I want to place flames on my FLHX similar to my old FXDWG3 with factory sticker flames. I want a gold leaf look with small red pin stripes separating the gold to black. I then will urethane clear coat over the entire body panels - fairing, gas tank and saddle bags, wet sand and polish to be completely smooth.

My first attempt was doing a process where I sprayed gold paint, applied plastic over the paint immediately, then peal it away creating a swirl gold leaf look. I like how it turned out, however didn't look exactly like gold leaf...close though, real close.



A few google search's and I found the "how to" and "where to" obtain real gold leaf. I purchased (25) 3 1/8" squares of real 24 carat transfer type gold leaf ( $45 ). This stuff is soooooo thin its unreal. I printed a "Harley Davidson" script that will be applied on the gas tank sides using MS Word and some basic flames copied from the web. Taped off the area on an old fender, then taped the printed images. With a razor blade I followed the lines of the printed images and pealed out the tape about 1 1/2 hours of labor at this point. I sprayed fast dry adhesive, let it tack up for 30 minutes, then carefully lay the gold leaf on the tack surface, lightly apply pressure to the leaf tissue backing and peal away. Let the adhesive set up for another 30 minutes...... lost patience watching clear adhesive dry , pulled the hot air gun from the shelf and assisted in the drying process, lol . I have achieved the look I wanted with the gold leaf although way more time consuming then taping off and spraying paint.....have I mentioned I dont have much for patience, . Soooo what to order tomorrow??? More gold leaf or paint for about same cost ( $250 )????

This is after I had applied my printed script and razor blade cut out on the tape...


Sprayed clear adhesive on the cut out areas and place the gold leaf on....


pull tape area.....


this is the gold leaf which is tissue thin..turns to almost dust if you touch it wrong....

 

Real leaf!!!!!

 

Looks good!

I did some gold leaf on my bike last winter.

 

I don't see anything wrong with it, not from the picture anyway. I think it looks pretty good.

 

Looks good. I already stripe. I need to add gold leaf to my arsenal. Only comment I would make about yours is if you plan to outline the flames, you need to consider opening them up a little more. There isn't a lot of separation so running an outline is going to jumble up a bit.

 

I think leaf looks great!!! The link Grind put up has some amazing work in there!! Lookin GOOD!!

 

Thanks for the compliments guys... yeah, the flame I did was a practice flame to see what they would look like. I believe I will have the same issue with adding a red stripe around the HD script. It's going to have to be a fine line even if I space the letters a bit.

 

That is sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I'm not sure if I covered it in my how-to, but after the leaf has set, apply a coat of size over it, to seal it, and let it cure before clearcoating.

 

adhesive = glue??? make sure it's compatable with your clear before continuing