Paint prep course

An essential part of paintwork is preparation.
It's no rocket science but it does take some skill and knowledge.

Lots of people are experimenting with paint, often with mixed results. If you want to learn how to prepare your tins to have a good base for those pretty kolors, here's your chance to learn from a pro! Even if you don't do any painting yourself, you can save money on your paintjobs by doing the prep work yourself!

I will start courses in paint preparation soon in my workshop in Huissen (between Arnhem and Nijmegen).

What?
You can bring your own part, like a tank, fender etc. which is rusty, dented, welded etc.

What are we going to do?
-judging old paint-layers
-cleaning and degreasing
-taking care of rust
-sanding
-masking
-spraying primer
-filling

How long does it take?
Two saturdays, from 10.00 to 17.00 hr

How much does it cost?
175 euro per person.

Who?
Maximum of 6 people, under my supervision.

What do you get out of it?
-After two days, your part is ready for paint.
-You now have the skills to prepare your own tins.
-Materials are included in the price and you will be taking home a goody bag with the following items (among others):
-degreaser
-sanding board
-sanding paper
-spraycan of primer
-spraycan of filler
-filler spatulas

In short: everything you need to start preparing your tins at home.

How to sign up?
Send me an email at bart@kustombart.com with your name, telephone number and a description and/or photo of the part you want to bring.

After this course, nothing will stand in the way of preparing your own tins in the comfort of your own home, so sign up!

We love you, sun.

Sun, sun,
it's so fun.

Clouds move out of the way,
Pretty girls come out to play.

People are in a good mood,
but it is understood,

that the best thing about the sun,
is the way it makes Metalflake shine, son!

Still got the blues...

Well, the dice have been cast. Door number three for this contestant.

That means taping off the panels and using the airbrush and some kandy, spraying fades.
Then taping the outlines...
And spraying them white.
And Presto!
Whaddaya think, kids?

The Blues

Here's some ideas I cooked up.

Panels fading from ligh to dark:
Panels fading from dark to light:
Panels faded to dark to the edges and outlined by silver or white.

What do you think?

I'm blue.

Doing some Kandy painting today on the sporty.
Last time, it was a very light blue and now I am going to add some blue transparant kolor to darken it.

Some time ago, a well known paint-mixer who worked at my paint-supple store, Tonny, died unexpectedly. He was the best at mixing kolors to match damaged paintwork. He had painted some kustom shit in the past and there was still some old Metalflake kandies and flakes left over from the 70's and early 80's. I got my greasy hands on that stuff and now it's mine, MINE I TELL YOU!!

There are some kolors there that are no longer made. For example, I have the new "Royal Blue" Kandy Koncentrate from Metalflake and I also have two older "Royal Blue" KK's. Three different kolors! On this project, I used the oldest Royal Blue (also the darkest, with a hint of purple), in some clear to darken up the sporty in 3 layers.
Then I peeled off the tape and cleared it.
Now I have to decide what to do with the light panels. Stay tuned for that! It will rock your world!

My Hero

This week I rolled the Green Machine into my workshop to prepare it for the Rockin' Jalopy show (21 november at Autotron Rosmalen). It needs some touch-up work on the paint, a new clearcoat on the top (california sunburn) and I will add some special paint.

On the last trip I noticed that the heater wasn't working. I soon dicovered that the heater control valve was pretty rusty. I looked up some parts websites but a replacement was expensive; around 250 euros! It's just a valve with two pipes attached so I decided to try to repair it. I visited a friend to ask for advice. He looked at the part and dug up a very similar looking one from his collection of parts. He wishes to remain anonymous but thanks, M! I have a working heater now, it just gets better and better with my van!

After that, I painted and striped the headlight for the Cross Chop and did some polishing on the tank and fender. It's ready to go!


Next time I will add some more colour to the blue sportster, see ya!

Flakey, flakey!

Hello boys and girls, it's your old pal Kustombart.

Ready for another episode of Kustombart's Special Paint?

Today's lesson involves an old Sporty tank. Two points for the student who can guess what kind of bike it's been mounted on in the past.
You can see part of the design Michiel (the owner) sketched on the side with a marker.
It's a bit dented and rusty and has been repaired and repainted several times before, judging by the numerous layers of filler and paint. It's not coming off, however, so I am gonna use it as a base to add even more filler and paint.

I sprayed a dark blue base before I taped off the design, making sure it is exactly the same on both sides of the tank.

Then I sprayed the panels in silver.
And then several layers of light blue flakes, mixed in a clear.
It needs to dry now. Tomorrow I will add some more clear, then drying again. After that, I will play with kandy to create several shades of blue.

Tune in next time to learn more about Kustombart's Special Paint!

Da Shizzle

Test-fitted the Cross Chop tins today. Made someone smile...

Cross Chop paintjob part three (revisited)

Last time I sprayed the black and white and wasn't completely happy with the layout of the paintjob, especially on the tank. The next day, I came back to finish it and immediately saw that things weren't right. So I bit the bullet and retaped the whole thing. I made the black stripes a little wider and changed the spacing slightly. Again with the white, taping the outlines, then the black.

In black and white it looks freaky, too!
But I decided to take the rest of the tape off, too. After some minor touch-up, I cleared it.

Watch out! The aliens are coming!

I re-did the fender as well.

I am finally happy with the end result. Next time, I will sand and polish the clear, then we'll finally see how it looks on the bike!