Rat Salad - 7/26 - Done! Complete! Finished!

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Re: Rat Salad

I spent half the day today at the local used bike parts store digging through bins of crap and finally found the cranks and chainring that I wanted. Had to make a trip back to get a different square taper spindle because the one I had was some odd size that was too big for the cranks to slip on, and too wide to have a proper chain line. I threw it together with a front brake and went for a test ride up and down the block! The bars and seat are up all the way because the frame is so small, the rake makes slow sharp turns fun. Still can't find the left hand block pedal so threw a generic one on for the ride. This thing will be fast, 52/19 and i had to ride with it locked in 3rd because I haven't found a shifter I like yet. This is by far the lightest bike in the stable at 22.8lbs!



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I'm feelin it!
Leaf Hound - Freelance Fiend - 1971
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNNR9I-7yh4
 
Re: Rat Salad - 5/5 test ride!

Your bike has the most interesting lines of any skinny tire bike I've seen. Cool build!
The modern crank and fork rock
 
Re: Rat Salad - 5/5 test ride!

This bike is just cool 8) 8)
 
Re: Rat Salad - 5/5 test ride!

MplsCoaster said:
Your bike has the most interesting lines of any skinny tire bike I've seen. Cool build!
The modern crank and fork rock
Thanks.
I brought it to the used bike parts place to try to find some sidepull brakes that fit (which I did not) and everyone else there kept telling me how crazy my bike was and they'd never seen anything like it. Gave me that warm fuzzy feeling.
 
Re: Rat Salad - 5/8 paint testing

So I eventually got the frame mostly down to bare metal, even that nasty stripper didnt want to take off the black base coat so I spent about 4 hours with the wire wheel and sandpaper getting it to this point. I still need to do some more sanding before the primer, but that will come later.


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coolest custom floor jack handle ever.


So what I wanted to do for the paint was something I tried a couple years ago painting model cars. At the time I had access to an airbrush and thinned down some nail polish with acetone and shot it. It worked surprisingly good, and is a reasonably cheap way to get pearls and flakes. For this I'm using the cheapo wal-mart "wet-n-wild" nail polish, pearl green with some green flake mixed 50/50 with some clear with big gold flakes in. Thined down to be sprayable with acetone. Shot out of a $8 disposable aresol spray thingie.

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I tried it in a spot test over silver and black, and was unimpressed with either. I didnt take pics, but now I'm thinking I just didnt put on a thick enough coat for what I want my end result to be. in these pics, I used about a bottle of nail polish to coat my jack handle, with yellow rustoleum as a base. the yellow didn't lay down super nice because I did no prep work before shooting it, and had a couple wrinkles. that was yesterday, today I shot the nail polish mixture over it which seemed to wrinkle a ton, but not along the whole length of the handle. therefore I'm thinking it was more a prep issue than an incompatibility issue. I had no trouble shooting over the silver and black, but i did shoot a thin layer of clear over that test before I shot the nail polish. I'm not dead set on the yellow base coat, and I'm thinking the silver would work better with enough coats of the nail polish. What do you guys think? Is the yellow working out?

In the sun
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in the shade
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close up on the wrinkling
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Re: Rat Salad - 5/8 paint testing

layed on some thick clear real quick, dont know how much different it looks in the pics but in person the texture looks kind of cool with the glass smooth surface of the clear

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Re: Rat Salad - 5/8 paint testing

oh dang, I bet the wrinkling is because I layed it on all at once. the acetone thinner didn't flash dry at all and got into the yellow basecoat. I just have to not be in a hurry next time
 
Re: Rat Salad - 5/8 paint testing

paint experiment = FAIL

this method can net a sweet finish on a model car, but even after some enamel clear on top and letting it dry for 5 days it still peels off with a fingernail. I'm thinking about just having the paint shop mix me up some cans of snakeskin green pearl

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KISS, no fancy paint, but might still go for some detailing on the lugs
 
Re: Rat Salad - 5/8 paint testing

Here's an easier way to get the color your looking for. Use Duplicolr Metalcast, or Krylon Metals (both anodizing paints) over clean bare metal, or some silver base (Rustoleum works). Finish with Duplicolor Clear Effex glitter clear.

I'll attach some pics of the finished product. The shade of green (or whichever color you choose) is going to be bases on how much you put on.

http://s1085.photobucket.com/albums/j43 ... sen/Rodeo/

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Re: Rat Salad - 5/8 paint testing

Forgot to add that you may want to try something like the gold Metalcast under the green for the more yellow color your looking for.
 
Re: Rat Salad - 5/8 paint testing

wow that looks really good! I dont want the prizmatic glitter effect so much, but I'll buy a can of the green to do some color testing.

this guy on a minibike forum used the silver metalcast with yellow anodizing on top, me likey
http://www.oldminibikes.com/forum/gener ... ode-2.html
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Re: Rat Salad - 5/8 paint testing

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picked up these, nowhere in town seems to carry dupli-color but the auto parts store, which charges $11 a can!

Ive never seen the spray glitter paint before, impulse bought the luck green flavored one, then at the next stop found the citrus dream flavor. I'll test both with a silver base, glitter, transparent green, then clear side by side on an old set of forks
 
Re: Rat Salad - 5/8 paint testing

I like your signature! haha

Looks like you got the right ingredients, but consistency is going to be tough with these paints. I bet you can pull it off!
 
Re: Rat Salad - 5/8 paint testing

still working on the test piece, and dang! the glitter flake looks like it will turn out good but need 10 coats of clear to cover!
 
Re: Rat Salad - 5/8 paint testing

I remember doing rattle can metal flake paint jobs on bikes as a kid. I am looking forward to your finished paint job.
 

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