Modern Vespa

that's pretty much what I've talked myself back into.

How about a darker orange trim or two tone setup?

Two-tone just isn't my thing.

Once I know just *how orange* it's going to be, I'll make my final commitment, but most likely keeping to chrome/aluminum except for the running gear, cowl rubber, and some of the details like turn signals and mirrors, which will be black.

The more I think about it, the more I agree with Orwell that murdered out is more of a P-series thing.

The orange will blow your mind. When you first start shooting paint, you will think...What have I done. Accept the feeling, then let it go. When it all goes back together, you will love it.

Trust me.

At this point, all I have is DTM Epoxy White, but it's all sealed up and ready for some high-build and filler.

You done good on the metal. I never get why people insist on wrapping an entire vehicle in filler. Especially body shops.

Looks pretty straight already from here.

I try to use as little filler as possible. I have a few areas where I wasn't able to get all the wrinkles out, plus the legshield repairs, but that's it. I probably won't even fill the back side of the legshield.

My FiL and his buddy used some sort of nasty high build primer/filler over EVERYTHING, which I think they brushed on then sanded.

I, on the other hand, am debating if I'm even going to bother high-build priming the wheel well and under the floorboards.

Looking good CM.
dent beating particularly impressive.
Im still trying to figure out what exactly Orwell's home made spoon beating stick is actually made of and why it has Swiss cheese holes - though I suspect they are there for a reason other than opening bottles.

He could just like to keep a bottle opener handy. I'd respect that.

I'm trying to find some room in my schedule to shoot high build in the four days window before I have to sand before painting. What's sad is that I only need about 30-45 minutes all-in, but that's how over-scheduled I am right now.

It's a panel on the bus.

If you miss the chemical bond window, sand it with 80-120 grit and maybe red scotch brite. Mechanical bond.

Yup. That's what I'm trying to avoid. the difference between 30-45 minutes of easy work versus adding on three hours of sanding & prep. The MDS on the Primer says 320 if sanding before high-build or top coat, which seemed really fine to me. I was going to go with 120 if it comes to that. I may set an alarm and get up early enough to do it in the morning before my day starts.

I hear you.
Shouldn't take more than an hour though. Just did the same on an unrelated project at work. Settled on 150 grit first pass on cured epoxy. Scratch that 80 suggestion.

May pick up some drips and the like you hadn't noticed before in this process. Saves you from building over it, and more work later.

I went ahead and shot a coat and am pleased to say that I don't think I added any new drips. That sets me up to ideally at least get started filling and sand this weekend. I decided I'd rather deal with the drips under primer than risk sanding through the DTM by accident.

No pictures because it was white primer, so it looks almost exactly the same as it did before. That was a dumb move--I thought I'd ordered gray. I have some gray, but I'm not sure if it's still usable. I may check it out, though.

Since oday was National Sand Off The Drips Day (I'll bet you didn't know that, did ya?), I found that magical intersection of time and motivation to get out to the workshop and sand drips, then do my first (and hopefully only) round of body filler. I also shot seam sealer into the seams, so now I'm ready for high build primer. Which means more sanding and then surface prep, then paint, then more surface prep, then...

Anyways, things are moving along, which always makes me happy.

CM - this is starting to look like real life body work.
Panel beating.
Fancy coats and build up primers.
Gracious.
This thing is gonna be shiny & sweet.

I don't know if I'd go that far, CM. More like, "I'm not a bodywork guy, but I play one on the Internet."

I was pleasantly surprised with how well the legshield repair is turning out, though. That was the biggest stretch in the project thus far and I seem to have pretty well pulled it off.

You can also extrapolate the number of drips in that legshield picture across the rest of the frame. I easily spent an hour just un-doing those mistakes.

This was my first "real" vintage scoot after my Stella (my teenage years were wasted on Honda Spree's and Elite's), and I've hated that I no longer liked to ride it. Now, I'm getting excited again.

I'm also ready to be finished with paint since the Improv Paint Booth takes up most of my free floor space. I need to re-arrange my two benches to at least help that next time.

But ain't that the way...you work on one project and it makes you realize you have two more you want to do...

First and foremost that bodywork!!! Looking really, really good. Well done all around.

I am the opposite. I struggle through projects with glacial speed all while swearing I'll never do another one.


*leaves to check scootnet2*

Thanks! The more I do of it, the more I'm convinced that most of the mysticism around bodywork is totally overblown. It *does* require a lot of time and patience, plus a fair amount of equipment, but once you decide you take the plunge, it's mostly just disposables like paint, filler, and sandpaper. That's why Greasy has to shame you into putting hard-earned ham on the line.

I definitely have my moments where I think, "this was the worst idea I ever had... I'm never doing this again!" But I usually also have some idea for how to do it better next time, and I can't resist an opportunity like that to optimize. If you see any good projects over there, lemme know!

Before you go too much further, all these bare metal high spots will need to be taken care of otherwise they will distinctly show up after you paint. Tap the metal down in all of those areas and skim on another coat of filler. Once you're 100% done with the filler, ALL of the visible filler MUST be cover with a primer surfacer. If not the filler will also show through your orange paint. Yeah, I said orange paint.

Good to know about the high spots. Thanks a lot!

I'll work them down with hammer and dolly, then re-fill.

And everything will get a coat of high build for final sanding before the color coat.

Today, I spent a few hours hammering, filling, and sanding. Not the most exciting task, but a necessary one. I have a few more spots which I find while sanding to hammer and fill, but I'm closing in on high-build priming and paint. But not for a few weeks.

I still need to prep all the wheels, hubs, fork, etc. for black paint, plus...well...everything else, but the project is moving along, just not as quickly as it was.

Looks great. You got a lot done in s short period of time. The tendinitis...yeah gotta be careful with that.

I found out a few years ago I had arthritis in my neck. One day I woke up and it wouldn't move much. It lasted for months then never came back. I have stopped throwing myself under the car like a sack of potatoes, then doing it ten more times because I forgot a tool, part, light...

After a couple week hiatus for some out-of-town stuff plus a brief death march at work, I finally made it back out to the workshop this evening and laid down the first coat of high-build primer.

I'll do another coat in an hour or so, but what's most exciting about this is that this is the first time I've ever shot an entire coat of paint without a single drip.

I finally channeled my Inner Ray8 and left the needle far enough in the gun that I wasn't getting opaque coverage on each pass, but rather had to build it up a little with multiple passes. It's so obvious once it's working, but took a little bit to get used to.

Needless to say, I think the results speak for themselves.

So, barring any future catastrophes, I'll be wet-sanding and doing final prep in the morning, then laying down the Orange tomorrow afternoon.

Looks fantastic.

Nice work!

I just shot the second coat with no drips.

Definitely on track for Orange tomorrow!

Right on man! That's awesome - I can't wait to see!

outstanding CM1 keep it up

Thanks, folks!

Also, dug up Ray8's less-is-more post about paint technique for those playing along in the home game.

Looking forward to the orange crush!

I'm stoked for the orange too.

I'll be Orange Crushin' it soon enough.

Looks like you've got the technique..

Control, this is Agent Orange. We are go. Repeat: We are go.

Sitrep: One light coat down, no drips. No casualties. Holding position until Phase Two.

Wooohooo - slow and steady - nice light coats - you'll fill it in the next spray

It's looking FANTASTIC!

Love the color! Looks awesome!

I've had a shit day in the garage, but your post makes me feel a lot better.

I love the orange and the hard work you put into the prep really shows with the paint.

I'm always happy when I can brighten up someone's day!

It's really true that painting is 90% prep. Maybe 95%.

Case in point, this morning I spent about two and a half hours wet sanding and re-cleaning everything (three passes:
soap & water, mineral sprits, alcohol), and that was the fourth time I'd done that. Not counting the hammer & dolly or body filler time. Total time to mix, shoot, and clean up a batch of paint is about half an hour.

Second round of paint is finished and it's looking really good. No drips again, but I need to not get cocky.

One mistake I realized during the second coat is that I forgot to drill the fender mounting holes, so that'll happen after I finish up. I'll prime it when I do the fork, then mix up the tiniest batch of paint possible and just touch it up with a brush.

Third coat in a bit, then tomorrow I'll flip things over and finish it up. No point in nicking soft paint when I have the time to do it right.

The headset is looking really good, but I'll have to see if I had a dry spray it it just hadn't flashed yet along the front edge in this picture. Where it flashed on top, though, it's looking amazing, if I may say so myself.

Thats a nice bright color. Orange is a fave for sure.

Speaking of... here is a bit of inspiration for you. I recently acquired this OrangeCrusher Rally180. An unfinished project from a friend, satin paint in stock-ish color.

Keep up the good work, you're a beast CM. Orange Vespa Club-READY STEADY GO!

That's because, as everybody knows, Citrus is the fastest scooter color