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| We all jump into a professional paint job sooner or later. It’s a mystery to most of us, an expensive mystery. As a young builder I hated to let any of my parts out of my rickety garage, even for an hour. I rebuilt engines, brakes, welded frames, rattle-canned my sheet metal, and if I could-I would have dipped my own chrome. In those days there were two types of paint: lacquer and enamel. No one used enamel except the Factory. I read every bike mag article on paint work and tried to do it myself. I did, but there were certain aspects of painting that I tried and failed at miserably, including pinstriping. I actually painted a couple of bikes, then took them to a pinstriper and sat there while he striped them. I was an impatient bastard who wanted to ride.
The other aspect of custom paint was the cost. Since I painted several scoots myself, and fucked up more than one paint job, I was acutely aware of the talent involved in painting, sheet metal fabrication, and paint preparation, including bondo work.
I failed to mention how badly I failed at sheet metal fabrication and body work. That’s a tremendous talent that can’t be mastered with the explanation of techniques. The eye and hand of the masters are the only ones that can do the job-some better that others. All the tools in the fuckin’ world and training can’t master the art of something as seemingly simple as dishing the sides of a Sportster tank. I could go through a crate of tanks and not get two sides to match.
This pile of words will explain the depth of work that goes into a variety of paint jobs from Al Martinez Body and Paint out in Orange, California. I will do my damnedest to explain each paint job in detail, however, the bottom line is the talent behind each piece of work. When you begin to understand the amount of work that goes into each job, you’ll have a clue as to what you’re paying for.
But that still leaves the talent out of the equation. Each step takes artistic ability, coupled with the knowledge of the paint characteristics, chemical know-how to mix the paint, and the ability to prepare the job for the coating process. Al’s been in the business 40 years, and the most difficult aspect of the business besides dealing with EPA regulations that restrict the types of paint he uses, and the new constantly changing chemical make-up of the paint, is developing and maintaining a bank of skillful artists. He is constantly on a talent search.
If the job involves a great distance and you don’t have a concrete notion of what the paint will look like or can’t send him an art sample, he will sometimes spray a sheet of steel metal and send it out, so that everyone’s on the same hue when he goes to final paint. Al uses exclusively PPG and House of Kolors paints. He often asks distant customers to go to their local paint shop and pick through PPG and H.O.K. catalogs and choose the color they’re after. Well, here goes: |
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Matching paint on crashed bikes:
When a dented job comes in the door it’s helpful to know who painted it originally and what types of paint they used. Sometimes they will sand through the paint to find out what makes up the finished product-what the base coat was. Then they need to match each color. It’s sometimes cheaper to paint the entire job over. Multicolored paint jobs and candies are the toughest. A candy color is not a flat color, so the more you paint with it, the darker the hue becomes. It’s difficult to know exactly how many coats went into a job.
When Al’s crew isn’t creating show-winning paint jobs, he has them painting sets of sheet metal for stock Softails mostly. They paint for exchange as many as 100 sets a month. Al’s discovered that most customers in today’s market are more concerned with time down than the cost of the job. Part of that equation is due to Al’s reasonable prices. He can take a stock sheet metal set, bead or sand blast it, bondo or fab it, prime the metal, block and prep it, and shoot basic colors, pearls or candies, and have the jobs waiting for the anxious rider when he walks in the door. Al has two booths: one heated and the other without heat. In the heated booths parts can be primed and painted and will set in one day. He uses it for the rush jobs. |
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Components:
Stock parts are preferable over aftermarket components. “With a Factory part we prime and prep it, spray on a sealer, and paint. Done deal,” said Al. “Aftermarket parts are often wavy, and contain numerous imperfections, which jacks up the prep and paint costs.” |
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| Champagne Gold Pattern:
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| Hang on, here’s my first attempt to explain a paint job from start to finish. I’ll have Al read over this in case I drop the catalyst in the paint way too soon. In each paint job case, the sheet metal is bondo’d and fabbed first, then primed, and block-sanded and prepped for shooting basic colors. In this case a champagne gold base was painted on the tank, then an inner-coat of clear. A coat of inter-clear-coat is shot to seal and set the color so they can handle and sand the paint. |
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| The next day it’s sanded with 1500 wet and dry, then the artist will tape off the pattern and make a tracing of the pattern for the other side of the tank. Now he works a low-tac transfer paper over the pattern and cuts out areas to be shot. After he airbrushes each pattern, he cleans the area covered by the transfer paper with solvent to pick up any adhesive residue. Then it’s sanded with 2000-grit paper, and polished. After it’s pinstriped they will spray on as many as six coats of clear. In order to give the job that slick feel even over thick stripes, the clear is put on like mud. Then, of course, it’s sanded, rubbed with cutting compound, and polished to a mirror finish. Ah, but that’s not all. Al’s crew then coats the edge of the gas cap hole with clear epoxy and paints the underside of the fenders with black semi-gloss or rubberized 3m underseal.
Wow, I’m fuckin’ blown away with the amount of work that went into that job. Each job is priced on artwork, time, and number of processes involved.
This is a $2,100 paint job. |
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| Shreds:
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Ah, as usual the masters of urethanes and acrylic lacquers fab, bondo, and prime each job. And in this case the next stage was a coat of blue pearl shimron House of Kolor paint. Al uses a great deal of House of Kolor products for specialty painting and PPG paints (PPG-DBC500) for clears and base coats. |
| Then the metal was shot with inter-clear and the whole surface covered in the transfer paper. The tanks are set at the angle they would be in on the bikes and the design laid out on the paper. Each shredded area is carefully cut out, then it’s sprayed white and blended with light yellow, orange, and red, followed with airbrush shading for dimension. The paper is peeled off and the surface solvent cleaned and regular clear sprayed over the surface, then sanded. Violet pinstriping accented the jagged appearance, then more airbrush work followed by six coats of clear urethane. And, of course, the whole job was sanded, rubbed out, and polished for a $2,200 job. |
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| Candy Red Tank With Bone Tribal Skull:
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| How am I doing so far? Does this make sense? Are you getting the picture, or should I mosey out to the garage and get to work on my own bike, and forget tryin’ to explain this? Again, this project began with the fab, bondo, prime, and sand routine. Keep in mind that fab can contain items like adding louvers, shaving rivets, frenching the fender, or rolling it. It all takes a special talent. |
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This tank was originally sprayed with a silver base. Then its surface got coats of candy until the desired shade was reached, then the job was shot with inter-coat clear, and the entire job covered in the transfer paper. The artist then drew the pattern in place and peeled the paper where he needed to airbrush. He then traced the original side and made a duplicate pattern for the other side. Then he pulled the paper off where he needed to spray the bone with a flesh color, then he airbrushed it for depth and dimension. The paint will allow him to pencil sketch the teeth in place. He then airbrushed the teeth and removed the pencil material. He airbrushed the cracks in the bones. Then the paper was removed, the surface cleaned, clear sprayed in coats and between each the surface was sanded until the surface was smooth, and no ridges apparent. Then the job was sanded a final time, rubbed out, and polished.
This job is priced at $3,200 to $3,500, primarily due to the artistic talent involved. |
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| Devil Woman Or Varga Style Girls:
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| I like this one. I like the babe. I’d like to peel that vinyl outfit off her and…, excuse me. I’ll get back to the job at hand. This succulent job was kicked off with a black base once the prep was handled. Then the artist taped the tank and drew the woman in place. Then he opened where her outfit was and painted the red, then the black hair, and finally the skin area. I’m getting hot. I need to get a glass of cold water. Then the artist airbrushed the creases in the outfit and the sensual details on the girl-there I go again. Pardon me. I need a break. Sheila, are you still in bed? I’m coming back. |
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| All right, I’m back and feeling loose. So where was I? Oh, then the artist returns to the girl and masks her with tape or paper, and airbrushes the flames. Then the tape is removed and the job cleared, sanded, cleared, sanded, cleared, and sanded until happy hour approaches when the final finish is sanded and polished to a glistening glow. Each set of girls can run from $400 to $600. |
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| Silver Geiger skulls and flames:
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| Man, I’m getting hungry, so I’ll step it up a tad. This job, after fab and prep, was shot with a silver base, then inter-clear, then taped and the flames drawn in place. First the artist opened the areas to be airbrushed with the skulls. He sketched the Geiger style artwork in place and airbrushed it. Then it was coated with clear, sanded, and pinstriped. Then the fenders were cleaned with solvent and cleared. At that point, if the customer decided on a color rather than silver, a candy was shot over the entire job. Coats would be shot until the desired hue was discovered. |
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| Since this type of job is art intensive and packed with detail, the cost goes up to $3,000 or more depending on the amount of detail. |
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| Air Cleaner with Harlequin Paint:
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| This puppy has a lot going on. Its life was started with a silver base, after the prep, prime, and sand routine. Then it was masked with paper and shot with House of Kolor marbleizer paint, then the jagged concrete panels were airbrushed. Then the entire job was masked again and cutouts made for the shredded harlequin paint. Once the areas were peeled, a black base was shot then, the harlequin color. |
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There are now 12 types of harlequin paint schemes and in this case, purple to red was the chosen hue. It was sprayed on in three delicate passes. It’s a real thin material, like Cool Aid. It costs $38 an ounce and Al likes to use it for accenting, but not overall paint jobs. The harlequin material alone can cost $350 for one bike. |
| This job was then completely peeled and shot with several inter- clear, sanded, and pinstriped. Then coats of clear were sprayed and the surface sanded between each. Then, of course, the whole enchilada was sanded, rubbed, and polished. |
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| Purple Graphic:
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| This is one of my favorites. I like the strong, subtle type of paint work. In this case Al put together a drawing for the customer and shipped it to him with sprayed color samples. This job, believe it or not, began with a silver base, then masking and cutouts for marbleizer stripes, which were smeared with rubber gloves for a different effect, then harlequin stripes and finally pinstriping. |
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| Note that this finish appears almost totally black, but it isn’t. It’s a candy purple, but many layers were sprayed on the surface to give it that deep dark appearance. Then there were tons of clear applied between sanding regimes, then final polishing. Value approximately $2,000 to $2,400. |
| That’s it. We hope we’ve given you enough examples to judge how much effort, time, and talent will go into your paint job and about how much you may be spending on it. It’s a fascinating process that brings you true one-of-a-kind art to a functioning entity such as a bike, sorta like riding a Rembrant around town. And with today’s paint materials, the finish is more durable and longer lasting than chrome in some respects.
For more information or if you want to step up to the plate and order a paint job, call Al at (714) 288-6700 or visit www.almartinezpaint.com. |
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