After finding replica tank decals like the ones used on Yamaha’s road racers of the 1970’s, I decided to paint the bike using a similar scheme; white with a red stripe and fender. I decided to add a black pin stripe because I’d seen it elsewhere and liked it. The decals are from the eBay store of Speed & Sport Vintage.
The photos show the results of my first attempt at painting the parts using automotive 2K paint. The crinkling is a result of not following the instructions and allowing enough “flash time” between coats. The other major mistake was attempting to mask the tank and seat separately. The stripes are the same width, but are not aligned between the seat and tank.
I first primed the tank using gray Dupont Nason Primer. After sanding, I applied several coats of Pepsi White. It took at least 4 coats to get the white to cover the gray primer. I picked Pepsi white because it’s the base for mimicking the pearl white on a FZR400. I though it too gray as the primary color the SR250 and headed back to the paint store. After looking all of they myriad of whites that are available, I ultimately settled on the white base that is used as the starting point when mixing any of the other whites.
