So all of the parts have now been brought back from Whitchurch and safely stored in my shed, ready for reassembly to commence. The poor Kawasaki 500 workhorse has been relegated to living under a cover outside.
Now that the base coat has had a week or so to cure, I flatted it all back with 2500 wet and dry paper and then gave it a good rinse down (in the shower again!) Then I applied some very subtle 3mm silver pinstripes to the side of the tank and to the nose fairing.
Finally time for lacquer. I decided this time that I couldn't stand the cost of the 2-pack clearcoat (almost £40 a can once P&P added!!), so I've gone with Hycote Petrol Resistant lacquer, which seems to get good reviews. I applied 3 coats, 20 mins apart and initial reaction is that it's a beautiful finish straight from the can.
I'm loving the colour, now that it has clearcoat on - a really deep inky blue/grey. It will be interesting to see what it looks like with the satin black accents on the bottom of the tank and the fairing. Once the lacquer has had time to cure, I'll mask up and spray the satin black and then give it a polish back with cutting compound, but it certainly looks like it's going to meet the "good enough" criteria.
My son has described it as starting to look like a "stealth" bike. There's certainly a dark theme going on with the black painted engine, gearbox and wheels. I think it's going to look subtly different from a standard v50, especially if I get around to spraying up the panniers to match and fitting those.
