Western Sizzler X-53 Blue Light Special - More pics and Video

[Chad T]

I don't think stainless would have rust spots, but stick a magnet on it if you want to be sure.

There are a lot of different grades. I've seen stainless that would rust. (it shouldn't be pitted though) It will also be magnetic....but....it will still polish to a high luster...

This thread title was making me smell steak...now it makes me smell polyester.

 

[SwissGuy]

Today, on my way back from the beach, (aka Strandbad Wannsee) I saw this nice ride who instantly reminded me of your build. Not the bopper style, but the over all ratty vibe of it with the bare metal and the coloured accents...

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[kingfish254]

There are a lot of different grades. I've seen stainless that would rust. (it shouldn't be pitted though) It will also be magnetic....but....it will still polish to a high luster...

This thread title was making me smell steak...now it makes me smell polyester.

I know, I need to find an All-Pro head badge now!

 

[kingfish254]

Today, on my way back from the beach, (aka Strandbad Wannsee) I saw this nice ride who instantly reminded me of your build. Not the bopper style, but the over all ratty vibe of it with the bare metal and the coloured accents...

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Sick! You will like what I did with the fender.

 

[kingfish254]

Looks good raw.


I don't think stainless would have rust spots, but stick a magnet on it if you want to be sure.

I can't believe i forgot the old magnet trick especially since my alias is based on a boat. It is regular steel.

 

[kingfish254]

Agree. The switch to stainless made a huge difference. Brings together the design. Perhaps you could bring back a bit of the blue as a highlight on the tank, chainguard and skirts

That is the plan, same paint scheme, just no black on the tins.

 

[Dr. Tankenstein]

Without the sissy bar on there, the scalloped fender looks really clean. I guess my eye couldn’t ‘see’ it before.

Only 20% chance of rain for us today bud, ‘get ta sprayin’!




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[kingfish254]

Without the sissy bar on there, the scalloped fender looks really clean. I guess my eye couldn’t ‘see’ it before.

Only 20% chance of rain for us today bud, ‘get ta sprayin’!
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I noticed that too when i assembled it without it. Planning for a way to highlight the scallop a little.

I am working hard at taping spraying oopsing retaping spraying etc today

 

[kingfish254]

It may not look like it, but this was a BIG oops! I had to start over.

 

[SwissGuy]

It may not look like it, but this was a BIG oops! I had to start over.

View attachment 103028

Oops maybe, but I think, I like where you are heading...

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[The Renaissance Man]

Blue Light Special... takes me back to K-Mart as a kid.

Mmm

Pretty soon you're going to have to just abbreviate if you add any more to the name!
WSX53BLSFRS53WFX53

 

[kingfish254]

Blue Light Special... takes me back to K-Mart as a kid.

Mmm

Pretty soon you're going to have to just abbreviate if you add any more to the name!
WSX53BLSFRS53WFX53

I have so many fun memories from K-Mart. We had two Old Kmart and New Kmart. Unfortunately neither exist any longer.
I'm keeping the Blue Light Special in honor of the K-Mart we have lost , but I did shorten the title.

 

[kingfish254]

Busy day today. Woke up to clear skies (well non-raining skies), so I knew I needed to get some painting done while I could.

First off, I Tape-O-Shopped a mock up of what parts of the tins I wanted to paint with the Duplicolor Metalcase Anodized Blue.

I was happy enough to move forward so I removed all of the rear tins and broke out my cutting pad, exacto, and straight ruler to make some 1/4" tape to use to mask off the tins. I can never find skinny masking tape, and this has always worked great.

MISTAKE NUMBER ONE - I painted the skirt guard in a pattern that they would have used at the factory.

Laid on the coats of Metalcast

It was a huge let down when I unmasked the skirt. There was now WOW factor, you couldn't really tell it was an anodized look, it was dark, and the pattern was so blah.

I knew this was going to be even worse on the chainguard, because it was darker and more aged than the skirts. Why did it suck?????? I've used this paint before on Flexy in BO7 and it looked great. OOPS!!!!!

MISTAKE NUMBER TWO!! - If you use Metalcast on chrome it looks great, Just like my little test fender did

BUT!!!!! If you use it on no chrome, even bare metal, there isn't enough of a shiny base beneath the paint to give it the anodized look. I forgot that when I painted the bare metal fork on Flexy, I first had to paint it with metallic silver paint as a base.

 

[Klunkruiser]

Ah..?Like candy apple paint. Gold can sometimes give a richer color. But silver should be good with that blue.

 

[kingfish254]

Luckily I had some bright silver metallic paint on hand.

MAN O MAN what a difference it made. Guard with silver base, skirt without.

 

[kingfish254]

I liked the fender stripe in my Tape-O-Shopped mock up and started to think how to measure out and mask off a centered stripe. Then I thought, well this tape is the width I want, so why not center it first, then mask up to it as a reference.

Then pull the reference tape away for paint. I also added a little flare at the scalloped end of the fender.

 

[kingfish254]

Mistake 2 solved, so it was time to fix Mistake 1. I needed a paint pattern for the skirts that wasn't from Higgins. @OddJob had recommended not painting the raised metal stripes above the "vents". I thought that was sound advice, but felt I should still accent those raised sections. I loved how the fat long scallops looked on the chainguard, so I somewhat replicated those riding above and below the lower raised area on the left side skirt guard. I also was inspired by the scallop on the tank of the bare motorcycle that @SwissGuy posted above. So incorporated a sweeping scallop riding on top of the upper raised section. I also decided to paint the "vents" in a way that was scallop-like.

 

[kingfish254]

Had a blast putting this back together. The tank will have to wait. I ran out of daylight and Metalcast paint was low. I like where this sits so far though. Now I also need to turn my attention to Hurricane Dorian preparation.

 

[kingfish254]

I did get tank masked off for paint tonight though.

 

[OddJob]

Man, for it being 'Labor Day weekend' you sure got a lot of labor done!

Hope Dorian stays away and lets you play with paint at least one more day.

"Hurricane, go away. Come again some other day."
NOT~!