A previous owner tried to patch the tank on my Minitrail with what looked like JB weld and some type of bondo. I filled a 5 gallon bucket with enough acetone to submerge half of the tank at a time. After a day soaking each side, it was clean bare metal.

Hi Godlygaz.
You got that bike from Herefordshire didn't you?
Freddy the fat frog,as i recognised it instantly.
Are you trying to preserve the paint on the tank ?
If not,then what your doing with the acetone works with paint thinner too.
Be aware that if you intend to buy badges here in the UK,they don't quite fit,very close but not perfect.
What are your intentions with the bike ?
If i was you,i'd hang fire for a while and spend the down time researching stuff. Trust me it won't be wasted.
It can end up expensive doing these type of bikes up so have it crystal clear what your going to do. Shop around and keep an eye open on the people who import this stuff as well as private sales on ebay. As Gre8uncleal says CMSNL is a good place to buy stuff but i have found they will send you wrong stuff and stuff that's just not off your bike at all just so you are aware as postage is a real bug bear.
Keep us posted and don't struggle. There are people here that will go out of their way to help you on this forum.
Regards Dave

Yep that's right, what made it stand out?!

Sent from my POCOPHONE F1 using Tapatalk

So I have just found out we may all be in lockdown until June...... So it looks like sandblasting might be off the cards.

Any recommendations to strip the Paint of the frame and auxillary parts?

Sent from my POCOPHONE F1 using Tapatalk

Afternoon Gaz, I see we're not far from each other!

Depending how concerned you are on finish and how good you're painting skills are, you could rub it down by hand and then apply Hammerite or similar.

Regards.

Alan

Yer I did see, I work in Salisbury actually!

I'm not super concerned about the finish but I would like it to look semi decent . I would like to do it all properly where possible but it's quality will vary depending on how good I do it ( which is fine)

Tried sanding and the paint in it is soooo thick. In the end I had to get out the grinder on the Dremel to even start to get it off. So this is why I was thinking about paint stripper ?

Have you used hammerite recently? I tried it a year or so ago on a pushbike frame and it was awful?

Cheers!

Gaz

Which company? I spent my working life at the various pensions companies in Salisbury (I know, yaaaaaawn!!).

I've used Hammerite Satin Black and Smooth Black on seat pans, battery box and a brake pedal. The finish was quite acceptable for my purposes, as I'm only refurbishing to a "rider/survivor" level of finish. Also, painting would not be top of my skillset, as limited as that is anyway!

Why does bondo crack and fall off my car when I want it to stick, but when you want to it removed from a project like this you can't get it to budge?

I’ve had success sanding motorcycle frames with the open style sanding cloth plumbers use for. Just tear off a foot long piece and wrap it around the tube, sort of like shoe-shining

Definate food for thoughts here.

I got down to this, and decided to stop. I think when I get a badge sorted ( which won't be too soon) I'll take off the extra on the sides depending on the fit of the new badge.

Sent from my POCOPHONE F1 using Tapatalk