I did this junk sketch about 4 years ago for Lucky's Choppers out of Seattle. They're into mostly big tire bikesand I was hoping they would build this concept…280 or 300 rear and VERY compact, with a steep rake, tall narrow apesand one of my shortened factory springers with a full blown Conder Custom 'Flake job.
They answered with this. It was a Trethewey striped, Conder Custom satin black painted piece that had a Freddy springer and 33 degree rake.It turned out cool (sorry, no pictures, go to http://www.luckyschoppers.com or check out The Horse to see it.) So, a few years laterJohn Barnes, who sells me my paint here in Sonoma comes into my shop to hang out and sees these sketches hanging on the wall.
He was like…”DAMN.” So we strike a deal and now I get to build and paint my version of this thing. John buys his motorcycle partsfrom Doran Bensen over at Extreme Custom Iron in Rohnert Park, and Doran loved the concept so much he started building HISversion of it as well. Ya cain't go wrong with short, fat and stubby. Just ask my wife…
So, this is my version of it almost ready to paint (roughly 300 man-hours later.) The coolest part about this bike wasJohn Barnes' idea…He loves my crazy ass candy 'flake paint and asked me to buildthe bike as simple as possible, with everything designed to showcase the paint jobon the gas tank.
Man, that was one hell of a compliment. So, here we go… – Thanks John!
As usual, every joint was molded and shaped with very minimal bondo. For my jobs, I try to stay away from blobbing it on and”sculpting” the filler. It keeps the frame nice and crisp looking. This was followed up with high build primer and lots of wet sanding.
NOTE: I use very high quality materials, not because I'm “stuck-up” or “fancy”, but because paint is a very volatile process. All these chemicalsdon't respond very well to shortcuts and corner cutting. I've found a combination that works great, causing me very little grief or re-dos.High quality paint is also insanely durable, which works fantastic for all you guys who ride millions of hard miles in extreme weatherwhile being chased by cops with that !@#$in' porn star's ass rubbing on the fender.If you want the brand of paints I use, e-mail me and I'll be happy to fill you in…
After wet sanding and detailing, the frame was sprayed with gloss black single stage paintfor a base. The reason for this is, high gloss shows up any imperfections in the bodywork,and it can be top coated with anything at any time. 2-part base coat colors have a top-coating”window” or time limit before you add more paint. If my base color for a job needs a base coatcolor, I ALWAYS put 2 coats of clear over it. Then that is wet sanded for graphics with 320 wet.
The 2 coats of clear allow more time between coats, but most importantly, protects the base color from my knife. Number of paint coats so far…
*2 coats of epoxy sealer over the etched bare metal.
*3 coats of high build primer (at least one coat gets wet sanded back off.)
*2 coats of gloss black single stage.
Normally, I don't like to sign my name huge on the work, but John wanted me to and that meanttrying to find a way to work it into the bike design…Von Dutch is my number one hero, so I thoughtI'd rip off his flyin' eyeball and change it around a bit. I'm using the symbol for northern Californiaas an eye (a beveled star), then I'll spell out “Conder Custom” in the wings. This'll go on the steering head.
I never do tight sketches for paint design unless the customer is really worried andneeds to see it before it goes down. In this case I'm just doing what I call “junk” sketches…
I sketched this out on the transfer paper vinyl sign companies use. It has a very light glue on the backand leaves a clean edge after the image is cut and sprayed. Now's a good time to bring thisnext part up…
While working in Seattle I was exposed to all the fantastic hand-blown glass artists up there. I could not believethe incredible richness and depth transparent colored glass had. So now, most of my paint jobs involve many layersof Candy, 'Flake, pearl, gold leaf etc. in an attempt to get that depth and richness artisan glass has. I use an X-actoknife with a #11 blade to cut masks for nearly everything.
When this technique is used, outline work has no limit. Candies, pearls and even metalflake can beused anywhere in the job. The only problem is, if you make one wrong cut, (especially with transparentpaint like Candy) that's it. There's no covering up the mistake with out re-doing that part of the design.In other words, if you fuck up you can't wipe it off! This style is labor intense and very expensive, with upto 40 coats of paint gradually applied.
I know, It's fucking NUTS…but it's home.
Here's the top of the rear fender sketch, with the seat back rest in the center. It's an abstract crownwith flames. The following work may look super busy, (which will detract from making the tankthe focal point of the bike) but bear with me…
All lay-outs start simple. I put down a center line to help the design be symmetrical and give mea place to start. I'm using 1/16th inch plastic tape here on a thoroughly wet sanded (320 grit)surface that has been wiped down with wax and grease remover.
I don't use patterns for lay-out, but alternate side to side with each tape line to help keep things even.
As you can see in this picture, my daughter Audrey Odalene (the best helper I've ever had)is using a Speedball ink roller to burnish down the tape, ensuring a clean crisp line whensprayed.
…and here we are, the rear fender crown and flames ready for candy red over gold pearl.
I fuckin' love this stage. Everything looks wicked taped out. Here are few more pictures…
The tank isn't going to get the same paint as the rest of the bike. Man, I could stare at those flames all day…and I often do.
I'll be back when it's time to spray. – Later Cousin
Wanna go directly to Part Two? Click Here.
