........ it's like some waiting ghost that loves to spoil things the more you are seeing the end in sight. "Walk away from the light..."
The decals have turned into a major pain. There are two kinds of water slide decal paper - one for ink jet and another for color copier/laser copier. I went with the latter. Apparently home ink jet printers are going the way of the dinosaur and I have read many online posts of others using color copiers at Kinko's, etc. with success. I thought my biggest issue would be UV damage over time and what clear coat might be effective to help block it. Actually, I can't get that far yet! After a total of I'd guess 12 hours cleaning up that image in Photoshop I might be forced to hand-paint this logo after all. Kinko's wrinkled three pages, Office Depot says they had jams before with decal paper and that their color machines were the same as Kinko's(I opted to pass). A local sign company tried but their ink was water based and never dried OR they had an ink jet(wrong for my paper) and wouldn't say so. Two more sheets gone. The Kinko's copies made almost one full logo before jamming. The unfinished part was yellow powder that smeared but the completed part of the logo was not only nice and bright but water proof as well. The sign company's showed the black and grey but the red beaded up as if on wax paper. Two days later it still smears to the touch. They did almost convince me to go with thin vinyl logos.... almost. That will be a LAST resort. Vinyl will last longer than any other part of the bike and might show it. If I was going with a thick clear coat or an overly glossy street rod look it would be fine.
Here are a few of the mishaps.
To the left are the color copies on paper I had them do each time (as a test). Kinko's was significantly brighter than the sign company's. Then you can see two from Kinko's. The employee tossed the first one. Next are the still-wet ones from the sign company. I ran water over the corner of a Kinko's copy and it stayed true. The ink from the sign company's copy just ran off like water - even the set-looking grey and black. They look almost like the reverse side of decals don't they? That's how weak and faded the red is.
More issues. After some time-consuming fabrication of the floor boards, I think I will ditch them in favor of pedals. A friend said, "They look a little big for the bike." That's all it took. I have to agree but on the original street bike and stripped stock racers, they were closer in as the motor was quite a bit narrower. I think it might detract from the theme of the bike. The floor boards themselves are not too wide but the brackets are..... and I made them wider yet to allow room for the boards to fold up out of the way or collapse if/when the bike falls over. What do you think? Any last votes to keep them?
I made a new stem bolt today. I basically brazed a "cap" over the existing turned down bolt and then milled the eight sides and turned a radius on the end. Looks much more like the original and better fits the beefy stem.
Oh and BTW, a Mesinger Motorcycle Racer in high upturn brown is on order with Larry Heilman.
To the left are the color copies on paper I had them do each time (as a test). Kinko's was significantly brighter than the sign company's. Then you can see two from Kinko's. The employee tossed the first one. Next are the still-wet ones from the sign company. I ran water over the corner of a Kinko's copy and it stayed true. The ink from the sign company's copy just ran off like water - even the set-looking grey and black. They look almost like the reverse side of decals don't they? That's how weak and faded the red is.
More issues. After some time-consuming fabrication of the floor boards, I think I will ditch them in favor of pedals. A friend said, "They look a little big for the bike." That's all it took. I have to agree but on the original street bike and stripped stock racers, they were closer in as the motor was quite a bit narrower. I think it might detract from the theme of the bike. The floor boards themselves are not too wide but the brackets are..... and I made them wider yet to allow room for the boards to fold up out of the way or collapse if/when the bike falls over. What do you think? Any last votes to keep them?
I made a new stem bolt today. I basically brazed a "cap" over the existing turned down bolt and then milled the eight sides and turned a radius on the end. Looks much more like the original and better fits the beefy stem.
Oh and BTW, a Mesinger Motorcycle Racer in high upturn brown is on order with Larry Heilman.
