Topic: little project with gold leaf.

[cafe2be]

So i decided to go ahead and gold leaf the tank on my 77 cb750f since I have about 500 sheets of gold leaf. The leaf is from my moms calligraphy days. Easier than I thought it would be. I ended up shaving the emblems off the tank, painted the tank satin black and put a gold stripe right down the middle.
supplies needed

prepped area with sizing

gas lid:

tank and seat:

side view:


Debating on bringing it to a pinstripper and having them put a gloss red stripe down both sides of the gold. Then the tank will be cleared with 4 coats of low luster clearcoat.
This whole project was done in my basement using hand tools and aerosol cans.
Tank was filled, 2 coats of self etching, 5 coats of high build, 6 coats of satin black.

[cafe2be]

these pics were taken before dusting off the excess gold.

Also thoughts on engine turns in the gold or leave it as is. Engine turns are small circles like on the boars head trucks lettering.

[fastbroshi]

   That's a really cool take on a racing stripe.  Let's see some shots from straight down on it, as if you were sitting on the bike.

[cafe2be]

[fastbroshi]

  Very cool.  Maybe some white stiping on the edges to make that gold pop before you clearcoat.  I'm a big fan of red myself too.  Nary a Ducati goes by without me drooling.
  That seat is metal right?  What brand?

[cafe2be]

broshi the seat is fiberglass, airtech.
Had not thought about white. Great idea.

Any thoughts to doing engine turning?

[fastbroshi]

  I always thought it looked pretty sweet depending on how it's applied.  Sometimes it just doesn't look right.  Looks good on some paint jobs, when they swirl the gold to give a turned look, not good on rearsets and other cycle bits. 
  There's that post for the diy egli where the guy literally built the whole frame himself.  He seems to be a machinist.  He made several bits himself like the rearsets and such, turning them afterward.  Just didn't look right.  I guess it's because of the nonsymmetrical shape of them clashing with the circles.  But put them on or framed in a rectangular shape, a la a painted section on a tank, and it looks great. Oh yeah on Trans Am dashboards too.