I built a little make-shift paint booth.



Here she is wearing white primer.






Seeing the frame white made me consider painting it white! I had planned to paint the frame black, but then I thought a lighter color would improve visibility. I was also worried about a black frame getting hot in the sun and then touching my leg. Ouch! I'm going to paint it "Sage Green". I think it will look nice when it's done.

The primer went on yesterday. I was going to wet sand it tomorrow and then start the color coats on Wednesday or Thursday, but now I'm thinking I might put on another coat of primer. I tried wet sanding a little yesterday after the first primer coat, but the metal started showing too easily. Maybe I should do a few more coats of primer so I can have a nice smooth finish to put the color on. I'm planning to wet sand between the color and the clear as well. I'm still undecided if I should sand between coats of clear or not.

It takes more paint than I thought it would. A single coat of the primer on the frame and forks took nearly the whole can. I think it's because so much gets wasted trying to paint tubes. The directions say to paint from 10-16" away, but when I do that, almost no paint hits the metal. I ended up spraying more like 7-10" away.

It's fun watching the transformation. I kept entertaining ideas of trying to leave the bare metal showing as I cleaned it up, but I also know that's not real practical.

I'm eager to see it finished, but I'm also taking my time to make sure it comes out good. I know I need to let the paint completely cure in between coats, so I'm thinking it will take me at least a week to get it painted. Then I'm planning to let it sit a couple weeks before I start building it. I don't have all the parts on hand yet anyway.