Sketching...

for the haunted house design.

The Mother of all Murals.

I've been doing murals now and again for some years but this one takes the cake for sheer size. It's a new assignment: painting a haunted house fairground attraction.
This is how it has looked since it was built in 1973:

It's not REALLY scary, more like Disney-scary. It was built by some guy on a truck-trailer, using a steel frame with aluminium panels pop-riveted to it. Over the years, the paint has faded and cracked and some pieces of the frame have rusted away. So when current owner Reymond of Circus Remundo bought it, it was time for a restauration.

I got carte blanche on the design (whoopee!) and started pouring some of my dark fantasies into sketches. It turned out part Escher, part Dali and part Kustombart. I got the go-ahead and after ordering massive amounts of primer, filler, basecoat and clear, I started today by spraying primer on some of the pieces. I tinted the primer so it will act as a base-kolor onto which I can spray details.

That's me, spraying primer on a scary, twisted ladder. You can get an idea of the humungosity of the thing. The picture was taken by Reymond, standing halfway along the length of the thing and right now the top part is removed so it fits into the hangar!

Tomorrow I'll continue with the primers, hopefully laying down all of the base kolors, after that, I'l start on the details. I'll keep yous-all posted.

Goodies!

Santa has come early this year and I've been a good boy. No really!
Check this out: some vinyl murals to sticl on the side of your van, for instantcoolness, two license frames, wire wheel style, (check out the little spinners, as well!) and a scroll striping decal set.

And then, my precious! These will go onto the Green Machine, baby!

Here's one I prepared earlier

Here's a Bike I painted in the spring. Never got to see the bike completely built up. Luckily there's always folks like Onno Wieringa of Madness Photograpy who took some snaps of it when it was entered for the Bigtwin Bikeshow, a few weeks ago.

Here's the finished frame and tank in silver flakes with blue kandy and pearl white outlines just before I delivered it to the customer.

And here it is at the show:

This pic below is not by Onno but you get a better view from the top.

Hopefully, there will be more 70s choppers to paint in 2011!

Pondering Flares

The fender flares and front spoiler on the Green Machine are cracked in several places and the paint's chipped and scratched too. Luckily they are only bolted on so I think I'll take em off this winter to repair the 'glass. Matching the original green kolor is proving to be a hassle. It's a kustom-mixed base kolor topped by clear with silver & gold flakes mixed in, faded by 25 years of So-Cal sunshine. Try to match that!

I ran into this problem when I wanted to respray the faded roof. I just mixed a new shade of dark pearl green for that and I'm thinking of using that for the flares as well. I'll probably also switch the amber lights for clear ones.
Here's how it looks now:

 And here's a photochop of the new kolor on the flares.

Tell me what you think, I'm open for suggestions!

Also, I'm still looking for replacement clear sidemarker lights! Anyone know of some that fit?

I need it!

Chrome taillight bezels for 1971-1977 Dodge Tradesman or portsman. Let me know if you got some or know of some.

Make that ass look even better!

Oh yeah, and clear lenses for the side-marker lights.

That's why I don't drive my van during the winter.

You can almost hear the rust eating away at the sheet metal.

Hit the deck!

Here's some skateboard decks designed by Jason Cruz, featuring his own van, the Dice van and the Green Machine. Yowza!

It's the Wheel Deal!

I was at the Rockin Jalopy's Motorama show the other weekend and my neighbour was the ever friendly Jack Hammer, who sells all kinds of bolt-on goodies.

He had some bitchen' Grant Metalflake steering wheels. I had my eye on a green one and the kolor seemed to magically match the green flaked panels on my van. I scooped it up and took it home. I already had a wood Grant wheel so mounting the new one was easy-peasy.

It looks great! Can't wait to drive it!

Unfortunately, winter has landed in the Low Countries. That means salt on the roads and all kinds of wetness and grime. That does not go well with the pristine So-Cal untreated floors, sills and chassis of the Green Machine. So it will stay indoors until all the snow and salt have disappeared. Bummer.

Because two steering wheels is a bit over the top, even for a show van, my vintage Grant wooden steering wheel is for sale:

It's in excellent condition. Chrome is good, wood is not cracked or dried out. The wood could do with a good cleaning and some oil. Will make a great addition to any Custom Van.
Mail me for pricing.

Help Wanted

My Tatra 603 has been sitting idle for almost two years now. I took apart the gearbox and I haven't got the tools or time to put it back together.

It's very similar to a VW box. It also has the engine behind the rear wheels and swingaxles connected to the box.

I have all the parts needed to put it back together but it needs adjustment of the diff and outgoing axle. If I can't put it back together I'll have to sell this car eventually.

I need someone who has the tools and skills to put it back together. Will pay or swap for paintjob! Please help!

Here's a short film of my first drive after restoring brakes & sorting out electrics:

Listen to that V8 go! Help me get this thing back on the road!

Getting there

The hardtail I painted is almost finished. Here's some bad photo's of it.

And I test fitted the XS650 tins I finished this week. Turned out good, I think. More bad pics:

The rear fender will be fitted under the seatrail of course, but you have to take out the rear wheel to do that and I couldn't be bothered at the time. Take some better pics when the bike's finished. No really.

XS650 update

Scallops in aztec gold, tangerine and rootbeer kandy.

Still need to do small touch ups on tape bleed-through and some more clear and polishing. Will post better pics in time.

XS650

Another XS650 built by Short Cut Choppers for a customer. This one is going to be low and fat. The king sportster tank fits this bike very well. I did some sketching and got the approval for some slender scallops.

Took the tins home and after some filling and shaping, laid some very fine metallic gunmetal grey on them.

I'll pobably use some aztec gold, tangerine and rootbeer for the scallops. Next time!

UFO sighting

Hey Y'all.

Finished my UFO project. I painted an electric heater that looks like a UFO.

I put it back together, added some lights and a Tiki shifter knob I had lying around. The bubble top is a plastic wineglass, with the stem cut off.

Working on another XS650 now. 's Gonna be gunmetal grey pearl with some pretty kolors. Keep ya posted!

Go speedracer!

Do you ever get one of those days where it seems you're going 100 mph even though you're stone cold sober?
I had a day like that today.
Lemme tell you all about it.

First, I finished a Honda tank in a very bright green. It's a copy of a damaged tank so alas, no creativity but a nice result anyway, when you think I had to custom mix the color to match the existing one!

In between layers, while waiting for the paint to dry, I did some silver leafing. I started painting this sportster months ago to try some cobbwebbing techniques but due to a busy schedule, never got around to finishing it.

First I sprayed glue on the taped off parts like so:

Here you can see the glue after removing the tape, this is where the silver is gonna stick.

The glue has to dry for 3 hours so I picked up another project that had been lying around the workshop for months, my UFO. It started life as a small electric heater. When I found it, it looked suspiciously like a UFO to me. I built in some lights and the illusion was complete.

However, the light was too strong and the paint burned after it had been lit up for weeks.
So I decided to repaint it. First a metallic silver with some small green flakes.

Then some taping and some of that green from the Honda tank:

 I wanted to try a new special effect paint: Crystal FX. You spray it on wet and when it dries it forms chrystals, check it out:

Next I misted some black over that.

Scrubbing off the black reveals the chrystals:

Next I airbrushed a glowing green fade along the edges of the tape.

After pulling the tape:

Now I have to figure out what to do around those shapes, cause they look kinda out of place on the silver. Perhaps some dark outline or somping.
The Chrustal FX effect is super, though!

Now, back to the silver leafing. First some inspiration from this great sticker in my workshop. What's that you say, honey? Rub this oil all over your body? Sure baby!

Concentrate! Silver leafing is tricky business, the stuff is so thin, just breathing too hard blows it away.

Brushing off the excess leaf...

Nice!

After clearcoating all this stuff I went back home and a package was waiting. Vintage faceshields! Awesome!

Finally, I found this great Custom Van for sale right here in the Netherlands at Perry's Rodshop! Someone snap it up! Looks like a great van!

 What a day! See ya next time!