The key is not to sand off ALL of the old paint, but just enough to roughen up the surface. I used a 100 grit paper with my electric hand sander. After sanding for about 20 minutes, I wiped down the helmet with a moist paper towel to clean off all dust particles. Then, it was time for the first coat of spray paint. I used Krylon Fusion for Plastics, which claims to not need sanding or priming, but I sanded anyways. It doesn’t hurt. I put about 3 or 4 coats on in 10-15 minute intervals. Then, I proceeded to sand lightly with a 220 grit paper. After this sanding, I noticed that I exposed a few small red spots. OOPS! I sanded too hard and too much! So, I went back and placed a few more coats on the helmet. The paint was near empty, so I proceeded to finish off the can, and this was probably overkill on coats for this base layer. I sanded ever so lightly again with my 220 grit paper. This time, I did not expose any old red paint! The base sat in my garage for a few days as I got busy in the evenings again. When I returned to working on it, I had to be sure to wipe the dust particles off. Although it was very little dust, this ensured that the next coats of the premium water-based custom paint by AutoAir Colors would not have any problems. This is where the spray gun came into use.

Before the spray gun, I tried my cheap, little airbrush that was also from Harbor Freight. It was not working too well, and I thought, “This will be a good time to try out the spray gun.” The first coat with the spray gun was almost a disaster! I did not realize how quick the paint was going to come out. I should have tested it with water alone on a dummy surface, but I figured it would be ok. I was dead wrong. I emptied the paint, cleaned out the gun thoroughly with warm water and made adjustments to the spraying volume. This resulted in a much better second coat. So, now I have put two coats of the blue AutoAir Colors paint on the helmet, and I am calling it a day. I am going to take photos of the helmet and start to mock-up designs with a graphics editing software. Below are photos of the first and second coats of the helmet to complete the transition from Krylon to AutoAir Colors.

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I started on the tank with a nice thick coat of bondo over the large scratch. I applied it liberally and carefully as I was very close to the wing decal and did not want to have to deal with replacing it. I neglected to sand or polish this surface before putting on the bondo. I hoped it would do fine without.

Initial bondo

After sanding it down to form to tank

After this coat of bondo dried, I sanded it down and began to paint. After two layers of paint, I realized that there were some imperfections in my sanding that were quite ugly. You can really see the edges and a few dimples in the middle in these two photos (click to enlarge photos).

First two layers with ugly sanding

After the paint dried, I sanded it down again and filled some of the dimples with a light layer of glazing & spot putty. Sanded that to ensure smoothness and we’re off to the races again!

Sanded again, filled with glazing & spot putty, sanded

A much better result after sanding and refining from above

Back to the lower that Hollifield started for me. I put a few more coats on while it was still taped up and then removed the tape. There were some pretty obvious lines that needed blending. I used the airbrush from a further distance than before and with a fine misting spray. This resulted in a blending that removed the lines created by the tape and a gradual fade of the two slightly different shades of red. Click to enlarge the photo to the left. See if you can easily distinguish where the painting took place.

Now onto the rear plastics. Same story over again. I sanded it down and used the glazing & spot putty to fill in any gaps. Then, I put about 4 or 5 layers before removing the tape. Then, I blended it into the existing paint color. Finally, I put about 2 layers of clear coat on all of the painted areas. Here’s the final shots of the front and rear. Check out all of the photos at: http://photos.tonyfugere.com/gallery/v/vehicles/bikes/vfr800fi/repaint

Before:

After:

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