Project xs750 lowrider

Well, still at it. Each coat of drywall filler gets me closer to a perfectly smooth replica plug for my fiberglass molds. You can see in the first photo that I'm able to sand it down very easily using 220 grit sandpaper and smoothing it with 400 grit sandpaper after. After it has been sanded, I spray it with a xylene based primer. This seems to "afix" the drywall so that when I add the next layer of topping compound, it does not sand through the previous layers of drywall compound because it has been "fixed" by the xylene primer... a nice trick that I just learned. In the second pic, you can see the rough spots and flaws. I won't stop till this plug is perfect.
 

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Put another coat of filler on the gasoline tank no pictures. I'll post some later today when the filler is dry and I begin the sanding process.
 
john83 said:
In your big post you mentioned being inspired by real builders at Sturgis. I’m inspired by builds like yours. Guys who just have some know-how and determination. Watching someone keep plugging along to get the bike they want is great.

I'm with you John. There are loads of builds going on that really inspire me and yours Markie is absolutely one of them. I watch those TV shows all the time as well ("Bikes! Cars! Trucks!" my wife says when I'm in front of the telly) and really enjoy watching people build stuff. I'm really enjoying this thread mate, and look forward to hearing that you're barrelling down the road on the bike you built yourself. Doesn't get any better!
 
Thanks... there are so many great bikes here. I look at the attention to detail, the creativity, the plain old passion... it inspires me. One of my friends asked me if I wanted to sell this motorcycle sometime in the future and how much I would take for it. I smiled to myself because I knew in my mind, I would never sell this bike to anyone else. It's mine. LOL! You build it, you ride it. Thanks again... HUMBLED by the comments.
 
Add filler, shape, dry, sand, smooth, prime in order to affix the newly added filler... then repeat and fade. Can do this twice per day because of the required drying time. However, it is very smooth and soon will be almost perfectly symmetrical. I am rounding all lines down and away from the future locations of my mold parting joints. As much as I want simplicity, the top will require four female composite molds, and the tunnel one female composite mold. (Five instead of three.) I just don't want to run the risk of not being able to wrestle the parts from out of the molds. Splitting the top portion of the fiberglass gas tank into four sections rather than two will assure that every piece will slide out of the molds easily. After this much time and effort, I just don't want to take any chances. I will put in the extra time to make extra molds to be certain that there is not a problem in building replicas of this finished tank plug. Good day.
 

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Just in time for the fabrication of the tank. The new gas cap has arrived this afternoon. Great timing.
 

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I am enjoying watching you work. Your determination for best possible and the speed of this build, very impressive. I like the gas cap. Thanks for posting
 
Not much to report today. I have a lot of things going on now that winter is over and the snow is gone. In shaping the final form of the tank, I am only able to do two filler applications per day due to drying time pf the filler amd primer. There is still some shaping to do... I want the tank to be perfectly symmetrical. Plus, the tank needs to slope down and away from each fiberglass mold parting joint... so it's just slowly move forward. So, I just keep plugging away... no pun intended, and when I get to the epoxy sealer stage, I'll post pics. I hope to be sealing this plug with epoxy by Saturday. Good day today
 
Okay, I did something today that I don't normally do. I didn't mention it in my last post because I thought it was goofy. I decided to do something out of the order in which it should be done. I did it out of order because I've been wrestling with this question, how much red is too much red? So after my last shaping session with fillers and primers I examined the tank and was 99% happy with the shaping and the smoothness of the tank. So I decided to spray a red base coat on it so I could just get some sort of idea in my head how to visualize the final effect of a red bike with red tank red fenders red frame red swingarm red wheels and red engine.

Bear this in mind. When I was a young man one of my first motorcycles was a Honda CR 250 motocross bike. Same thing, red tank, red fenders, red frame, red engine... only the tires were black rims were silver, handlebars were chrome, and a bolts and hardware were chromed. I loved that bike! I mean I loved it! It was fast, and it was red.

So I'm going to ask for a little help and a few comments. Due to my major obsessive love of the color red... I don't think my perspective is unbiased. Thoughts on a bike with so much red? Everything on the engine like side covers, carburetors, dual overhead cam covers, shocks, axles bolts, etc. will be chromed. The carburetors will be polished... but will that be enough to overcome all the red? Let me know what you think. It's definitely red now.
 

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Thoughts on a bike with so much red?

I was a bit skeptical about the bike to start with, but I think all the red works well, and ties it all together. Hope the Yamaha tank logo is chrome not gold though!
Bottom line is that it is whatever works for you! It is your bike.
 
Personally I think you should put some white side panels on the tank to break it up a bit. It is not so much the fact that there is too much red but that there is too much of one colour. All the black bikes with no other colours don't look quite right to me either.
 
I have been absent for a week and haven't done any work. I've been helping with some health issues of a family member. Thanks for the tips and ideas guys. I think that I agree with Brodie... the color needs to be broken up a little with some type of graphics. I don't know about white panels, but maybe black panels with white pin-striping.... similar to the bike featured on the Dime City Cycle ad/header at the top of the forum page. I'll try to get back to the shop soon. Warm regards to all.
 
john83 said:
Ever get it finished?


Sent from my iPhone using DO THE TON

+1.

also john, you and mike need to fist fight over who gets to use that as an avatar haha Now I have to "read" to know who is who... This is outta control lol
 
Ha. I look and say when did I type that? Ill change mibe when they pull all the hardware out to something else.
 
Mike is the one who gave me the idea. Besides, I’m just showing off my wealth. That titanium in my leg is probably one of the most expensive things I own.


Sent from my iPhone using DO THE TON
 
haha you both know I kid. no one ever needs to change an avatar on my account. Better believe if I ever have an xray like that, ill be using it as my avatar.
 
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