Finished Paint

June 2016.
Well, I just picked up the tank, fenders and side covers from Robert Prayther.  Wow!  Definitely the look I envisioned and was hoping for.  The white stripes pop, yet are balanced in proportion so as not to take over the base color (a Jaguar metallic gray).   My repair and reassembly work on the rest of this project is going to have to live up to this paint!

From earlier posted photos of the tank, you will see deep indents on the right and left.  Although it took a lot of time, Robert smoothly integrated these indents on the aft part of the tank very effectively; a little angular and a little smooth, fitting perfectly with the lines of the original tank.  See above 'overhead' photo.  Although, truly, these indoor photos do not do the finish or color any justice.  It is also much lighter gray than it appears here.

The side covers will each have an '850-T' badge as shown.  The backside of each cover is a steel box, which will each get cleaned, sanded and painted black before re-installing the lock and hinge mechanisms.
The fenders (cut down - see earlier post) came out as I'd hoped; the length won't look cut down and the leading edges have a sportier curve.  The brackets for the fenders are being re-chromed, and there will be a modest number of other chromed items, including a new gas cap I'm in the process of looking for now.

Another related task involved rehabbing the gnarly tank badges; the final painted photos above do not include the badges which will eventually be placed just above the center line.  I like the 'chunky' look of the stock badges and the relief from the sides of the tank.  In consultation with Robert, I decided that they needed to be placed slightly more forward of the stock mounting position, in a large part due the the knee cutouts and to help restore a balance to the tank.  This meant (for Robert) bondo over the mounting points and (for me) cutting the tabs off the back of the stock badges.

The badges as they came on the bike were fairly nasty.  One was sanded or blasted down to a silver while the other retained the original gold base, but both had been partway through removal of the old paint.  A thick, rubberized glue caked on the back of each also had to be cleaned and removed.

An hour or so of scraping and cleaning with paint thinner had them clear of all of the chipped paint.  A layer of metallic gold later and they are ready for paint with black background and white lettering.