i have an old Merlin Malt 1 frame lying around and am gonna build a hack/pub/work run bike. i thought i would try my hand at paint job for it. would i have to strip/sand/remove any lacquer??? it looks like bare aluminium. but not sure.

help….

anyone?

Possible you will get incompatibility and crazing but no way of knowing before you try it. I’d rub it down and try. 99% it will be fine especially if you use acrylic spray cans not cellulose. I think helfrauds are acrylic

use nitromors (or similar) paint stripper and give it **** good wash before you spray it

Degrease it using thinners

get the paint you want.

Mask up the bits you don’t want painted (low tack masking tape is best)

Leave the frame in the house before you paint it for a while so that it’s warm and put the paint aerosols in warm water before you use them

two coats of etch primer (get the right colour primer for your top coat paint) then a couple of coats of top coat

Thin coats are better than thick (it’ll run if it’s too thick)

then if you want to a couple of coats of lacquer

Take off the masking tape

Leave it for a couple of days to dry and then put your decals on

Assemble the bike

Go for a ride

Have fun 😀

great, cheers folks. fingers crossed…… if its not too much of a f*@k up i may post pics. 😀

My mate has a Malt 3 & that lacquered from what I can remember.

Personally I wouldn’t Nitrimors it. That’s usually a last resort if the finish is totally shagged. Give it a rub down with some 800 grade paper to key the lacquer. Then a coat or two of primer. Leave for a few days & rub down with 800 paper. Then your top coat. Cellulose (or “knacker lacquer”) is fine, I wouldnt bother with acrylic. Build it up in thin coats. The trick is to keep the can agitated while spraying, & even better warm the cans up in the house if its cold. Solid colours are easy. Dont worry about the finish at this stage. Once hardened off, (about 3 – 4 weeks), you can T-Cut it or even flat with 1200 paper before T-Cutting. Just be careful on corners as its possible to go through the finish. The finish will be superb.

Mask threads etc, but in honesty wet spraying is only thin anyway, nothing like powder coating.

i like the idea of not using nitromors. ive used that for DIY n its crazy stuff. will try takisawa2s’ approach then if that fails ken_shields approach. then if that fails…..ah well, nevermind 🙂