McJeep's World of Randomnimity
Enter at your own risk ;0)
LEATHER BITS
Some projects from a cold damp winter
Have a peek & comment at the bottom
'New at this so be gentle ...k? ;0)
Cheers
Rob
Shop Doon's
VTX 1800N TANK BIB - Feb 2010
Okay, so the 'lympics are done and it's time to get some stuff done ;0) The bike's been torn down for too long for winter maint/mods and as I'm STILL waiting for my front fender to come back from the painter, might as well get my tank bib done up while I've already got it off the bike.
I want a bib that not only protects the top of the tank but wraps around the bottom corners to protect against the inevitable jeans and chaps scratches. There is one available from a guy in the states that is wet molded and a very nice piece. Iw anted to do something similar untill I found out the abuse my tank would take in the process. Have opted for a seamed version instead and I think I'm actually liking it more as it offers more opportunity to dress it up a bit with lacing.
So far the hardest part has been figuring out how to end up with a transparent template so that I could transfer scribblings from the tank to the template etc etc etc. Found artsists stuff called frisket that is low tack, somewhat flexible, and will NOT leave any crap done to the tank :0) But how do I take a flexible template off the tank while retaining the actual shape? Enter good ole packing tape. It's worked pretty well and I'll be using this method to template up other projects in the future.
This is gonna end up being a pretty substantial covering as I want form function over form for it. Being made of super thick latigo leather so that it'll be pretty much impervious to anything short of a nuclear holocaust.
Oh yeah, forgot a bout anuther little job that went out this week - just a quickie for a buddy's old knife. It'll cost you a beer to find out how he got his new nickname ;0)
Unmolested tank save for some scribblings with NON-permanent marker. These markers will mess up the wax job but won't touch the paint
Add one layer of frisket - fairly flexi but still a bit of a pain when it comes to wrinkles. Apparently I need more hands - not worried about wrinkles anyway at this point.
Scribble all over the frisket with permanent sharpie, being sure to get all of the tank's lines.
Draw in all of the details and retrace the contour that was previously laid out on the tank itself - hence the need for transparent template material
Laminate the whole template with a couple layers of packing tape to give it some structure lest it get all stretched outta shape during removal from the tank
Time to remove it - this part is oddly satisfying - kinda like when you were a kid and kept peeling at that old sunburn ;0)
The end result of about 3 hours of messin' around / thinkin' things through / messin' around s'more
Frisket is still somewhat tacky so stick 'er down to some actual template material - now I'll have the template in case someone else with the same tank wants one of these down the road. Also a lot easier to trace around on the leather.
Decided at this point that a half template would work better than a full one.
Transferred to poster board.
The split at the top of the bib is why I opted for the half template use. Flattening out the frisket and doing it in one piece wouldn't have allowed things to work properly. It also made things much easier for guaranteeing that the contours would match perfect on each side of the tank. This is the type of thing I usually find out duriong the job cuz I didn't think of it beforehand ;0)
Masking tape things in place to check how the fit is etc. This is not the actual bib - just a layer that will be laced to the underside of the latigo and provide a much better gluing surface for the felt underlayment as it's almost impossible to glue to latigo - it's too heavily treated for weatherproofness.
Had to discard the template for the tail piece - for some reason it just never matched up as well as I'd hoped. Taped anuther piece of leather in place and "carefully" nibbled around it with some shears untill it fit just right nice'n tight.
ROAD GLIDE IPOD DASH PANEL - summer '09
The panel will be permanently afixed below gas cap in the black area
(special thanx to a really A.R. guy who insisted that I need the proper road glide picture inserted here ;0)
Just getting started - Templates and cuttings
ALL FINISHED !!!!!
Two layers of 8oz. latigo make up the main panel - bottom layer is trimmed to fit inside the raised edge of the actual dash panel - lacing on top layer will "just" over hang the raised edge to hide it. Ipod panel snaps into place - can be replaced by a dressier panel in the months when ipod use is tough - that means no ugly snaps or velcro showing in the dirty months. Owner wanted access to both ports on bottom of his ipod and there's now way I'd be able to build a case secure enough to be comfortable while giving open access - there's not a lot of play room on the bottom of these things. So picked one up at the local future shop and a few rivets and velcro later it was ready to become a nice little piece that he can pocket when heading in for eats or a night's rest ;0)
Most consuming part of the whole project was of course the hours of basket weave edging - but I always like the look of it in the end :0)
The pieces
And how they will look on his tank - weather flap to come later
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And oot the door it goes :-)
All finished and waterproofed and packed and shipped off
Time to build sumpin' for Rob ;0)
Windshield bag for Ma Brother's Road King (police) And the bracket design to mount it *********************************** Comin' together
The back mounting point
Compared to what it's replacing More room, much beefier, and just plain bettah ;0)
Add a dash of Celtic heritage :0)
Dyed and oiled
Previous Projects
Elephant Ears for Road Glide
From front
Rider's perspective
Sissy bar bag for "she who must be obeyed" ;0)
Mockup - paper is muuuuch cheaper than leather
Very necessary for this project due to angles involved
Front panel and gusset
Laced together and ready for colour
Dyed and mounted on bike
Side shot showing the angle matched to sissy bar
Fits in decently with rest of gear me thinks
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Gnarly Fork Bag
It's starting to look liiiiiiike ...? Construction stage while we wait for new tools to come in :0/ All together now - Time to ship it off :-) From the top Customer shots once he mounted it on the bike 
