Touch-up Paint

Howdy folks. I am in San Francisco now and I will try to catch up on my posts and put the last 2-4 hours in on the Vespa and have it done. I have already gone in to First kick scooters to introduce myself to David and to discuss parts I need. I don't need much. Before I left Pennsylvania, I had the final touch-up work done to the scoot.Ralph at K & K painted my wife's SS180 and also handled the touch-up. Besides all the areas I identified for touch-up he told me he found about another 100-150 spots he did touch-up work to to ensure the bike looked awesome. For all areas that the paint was chipped he filled it with multiple layers of black epoxy and once it was flush, he used touch-up paint. Then he wet-sanded it with extremely fine paper/ I over tightened some hardware and caused the paint to flex too much and he bridged those areas.

Make sure when you pick up your bike from the painter that you bring an empty 35mm film canister and have them fill it up for you. It is air tight and you can keep paint in there for a very long time. Use tooth picks to create several tiny dots when doing touch-up work and use the layering technique. It may take 2-3 layers for your paint to be even where you did touch-up. Be patient and take your time.Regarding wax, I won't use it. My paint job is two-stage, meaning there is a clear coat on top; therefore, no water can get in and it's best to just use polish. Ralph uses Imperial Hand Glaze polish (pic above) and said a bottle like this will last me for life. I can use it as often as I like and heck, painters can even paint over it as opposed to wax, which much be thoroughly stripped off before any paint is applied.


Note: yup the Vespa dripped tranny oil out the breather. I emptied the excess oil and no more leak.