Finally, my blue buddy !

tam · Post by **tam** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 3:50 pm

Some may remember I've been playing around with photoshop to figure out how I'd like to get mine painted. Well, after several renditions, I settled on a rough color, took the plastics off (which is a bit of a hassle) and drove it all over to a painter friend I have. I opted to have him do it professionally because I wanted to do it well, not cheap. Well I'm glad I did, it came out great (note, the ugly little tabs on the front shield for the rack are filled and sanded/painted over). I got it back together yesterday, kicked it to a start (took a few tries) and after some rough idling, it's back to life. Rode it to work this morning, and it looks and behaves great. I like the color a lot better than the original cream. Might add the chrome door trim around the fender, and maybe a vinyl stripe on the front shield.

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KidDynomite · Post by **KidDynomite** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 3:57 pm

Looks freaking GREAT!!

Didn't you Line-X the passenger foot rests? Did you use over the counter product or take it to Line-X? How's it holding up?

Now, if I can just think of a color to go with the orange inside trim on mine.

rajron · Post by **rajron** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 4:11 pm

Your blue scoot looks very good, nice shade of blue looks like metal, not plastic!

lobsterman · Post by **lobsterman** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 4:21 pm

Wow, that is gorgeous.

I'd have bought that color if it had been available.

The gloss finish is very nice. I'd like to know more detail of what kind of paint was used and if there was a clear coat applied after the color.

tam · Post by **tam** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 4:23 pm

Thanks. It's a standard GMC color, a metallic light blue, looks great in person. It was cleaned, lightly sanded, primed, several coats of paint with some wet sanding in between, and then clearcoated. I don't think you could get it anywhere near this good with spraypaint though

The front fender and footpegs were both painted with a satin black paint, not lineX. Since it's not general spraypaint and he used a good base, I'd expect it to hold up well. Only done about 25 miles so far so it's too early to know. I doubt they'll start peeling though...

mcwbyu82 · Post by **mcwbyu82** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 4:51 pm

That is awesome. What did you use to fill in the front holes? I have no intention of ever using a front rack so that could be a nice mod.

tam · Post by **tam** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 4:56 pm

I didn't do it myself but it looks like they used fiberglass and some epoxy to fill it and make sure it'll hold up. It's been sanded smooth on the front, but in the back it's a little messy (which i don't care about). If you look at it at the right angle, with the sun reflecting on the paint, you can kinda tell where they used to be though.

San Francisco · Post by **San Francisco** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 4:59 pm

Genuine Scooter rep here with an important message:

That voided your warranty.

Seriously though, nice work. Looks factory in terms of quality. I like the way
the front cover turned out.

Did the painter opine how durable the paint will be. Given the flex of the
plastic parts will the paint crack like an egg shell or is there some give to the
paint?

lojical1 · Post by **lojical1** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 5:09 pm

*quoting Corsair*That looks freakin amazing!

It truly does. *drooly face* Hell of a job, excellent color. Enjoy!

tam · Post by **tam** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 5:16 pm

SF, honestly don't know how it's going to hold up. The guy knows what he's doing though so I have faith it'll last.

Shellee · Post by **Shellee** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 5:29 pm

I love your blue Buddy! Love it love it love it! A huge bonus is that the painter was able to cover over those ugly round cut-outs in the front. I would love to figure out a way to hide those hideous things.

glhboy · Post by **glhboy** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 5:36 pm

now remove those dot signals.

merlin · Post by **merlin** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 6:03 pm

^ agreed

tam · Post by **tam** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 6:04 pm

Yeah, that's on the list. When I originally plugged the stock ones in, they were flashing way too fast, so I used the DOT ones instead. I'll have to dig into the older threads to find out why they did that and how to resolve it. I'd love to remove the dot ones

edit, just read the threads, and i'll stop by pepboys on the way home to get some 1156A bulbs, and some of that chrome door trim

Corsair · Post by **Corsair** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 6:37 pm

Niiiice ...

The chrome trim is going to be perfect on there. Your friend did a really good job,

lou76 · Post by **lou76** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 7:11 pm

very clean... the blue goes well with the black, and some nice attention to detail... the rear grab-bar, including the hardware.... nice... also dig the front fender being black... sets it off... props...

Fueldrum · Post by **Fueldrum** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 7:20 pm

Holy sacks of monkeys Batman, that's awesome! I TOTALLY would've bought that color if it'd been available!

Can I be terribly rude and ask how much it set you back?

tam · Post by **tam** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 7:22 pm

That's not rude, that's human

I'm surprised it took this long to come up

I can't really say though. I know it took him quite a bit of time, but he only charged me materials, so the total that i needed to fork over was $100. If it had been more, I wouldn't have had a problem paying that either, it came out great

I wasn't sure if I wanted the grab bar to be blue or black, but since that little plastic piece was black, I opted for blue. The screw that holds the black thingy was left in the grab bar to prevent the thread from getting paint on it, and I guess he forgot to tape it off, so it was painted too. So that wasn't intentional, but i'm glad it happened, it looks pretty cool

weaseltamer · Post by **weaseltamer** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 7:34 pm

KidDynomite wrote:
Now, if I can just think of a color to go with the orange inside trim on mine.

i thought about maybe a nice mid-tone brown, like a 70s brown. But certainly, the orange is harder than any of the others to match to, just cuz orange is a finicky color. for me, i couldn't stand it with black, red, or yellow... which limits things alot.

polianarchy · Post by **polianarchy** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 8:27 pm

Da-yum! Lookin good! I don't even like blue, and I love how yours turned out. Please do post the pics post-chrome-bling trim & de-stocking the turn signals.

BoneGirl · Post by **BoneGirl** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 9:51 pm

Shellee wrote: would love to figure out a way to hide those hideous things.

I am not a fan of stickers because I don't want anything permanent. I spice up my Buddy constantly using the vinyl clings. You see them a lot during holidays on a sheet. I plaster those guys all over my bike, ESPECIALLY over the front holes. I get so many comments about my Halloween bike, or summer bike, etc. The plastic works like a magnet once you clean the spot you want to put the clings on. They stay on and stay put and I don't have to worry about the unsightly front holes! You can see them slightly in this picture.

sunshinen · Post by **sunshinen** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 10:05 pm

Beautiful!! Jealous.

Keys · Post by **Keys** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 11:15 pm

VERY nice, Tam. So, to answer your question about the signals, I did the same thing. Removed the DOT signals, plugged in the body-mount signals and they flashed real fast. Here's the fix; replace the bulbs inside with 1156A bulbs...front and back. Not only will the lights be MUCH brighter, they will flash at the normal speed.

--Keys

Post by **ericalm** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 12:19 am

Beautiful—great choice on the color.
I love seeing so many different Buddys! Time to get to work on ours...

louie · Post by **louie** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 2:38 am

Holy moly, that's beautiful. It looks like it's flying. I think the black fenders let the lines in the blue body keep the moving up like it's floating. Really sweet.

Bryce-O-Rama · Post by **Bryce-O-Rama** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 4:47 am

That's a great color for the Buddy. Nicely done.

Phuket · Post by **Phuket** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 3:20 am

Hey Tam- How's your paint holding up?

You weren't in DC about a month ago were you? My Vespa-riding coworker swore he saw a blue Buddy outside of our office...

corey · Post by **corey** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 2:14 pm

that's a beauty.... tell your friend excellent job and nice choice in color... i def would have tried to buy one in that color if it were available... genuine folks - you listening?

Tbone · Post by **Tbone** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 3:18 pm

Looks SHARP!!!

tam · Post by **tam** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 4:01 pm

Phuket, It's holding up well. And no, I haven't ventured as far south as Washington on the scoot, so that wasn't me.

I've had a wipeout a few months ago, so the scoot's a little banged up and it has some scratches, but the paint held up well. Just as much as factory paint would've, at least. Other than some scuffs and scrapes, there's no damage. Just waiting on some replacement parts to come in now, so I can get back on it

Modern Buddy

Finally, my blue buddy !

Finally, my blue buddy !

Cover the holes