First lacquer

This week I've experienced the frustrating and time-consuming art of lug-lining.
These are the results after some swearing and a first coat of lacquer.

It's taking shape, isn¡t it?

 

Just waiting for the transfers.

Making good progress

Right now, the base layers have already been sprayed. They must dry out before applying varnish.  The contrasting parts are yet to be trimmed but one can get a fairly good idea of what it'll look like when finished.



Maybe I should mention here that I've finally decided on matching coloured mudguards

Frame in progress (two)

That's how it looks after the first layer of paint. I'll wait for it to fully dry  before water-sanding (again...) and spraying the second layer.
As you can see the colour is "verde Bianchi" (with some contrasting parts in white)
This time I've been wise enough not to take a family ballot (the polls showed that only my youngest was supporting dad)

Fork in progress

So now the frame's significant other: the fork.
Same process as for the frame. The fork crown seems to be investment cast (not forged/welded) and the underside finish is rather coarse (but who's going to look down there?)

Please notice the white dropouts. It's a distinctive trait in all my restored frames (well, the white rear bridge too...)

Why? There's no particular reason. I painted this way my first frame and I've kept doing so. A mere eccentricity...

Frame in progress (one)

So this is how the water-sanded frame looks like ( after moderate swearing and lots of sanding).

 

 

Now, applied the first priming in white. I retristcted it to the rust-sensitive spots (i.e. the joints) and to those areas  that will finished in this same colour. In fact this priming is intended as the base layout (requiring just a second and last hand later)

Alter ego

Just by chance I've found a picture of an unknown bike (believed to be a BH from the sixties) that displays the very same lugs, dropouts, fork crown, brake arms & levers and.... quill stem.
Unfortunately the bike was repainted and the decals were lost.

Is TITAN a second brand from BH?

Frame restoration 1

After using a mild degreaser I started removing the original paint. This time I opted for a set of brushes displaying different bristles (steel, cooper and the third one nylon).
First used a paint remover and let it work for some minutes, then attacked the softened surface with the steel brush trying not to scratch too much the tube's surface and finishing off the job with the more gentle cooper and nylon brushes.

The last step is a throrough water-sanding to level off the small imperfections.
That's how it looks like.

Brass brazing, isn't it? There's an ungainly blob clearly visible We'll talk about it later.