Rata del Rio Concho: 1955 Huffy father/son project.

[Missing Link]

I got the rivet holes welded up and ground.

Then got the first coat of primer shot with a little help from Batman.

We ran out of red primer half way through the fork so we switched to grey, same primer different color, it should look cool when the paint chips over time.

We'll do the second coat on the frame in grey as well.

 

[Missing Link]

We had a slight misunderstanding as to how far away from the object you're painting you need to stand when you use spraypaint. So I had to sand the fork down and start over, or do I?

Maybe do the same treatment on the frame? A little peroxide and vinegar? Clear coat or not. Maybe this mishap is one of life's (and bicycle building's) happy accidents.

 

[Missing Link]

Things went a little better with the frame, but I still plan on roughing it up and giving it some rust.

I rarely build bikes with paint and my plans for this involves it being the beater I throw on the back of the car when we hit the state park or just something for cruising down to the river. In my experience if I spend a lot of time on a nice paint job I tend to baby the bike. I don't want that, I want to have fun and not worry if I chip the paint. Besides, the chrome is a little pitted, the wheels are ratty, perfect paint would be lipstick on a pig.

 

[G-Matt]

Little Bat Man can really raise some havoc with a rattle can . But you got to start some where boy wonder .... ka-pow[emoji95]
Looking good Dad


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[Missing Link]

Early morning today, had to take Tormund, the ginger stray kitten we rescued during BO11 to Dr. Hackeysack's to get neutered. So after dropping him off at the vet and a quick grocery run, we came home and looked at pictures of green rat rods to get an idea of how to procede, he liked this one;

So out to the shop, a little Tiger Army on the stereo, a little steel wool...

Progress

 

[Missing Link]

Quicky mock up with the fork and wheels, and a little snuggle time with Belle, our shop cat.

 

[G-Matt]

Looks good l like the color combo & it's always good
To have a shop cat keeping them rat bikes under control [emoji232]


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[Missing Link]

Looks good l like the color combo & it's always good
To have a shop cat keeping them rat bikes under control

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Thanks man. After the fork paint incident I remembered the finish you did on "Swamp Dog" and figured I'd give it a shot. I guess running out of red primer ended up being a blessing even though there wasn't enough grey to completely cover the frame, hence it's redness after the sanding.

 

[Missing Link]

Teach a boy to rat...

...and the sins of the father will be returned upon the son two fold.

Henry asked for more steel wool and I told him where it was and didn't notice when he got a piece of #3, so we ended up with some cool cross hatching that really fits this bike, it'll really look cool when the rust sets in. I'll have to remember that myself in the future. See even at 6 years old he's teaching the teacher. Way to go H-Bomb.

 

[Missing Link]

After all was said and done we did a little mock-up w/wheels seat, bars, rack(?), etc.

 

[G-Matt]

If your looking to speed up the rust process. Try 1 part water 1 part vinegar 1 part hydrogen peroxide & a couple spoons of salt . Put it in a squirt bottle . And you will see rust happen almost before your eyes . Your boy may like that too . Rust in peace rat rod ....


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[G-Matt]

Thanks man. After the fork paint incident I remembered the finish you did on "Swamp Dog" and figured I'd give it a shot. I guess running out of red primer ended up being a blessing even though there wasn't enough grey to completely cover the frame, hence it's redness after the sanding.

Thanks , ya on the Swamp Dog I used 3 color but basically only sanded out two colors I used a. Scotch bright pad to sand it worked well it wasn't to aggressive and blended the colored well . You two look your having a lot of fun teaching each other your own techniques [emoji1303]


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[Missing Link]

If your looking to speed up the rust process. Try 1 part water 1 part vinegar 1 part hydrogen peroxide & a couple spoons of salt . Put it in a squirt bottle . And you will see rust happen almost before your eyes . Your boy may like that too . Rust in peace rat rod ....


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Oh trust me, I'm no stranger to forced patina, my recipe is a little different from yours, yet quite similar, thanks. I may give your's a try this time around.

 

[Muttley]

Early morning today, had to take Tormund, the ginger stray kitten we rescued during BO11 to Dr. Hackeysack's to get neutered. So after dropping him off at the vet and a quick grocery run, we came home and looked at pictures of green rat rods to get an idea of how to procede, he liked this one:

That car is as phony as a three dollar bill................it's fiberglass.

 

[Missing Link]

That car is as phony as a three dollar bill................it's fiberglass.

6 year olds don't tend to be sticklers for the details on the authenticity of a car, but yeah that's totally a glass body and faux patina. But we're doing faux patina on a freshly stripped and repainted steel frame so... us mofauxs gotta stick together lol.

 

[OddJob]

If your looking to speed up the rust process. Try 1 part water 1 part vinegar 1 part hydrogen peroxide & a couple spoons of salt . Put it in a squirt bottle . And you will see rust happen almost before your eyes . Your boy may like that too . Rust in peace rat rod ....


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Yep, that's a recipe for dis-rats-ter!

 

[OddJob]

6 year olds don't tend to be sticklers for the details on the authenticity of a car, but yeah that's totally a glass body and faux patina. But we're doing faux patina on a freshly stripped and repainted steel frame so... us mofauxs gotta stick together lol.

mofauxs....I'm gonna use that one!

 

[LukeTheJoker]

That patina looks good!

 

[Missing Link]

Over the weekend we've been etching the frame with white vinegar.

It produces what looks like a dark rust, but it's completely superficial, if you were to spray it down with a hose, most of it would wash off. But it sets it up for phase 2; hydrogen peroxide.

We're using straight hydrogen peroxide in a spray bottle. We're going to spray it down every time we're outside over the next week or so and see where it goes from there.
I ordered grips, tires and pedals, the other day, by the time they get here we shouldd have the wheels cleaned and trued along with cleaning up the hardware, bearings, etc., pretty much a lot of scrubbing and other boring stuff. I hope I can keep Henry interested.

 

[Dr. Tankenstein]

Love this bike and thread!


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