Lotus Sport Campagnolo (finished pg24) & XTR (finished pg29)

[yakboy]

Re: Look for one Lotus Sport and two come along!

If your doing a single colour it's easy enough to do it yourself

 

[Peachy!]

Re: Look for one Lotus Sport and two come along!

So, after a great rubbing of parts, I'm finally happy with the shiny bits of these aluminium frames..

Now I’m not sure whether to go down the route of encapsulating them in clear powder coat (after the colour on the main triangles has been added) or just leave them plain polished and just maintain as is…. :?

Powder Coat; obviously less maintenance, but never looks quite as bright as the pure aluminium and once chipped can look tatty.
Left raw; it will develop a very thin tough layer with natural oxidising and light scratches can easily be buffed out, but polishing will need to be maintained otherwise it will dull over time.

 

[yakboy]

Re:

I'd avoid clear powdercoat as it will chip on that shiny surface and you're right it will dull down that lovely finish. A good quality Carnuba Wax will preserve the shine well

 

[Peachy!]

Re: Re:

I'd avoid clear powdercoat as it will chip on that shiny surface and you're right it will dull down that lovely finish. A good quality Carnuba Wax will preserve the shine well

Yes, pretty much convinced myself to go down the Mr Miyagi route….

 

[MR OX]

Re:

That is bonkers shiny! Also another vote for raw & wax

 

[Peachy!]

Re: Re:

That is bonkers shiny! Also another vote for raw & wax

Cheers Ox, my left hand is like a gnarled claw.. my right is just a pink mist.....

 

[LongLegsRetro]

Re: Look for one Lotus Sport and two come along!

A proper job Mr. P !

Leave it raw, I've used Gtechniq C2 v3 Liquid Crystal on all things cycle related, it seals surfaces well and lasts for ages.

 

[Peachy!]

Re: Look for one Lotus Sport and two come along!

A proper job Mr. P !

Leave it raw, I've used Gtechniq C2 v3 Liquid Crystal on all things cycle related, it seals surfaces well and lasts for ages.

Cheers LongLegs, I’ll look into that stuff.

Right on to this evenings job of getting the frames ready for the powder coaters. First a deap clean with white spirit to get all the polish residue off, then on with the masking.

I borrowed a roll of the special heat resistant masking tape from my local PC dude, it’s expensive stuff so if you ask yours don’t be surprised if they ask for £10 as a deposit! My chap is pretty good at masking but I want the best possible finish that can be achieved, so that means doing it myself.

Tough stuf this tape, it’s really thick and has no flex in it. Anyway, got there in the end, just one more thing to decide.... the colour. Jim’s is easy, he wants British racing green, but I can’t decide between Gold Leaf Red or JPS Black....

 

[LongLegsRetro]

Re: Look for one Lotus Sport and two come along!

With all that shiny alloy on the frame, I'd be swayed towards Gold Leaf red, reasoning being, that colour scheme was from an era where there were still shiny bits of chassis and suspension visable on the cars, by the time JPS Black became iconic, things were being covered up with bodywork.

 

[unkleGsif]

Re: Look for one Lotus Sport and two come along!

Cracking work done so far
Personally I would go with either the Gold Leaf Red or the classic green with yellow highlights

I think to date, in terms of classic motorsport liveries, we have had...
A few JPS / Lotus (Yakboy's Lotus, my Kilauea)
Gulf Porsche (FJPShaw's Kilauea (he's no longer active i dont think, and the post now lost its pictures unfortunately, as it was a mega sweet build)

G