what color to paint... looking for opinions

My '79 is the blue with gold pinstriping, and I like the color. Will be repainting mine next winter, and am thinking I'll stick with the blue. Some where I have the Dupont numbers for the original, just not sure where I put them 10+ years ago.

I just need a UK tank for a spare colour set which will be purple metalflake..thats just me!!, the standard ebony kit will be there to change back whenever, seems the best of both worlds..in my book

PS that was a sample pic of the colour, I won't write Harley Davidson on my 13 :evil:

I just finished painting my 79. I took a compromise route. I used 5 cans of Duplicolor BFM0328 Ford Cayman Green. This is a Teal green that is just a tiny bit lighter in color than Luminous Starlight Blue. Then I got some vinyl pinstripe decals from a guy in the UK. Search for KZ1300 decals and you will find him. He makes decals for lots of bikes. Finally, I got 1 quart of 2-part ultraclear clearcoat from TCP Global on ebay.

I did the bondo/cleanup, primed, did the basecoat, put on the decals using the wet method for all but the tank lower sides, and finally I shot 3 coats of the clear coat. I'm happy with the job. I should color sand with 1000/1500 grit and put one more coat of clear on, but then I would have to be too careful about driving the bike to work.

The color in the pix is bluer than it really is. The color is really very close to the Luminous Starlight Blue (I have a 1980 fairing and lowers that came with the bike that I didn't put on). My Galaxy S5 made it too blue. The ford Cayman Green is just a tad lighter than factory.

Anyway, if you want to get "close" and want to try a rattle can, and don't want to spend $200 to $600, try the Duplicolor BFM0328 Ford Cayman Green.

I"ll get some better pix this weekend and post them.

Stu
Los Alamos, NM

Here is a photo of the tank close up. It shows the decals. They were a PAIN IN THE ARSE to apply. They were $100 and one mistake and you are screwed. I was lucky more than once getting them on as well as I did. AGain the color looks too blue because of my camera.

I got the tank badges from the Thailand guy on ebay. They were $29. It took 2 weeks to get them. The quality isn't the greatest, but compared to my old ones with 9 cracks and peeling chrome off the plastic, these look OK. The mounting holes were correctly spaced.

You can see how the duplicolor metal flake and the clearcoat look here. I'm pretty proud of this paint job. I hadn't used a paint gun in 25 years. I practiced with the gun using some paint I had on cardboard and craft paper before I shot the pieces.

I used the $15 Harbor Freight 20oz HVLP (High Volume Low Pressure) "Purple Special" spray gun. I used a filter/desicant dryer, and an additional red ball disposable dryer at the gun.

I'll write this up as a project when I get time and put it in the project section.

Stu
Los Alamos