Dear Jack, Many thanks. Photos can be deceiving, but the finish is pretty good, though not perfect, by any stretch of the imagination. I believe that white is very forgiving, so my work may not look very good in black, or a dark shade of any other color. There are a few minor flaws that would not rub out and I exposed a glimpse of the undercoat in one tiny spot, but it looks good enough I think. Even the original Peugeot paint jobs had imperfections, as we already know.
Moving on from your comment about spray painting, here are the steps that I took:
a.. I removed the original finish using paint stripper, hand wire brushes and a rotary wire brush attachment on a drill. b.. The frame was then inspected, cleaned and degreased. c.. I sprayed a few coats of etching primer to help the top coast to grab onto the frame a little better. d.. The primer was rubbed down using wet and dry paper e.. Then, I must have put on at least 5 coats of flat white. f.. The flat white was rubbed down with progressively finer wet and dry paper and allowed to dry. g.. The decals were then applied. h.. I painted the head tube lugs in flat black and carefully rubbed the finish after it had dried a few days. i.. After waiting for the decals to dry out (I used soapy water to position them), I sprayed-on 4 or 5 layers of clear coat. j.. I allowed the clear coat to dry and harden for a week. k.. The clear coat was rubbed with very fine wet and dry paper, taking care not to damage the decals. l.. I applied automotive rubbing paste in progressively finer grade. m.. Finally, I applied some polish. The above took a lot of time and rubbing the paint on tubular surfaces was not easy, especially the rear forks. The oval shape of the rear forks means that it is very easy to rub through the paint along the upper and lower surfaces of the chain stay tubes. Another problem that I found was dealing with the over spray that the lower part of the frame was subjected to when the upper tubes are being painted. I tried to paint the upper tubes first and then paint the lower tubes. Still, it is not easy and I still had to do a lot of rubbing down of the paint on the lower part of the frame.
Importantly, if you are using a bike stand like the one in the photos, do not hold the frame by clamping onto freshly painted tubes, even if the paint feels dry. The clamp will leave a mark in the fresh paint. This happened to me and I was forced to sand and polish the damage out.
I found that the whole process was very time consuming, but rewarding. I hope that the finish will be durable enough and this is yet to be proven.
If there are any tips that list members have learned from their own experiences, I would welcome them for my next foray into frame painting.
I hope that this helps.
Kind regards, Peter Rogers
Barrie, Ontario, Canada
From: Carb7008@cs.com Sent: Saturday, June 26, 2010 4:48 AM To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org ; pjrogers@rogers.com Subject: [CR] 1968/68 Peugeot PX-10 Restoration - Progress Report
Thanks for your PX10 update Peter...at least in pics, the frameset looks damn-near brand new! Its amazing how the classy understated looks of the PX10 still looks great today. Also, good lesson to newbies that with enough rubbing, even a rattlecan paint-job can look presentable.
And speaking of rattlecans, a local restorer recently showed me a metallic paint-job he did with rattlecan and built-in hardener...looked very good! Each can is about $40 but total bill would be about the same as powder-coat. Sorry, but I don't remember brand or vendor.
Jack Romans
Sacramento, California