Touch-up scratches and such on Nagasawa

[NHAero]

Hi All
I was fortunate to buy Rosss' Nagasawa road trainer. It's got a lot of scratches and paint-free spots (as advertised, no beefing). It's a great color - sort of a pearlescent yellow-green - and I'd like to keep it and the decals intact. I've read in a number of places that Nagasawa will re-paint and repair but won't sell decals, so a re-paint with decals means sending it to Japan, which doesn't excite me.

So...if I am not worried about it looking perfect but I want to protect the frame from rust, what are the ways to do this well?

Thanks

Marc

[jvp]

clear nail polish

[Ken Robb]

You may be surprised to find a Testors model paint that matches pretty well. The good news is it will come in a tiny bottle with a brush in the cap too. The selection available in a big hobby shop was amazing to me. There were 4 metallic blues so close to the paint on my Waterford that I had to take them all outside to compare with the bike in the sun. The orange metallic of my Rambouillet wasn't so easy. The best match was in a spray can.

[cmg]

post a photo of the bike.

[alancw3]

You may be surprised to find a Testors model paint that matches pretty well. The good news is it will come in a tiny bottle with a brush in the cap too. The selection available in a big hobby shop was amazing to me. There were 4 metallic blues so close to the paint on my Waterford that I had to take them all outside to compare with the bike in the sun. The orange metallic of my Rambouillet wasn't so easy. The best match was in a spray can.


+1 on testors. i have had great luck matching colors. one thing though, testors now has acylic but i have found that their enamel works better.

[SPOKE]

You can even custom mix the Tester's paints to get an even closer match if necessary.

[eddief]

if you wanted a repaint, one would guess many here in the states could both dupe the decals and repaint it. and/or that an auto paint supplier could mix you up some touch up that would come real close. not saying this would not be spendy, just that most things are available in your hood...at a price.

[NHAero]

Would you please say a bit more about the decal duping? I didn't realize that is a business. How costly is that?
Thanks
if you wanted a repaint, one would guess many here in the states could both dupe the decals and repaint it. and/or that an auto paint supplier could mix you up some touch up that would come real close. not saying this would not be spendy, just that most things are available in your hood...at a price.

[eddief]

http://www.cyclart.com/

"Bicycle Decals have always been a specialty; We design, reproduce and print our own decals and keep a tremendous supply of replacements to apply as part of touch-up or refinishing done here."

[eddief]

http://www.airglowpainting.com/answers/answers.decals.html

http://www.boulderbikecrafters.com/pricelist.html

[Ti Designs]

You can even custom mix the Tester's paints to get an even closer match if necessary.

This would be how you know you have too much spare time...

[11.4]

We've used Testors and other similar paints for years and always found them to be quite soft and susceptible to damage. Same issue for many of the clear nail polishes, by the way. For a stopgap, better to get a clear multipart epoxy finish, be prepared to sand/buff the chips down ever so slightly so you don't have edges showing, then coat a section of tubing or use slightly diluted finish and resand with ultra-fine crocus cloth or the like to take down the lumpiness.

Better, it's not really that hard to get Nagasawa to repaint and the shipping by Air express to Japan is about $200 roundtrip; and he barely charges for his refinishing and he'll do absolutely any other kind of repairs needed, leaving you with effectively a brand new bike. The whole thing including shipping costs less than a JBell paint job (no offense to JBell, and honestly, Joe uses more durable paints than Nagasawa prefers). But if you get it painted in the US, the better shops either have decals or screens to do at least the traditional orange and red Nagasawa decals, if not the die-cut opticals. Get it repainted. It's worth it.

[NHAero]

Really helpful, thanks.
Is Air express a company or a generic term?
Any suggestions on how to contact Nagasawa and go about this?
Thank you

Better, it's not really that hard to get Nagasawa to repaint and the shipping by Air express to Japan is about $200 roundtrip; and he barely charges for his refinishing and he'll do absolutely any other kind of repairs needed, leaving you with effectively a brand new bike. The whole thing including shipping costs less than a JBell paint job (no offense to JBell, and honestly, Joe uses more durable paints than Nagasawa prefers). But if you get it painted in the US, the better shops either have decals or screens to do at least the traditional orange and red Nagasawa decals, if not the die-cut opticals. Get it repainted. It's worth it.

[weaponsgrade]

I've never had much success using touch-up paints. They always go on too thick and despite the many Testor colors, you'll still have a very difficult time getting an exact match. And IMHO, the bike looks worse off after the touchup. I would just do the clear nail polish. Also, last I checked, cycleart makes you jump though some hoops to get the decals. They wanted me to ship them the frame to make sure it was authentic before they would sell me just the decals. I can see their point, but they don't make it easy for you to get the decals and go to someone else for a repaint - which maybe that is the point.

[eddief]

My only custom is my lovely Steve Rex. About 5 years old now. On the day I got it and began to build it up, I swung around in tight quarters and whacked the seat stay on my porch. I just about died. Steve provided a small bottle of touch up paint with the frameset. Spent hours doing something along the lines of what follows here. Never perfect, but I don't ever notice it anymore so I must have done a decent job.

From the net:

If you follow these directions carefully, and have some patience, you will get a quality repair that will last for years.

The first thing to do is to mask off the area around the chip with masking tape up to a ¼" around the chip. Now using lacquer thinner or alcohol clean the area of dirt, wax and road grime from inside and around the chip. Use a clean, lint free cloth. Do not use any type of paper towel or tissue. If the chip goes down to bare metal, use some 40 grit emery cloth to scratch up the metal so the primer and paint will have something to grab on to. Make sure any rust that may have formed is cleaned out as well.

Using the applicator brush or a toothpick, I use the end of a paper match myself, coat the bare metal with the primer. Try not to get it on any of the paint, just the bare metal. You want a smooth layer, just enough to cover the bare metal, with no bumps or lumps. Let this dry for at least 24 hours.

This is where patience and a steady hand comes in. With your applicator apply a nice thin even layer of paint with no bumps or lumps. Don't go and try to do fill the whole chip in, but do make sure you get paint in all the corners. If you get a little sloppy use a cotton swap with a little bit of lacquer thinner to clean up any excess paint. Leave the applicator out for about 30 seconds if the paint is too thin. If it's too thick, add about six or eight drops of lacquer thinner to the tube of touchup paint and shake very well. Start out with a small amount of lacquer thinner and add one or two drops if necessary. It's much harder to remove lacquer thinner form the paint than it is to add it.

Once you're done, let it sit for another 24 hours. The paint will shrink quite a bit as it dries. That's why we don't want to use too much. If it starts to get lumpy, use some 800-grit Wet/Dry sandpaper. Just sand the new paint you don't want to mess up the surrounding, good, paint.

Now repeat this procedure until the paint is almost flush with the surrounding paint. You want to leave a small recess for the clear coat. This will probably be only one or two coats of paint. More if the area has been repainted once before.

Wait about a week, a little longer if the weather is a bit cool, and coat the damaged area with clear coat. If all has been going well you might be able to simply build up the clear coat to the level of the original paint without overlapping and it will be, nearly, invisible.

If things have not gone so good you'll have to blend the repair with the factory paint. Apply clear coat about a ¼" around the damaged area. Keep doing this over a few days allowing for drying and shrinkage. Keep doing this until you've built it up a couple of thousandths of an inch. A little bit more than the thickness of a sheet of loose leaf paper. Allow this to dry and shrink in the sun for at least a week.

When it's good and set you can, very carefully, sand it with 800-grit Wet/Dry sandpaper to blend it all in. This will leave a dull finish so you will need to follow up with some medium to fine polishing compound and a soft lint free cloth. This will make the repair nice and shiny.

[11.4]

Really helpful, thanks.
Is Air express a company or a generic term?
Any suggestions on how to contact Nagasawa and go about this?
Thank you

USPS International Express to get there, and Japan Post Express to return.

Work phone: 07-297-7047

Or write him:

1-1-5 Tanabe
Kashiwahara-shi
Osaka 582-0024
Japan


He pretends not to speak English to avoid saying no to people, but he understands a bit more. Be sure he knows you already have a Nag and want it repainted. He has a lot of ownership for his frames. And try to figure out whether you're talking to the old man or his son. It doesn't really matter since they share the work, but the father is much more oriented towards supporting his existing frames, while his son wants to change things a bit. Easiest if you have it painted and decaled exactly as it already is -- he'll prefer that too.

Best thing is if you get someone who knows him to talk with him and introduce you. Failing that, find someone local who speaks fluent Japanese and get on the phone together. Phone is by far the best way to discuss this with him. He'll appreciate as a matter of respect to him that you got a Japanese speaker involved to make it easier for him.

[NHAero]

Thank you VERY much. We have a Japanese friend living here so I bet we could pull this off. Today's first ride of about 25 miles convinced me I'll be spending a fair bit of time on this bike!

USPS International Express to get there, and Japan Post Express to return.

Work phone: 07-297-7047

Or write him:

1-1-5 Tanabe
Kashiwahara-shi
Osaka 582-0024
Japan


He pretends not to speak English to avoid saying no to people, but he understands a bit more. Be sure he knows you already have a Nag and want it repainted. He has a lot of ownership for his frames. And try to figure out whether you're talking to the old man or his son. It doesn't really matter since they share the work, but the father is much more oriented towards supporting his existing frames, while his son wants to change things a bit. Easiest if you have it painted and decaled exactly as it already is -- he'll prefer that too.

Best thing is if you get someone who knows him to talk with him and introduce you. Failing that, find someone local who speaks fluent Japanese and get on the phone together. Phone is by far the best way to discuss this with him. He'll appreciate as a matter of respect to him that you got a Japanese speaker involved to make it easier for him.