this made me laugh.
Glad to see you moving around well - and ballsy to go bak at it and really upgrade.
Careful - you might get good at this.

Also love the unabashed crowd pelting on leg shield edges. Hahaha.
Tough audience - but I agree!
Look forward to round II.

It's not a tough crowd, just tough love!

Nothing wrong with holding me to a consistent standard, and I'm glad y'all did. The legshield edges are mostly straightened, just a little more work to do, then some final prep sanding and I slightly optimistically expect to have paint back on by the end of the week and back to fighting with the carb setup by the end of the weekend.

You're project is looking great. I'm not a great painter. I painted the cab door of a VW bus that took a long time to get straight. First coat was easy to get to flash over...that point where paint all runs together and goes glossy. The second coats were harder to tell how much paint I was putting on so I would get runs or dry spray over areas I had already done. The nice thing about something small like a Vespa is that you can do the best cut and buff ever if you have to...even by hand. A VW bus is like sanding...Nebraska.

Kind of like welding. I can do strong welds on thin sheet metal, but they are ug-a-ly. Fortunately, I am top notch at grinding.

Thanks, Keaton!

My first fiberglass and paint adventure was restoring my 14' runabout, including completely re-glassing the hull. Also not a small project. Compared to that, I completely agree a Vespa is a trivial amount of work, but it's getting a lot more attention to detail and stretching my skills a lot more, too.

I'm going to tackle my VBB next, along with getting back to properly maxing out the P200 motor that's going in this bike eventually. All good stuff.

Nice overview on the leg shield repairs

I have an Allstate waiting for me to bend the edges back, now I see what I have to look forward to.

Great video, you're really getting the hang of it, gonna be perfect! You can also use a hammer and dolly on either side of the jaws with it clamped on to move the metal how you like. Look here for more ways to get your edges straight and shaped right: https://modernvespa.com/forum/post2147977#2147977

Just catching up on this...
Great progress and timely as I have decided to shoot the bodywork/paint on the bumper and cowls of my white P. Good inspiration. TY!