Topic: Painter needed...

[meatrocket]

Hi!

Anyone with first hand experience with a painter to do the work on the tank and side covers?

Price range?

Links or contact information?

Thanks in advance!

[Paul]

I know a guy just down the road from me....but I get the feeling you don't live near, and the postage would be a bit expensive. .........eh, where    are   you.

[Uncle Ernie]

Yeah- Joe at Dents Be Gone. Great work and very reasonable. He talks too much.

Are you willing to send this stuff any where in the country?

Is this a new poll?

[Tim.]

Where are you, and what sort of paint do you want?

[Chris Schneiter]

I went to a swap meet and approached several custom bike builders. The one who ultimately did the work was Kip Watkins @ Tribal Motor works (http://www.tribalmotorworks.com/). Another one who I thought did excellent work was Wiz at Arrow Art (http://www.arrow-art.com/index.html). Kip did a great job, and with a custom painter you get things like clear coat, which gived the paint a deep look. I didn't keep mine stock (a little airbrushing, badges off, a little pin striping, Candyapple Green..yum!), but for me that was fine. A good painter should be able to do original too.
I was looking to do a trade of services (photography), and that's why Kip did it, and so it also makes it a little hard to nail down a firm price. At my rates, I figure my paint job to be at about $1,000, but that's just speculation. This included body work (bondo) sanding, painting, airbrushing and clear coat...It's REALLY purty!
Kip is in Kalkaska Michigan, and Wiz is in Grand Rapids MI.

[Bob Wessner]

Kip is in Kalkaska Michigan, and Wiz is in Grand Rapids MI.

Great to hear this, I might be looking for someone to repaint my K0 sometime in the future and they are within what I would consider driving distance for a good job and someone you can trust.

Someone suggested it earlier I think, for those of use without the equipment and experience for painting, some sort of FAQ topic with recommended paint/body shops by geographic area/state might be helpful.

[meatrocket]

Thanks everyone, I'm in south Jersey - real close to Philly...It's a 73 - orange - side covers and tank.

Will ship.

Thanks again...

Cheers!

[Chris Schneiter]

One more thing...I had to replace my side panels before any painting could be done...the old ones , especially after they've been repainted, like mine had, get really thin and brittle..I was told that the old ones couldn't even be sanded without cracking, which I don't doubt. I was in a hurry, so I ordered them from CMS (Classic Motorcycle Supplies www.cmsnl.com) who have everything you could ever want. Only after I ordered them did I realize that CMSNL is in the Netherlands, and what I thought were $55.00 each (ok, I'm a sucker), were actually 55 Euros, so with shipping, it came to about $180.00 (US) with shipping! Of course, they did include a #$%*IN' mouse pad with the order!
 After I got them, I found out two things: 1. CMS now has a division in North America (I think in Ontario) and 2. I found what looks to be the same part in the J.C. Whitney catalogue for 29.95 ea!
CMS is still a great resource..I think you could build a whole '69 sandcast off their site!

[Chris Liston]

Ces,  How beat up were your sidecovers that they were brittle?  Mine are 30 years old and were repainted and they are still sturdy as they were before.  Just curious

[kghost]

Those covers will get brittle if you leave them in the sun.

I've seen 30 year old covers that looked great and where flexible. They where stored in a box in a cool, dry, dark place.

I had a 77F side cover the other day, stored outside for about 7 years. I dropped it off the bench. I'm talking a distance of about 3 feet. The bastard broke into no less than 7 pieces.

[Tim.]

www.reproductiondecals.com - they have the decals for the job, and they recommend a painter who does excellent reproduction of the original Honda colours: http://www.bkcustomcoatings.com/home.html

I bought decals from them for my CB550F.  Fortunately I scored a beautiful original Sunrise Orange tank, and bought a NOS sidecover so no paint was needed.  But I did put the decal on the sidecover, and the reproduction decal could not be a closer match to the original in both colour and shape.  Perfect match and very high quality.

[Chris Schneiter]

I don't know why my side covers were so fragile, but they were...maybe from sun, paint, solvent?? but they already had a few cracks in them..the paint job looks great on the new ones..it's my fault that I paid too much for them..

[mrbreeze]

A few years ago,I bought aftermarket covers from Dennis Kirk that are made by Maier. They don't look bad but are by no means original. They were approx. $20 each.

[kmenzel]

as a side note the covers from cmsnl are pretty authentic, whereas the ones for 29.95 look ok.  I here they paint up pretty nice