I was Given a Batavus Moped tank by a friend of mine and I needed an upgrade from the 2 litter tank that comes with the kits. And of course I wasn't gonna leave it a rusted yellow. So I Painted it with Spray paints and a stencil that I created . In here I will give the steps that I took to achieve this paint job.
1 : Strip the tank down to bare metal with a wire brush and Dye grinder to ruff it up afterwards so the primer will stick to the body of the tank.
2: Apply a light dusting of primer and wait 30 minutes. Apply second coat and wait again , third coat apply a good coverage and let sit over night.
3: After curing over night, Primer should be set firm on tank, you are now ready to apply the base coat . This is Usually the lightest color and you should just cover the whole tank. ( I do it Opposite so I can see the area I want and plan) .. Let cure over night
4 mask off the area that you don't want painted the secondary color ( that is if you are not just sticking with an over all 1 color paint job) trim curves with an exacto knife and peel excess tape off. Then Spray your secondary color starting off with a light coat first and second round then applying evenly over the entire tank.
5: Peel off tape and you have your back drop cured and set . Then proceed to mask off the entire tank other than the areas that you want to paint the flames in.
6: Cut a stencil of flames and hold up to unmasked area and go very light over the stencil once not too light but not too heavy causing the dark in the circle area of the flame and lighter at the tips of the flames. Let dry then proceed to next set of flames to be placed ( if you do not wait for it to dry You can mess up the flames you just painted , allow 30 minutes in between each set of flames you paint with stencil before painting in same areas)
7: After you have achieved the look that you are aiming for, proceed to clear coat your tank. Light coat first , let tack, then apply the next coat at a medium coat, and the last coat apply generously , but not so much that you get runs .
Let dry over night and a new tank is reborn. All this is done with flat black , etched primer, and silver . If you want the motorbicycling in your paint job Apply at any point that it is the color that you want it to be . after its painted and set then pull off the decal ( PROVIDED BY ADMINISTRATOR PAUL ) Then when all done just clear your tank with FUEL SAFE clear coat.
I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial in spray can painting of a tank and if you feel that you don't want to do this but want a custom tank , I provide services , just drop me a PM.
