OK, it's been too long since the last update so here's a small break down of what's been going on.
[Sanding and polishing browncoat]
My goal with the paint is to have it look like it is old and a little crusty but at the same time look like it has been cleaned and polished.
I've seen patina paint jobs that fall short of a natural looking old finish due to how the artist layers up the faux paint. I like to think about it in reverse. The rust, scratches, dirt etc. should only be what is left after a good cleaning. That's what it looks like when you clean up old original paint.
To achieve that look, I start by applying different shades of brown over the color sanded paint. This is where a lot of people go wrong. I don't worry about skipping around and trying to create spots in areas that have either more or less of the effect. Instead, everything gets completely covered. After it has sufficiently dried for as long as necissary, I'll sand, rub and polish away almost all of it. The end result is much closer to how it would look if you cleaned and polished old dirty crusty paint. The nooks and crannies will automatically be less polished than the high surfaces which leads to a more natural effect.
Here's the tank from the boys bike. Each half was at different stages of removing the brown application. One of the frames is in the background showing the untouched straw color.
Notice that the paint is beginning to get some of the gloss back. It's similar to sanding and polishing clearcoat except that it's brown instead of clear! Have you ever rubbed the shine back on dry oxidized paint on a car? That's the look from hand rubbing it back to a shine.
Here's a picture of the frames after the first application of brown. For this picture I placed one of the fenders between them to show the difference between the before and after color. I actually added more 'even darker' brown the next day after this had dried!
It looks terrible at this stage but most of it will be removed later.
More to come!