Pissy

 I'm pissy today (Sunday 6/23). Today is the day I set aside to finish painting the Sportster fuel tank and front fender. First off it was supposed to be a rainy stormy day but the weather liars screwed me again. Do I ride or finish this paint job? What I want to do is ride the sporty so today is paint day so I can get that bike back on the street.
 The fender was simple enough as it just needed a quick wet sanding and a coat or two of clear.

 I told you about replacing the headlight on this bike. What happened was that amazon told me it would take like a month to get the light. At some point I got anxious and searched Amazon again. This time it told me I could have it in days from the same company. I ordered it and figured when it came I'd cancel the first order. I got the second order, forgot to cancel the first order and weeks later the first one arrived. I'm not even gonna try to wrap my head around how the hell this can happen from the same company and it doesn't matter in this story. The point is that I had an extra shell and painted that too. Ya know I searched all over my shop for that extra headlight shell. Couldn't find it till I realized its still in that unopened box the front fender is perched upon in the above pic. It was hiding in plain sight.

 When it was time to paint the flame job on the tank I had to first clean the dust and crap off of it. I had a can of paint prep, sprayed it on a rag and started wiping. Right away I knew it was gonna be a bad day. The paint lifted the top layer of clear and left a sticky mess. I guess thats why the can says to test it in an inconspicuous spot.

 I decided that wet sanding it again was the answer. I already had a spot that was sanded through the top layer but because the rest of the paint looked so good I would just hide it with the flame job.

This wet sanding session burned through another spot.

 Screw it. I painted it again.

 I took it out of the spray booth for examination. From ten feet away it looks great. Up close there is some random orange peeling. This means I will have to let it dry, wet sand it and then apply the clear. This also means today was a waste. I really didn't make any forward progress on the sporty. Now I'm struggling with whether or not I should attempt painting flames. If I mess it up I'll have to paint the damn thing again. It occurs to me the thing to do is find another set of tins so I can use the bike while I practice my painting skills (or lack thereof). Maybe the answer will come to me when I've cooled off and am less pissy.
(Wednesday morning update) Last night I wet sanded and painted the tank again. Its coming along but I'm still pissy. Still haven't decided if the flames are going on or just to get the bike on the road.

Later.