Sheetmetal Tiki

I build hot rods and custom cars for a living and love tiki's and tiki style stuff. I built this all out of sheetmetal, now just have to decide what to finish it off with as far as paint or anything.

I like it as is, don't paint it. Is it steel or aluminum? If it is steel let it rust. If it is aluminum anodize it.
I still like it as is. :)

I agree, a nice aged patina would look cool. Nice work

The tiki's cool, and let it rust, but nevermind that. I looked at your homepage and WHOA! In-SANELY beautiful cars!!! Is it your shop??? Don't quit your day job! :wink:

Oh, and welcome!

I say leave as is. Love it and welcome :)

Sidenote..I see you are in Napa Valley. Have you ever worked on any of Rob Struven's cars by chance? He runs Garage Ink up there and has some beautiful customs. You may know of each other at least.

[ Edited by: leleliz 2011-03-08 18:55 ]

Thanks for the compliments!

I think I'm going to leave it and see what happens. It's almost all steel, the teeth are aluminum to where they wont rust so there will always be a contrast, and the rings are stainless.

I'm working on another one now, hopefully I can finish it this weekend.

Yes, it's my shop we build the cars at. Thanks for the compliments on our work, we do our best!

Here's my personal car, kind of tiki (or beach rather) related...

On 2011-03-08 18:51, leleliz wrote:
I say leave as is. Love it and welcome :)

Sidenote..I see you are in Napa Valley. Have you ever worked on any of Rob Struven's cars by chance? He runs Garage Ink up there and has some beautiful customs. You may know of each other at least.

[ Edited by: leleliz 2011-03-08 18:55 ]

I've known Rob for quite a few years now, never have worked on any of his cars though. Donavan (one of the artists at his shop) did a lot of paint work on the interior of one of our projects though. Are you from Napa?

No I am not from Napa but know both Donovan and Rob. In fact I will be seeing Donovan this weekend in Reno at the Lady Luck tattoo show. Rob and I have been friends for a few years - meeting him originally through my tattoo artist - and then just hanging out at shows and at the shop.

Napa is pretty small so as soon as I saw your site I figured you all were friends :)

Look forward to seeing more of your work. Always nice to mix up the material and throw in some metal work on this site.

Cold hearted steel! That's Killer! Would make for a perfect hood ornament! :lol:

I'd kill to see you fabricate a tiki grill for that fine looking car of yours. :tiki:

[ Edited by: coconuttzo 2011-03-09 16:28 ]

[ Edited by: coconuttzo 2011-03-09 16:30 ]

Awesome work. I agree, leave it as is.

That'll be some sweet contrast for sure when it rusts out.

Love it Love it Love it!!! I agree, leave it like it is...GREAT JOB. Checked out your site, awesome rods. Welcome to TC.

nice ford...

HéHé! Nice Tiki! Nice job of bending, very clean work. I also agree with Mr Noname, don't paint it.

Welcome on TC!

J.

Built another one this last weekend. This one I think is going to be my own... Added a bit of fire to the top of it also!

Here's one from this past weekend. I made this one with a back that's flat to be hung on the wall.

I went ahead and had one painted in a translucent kandy gold with some darker fades on it. I also polished the aluminum teeth on it.

What do you think? I also have one outside rusting to have another completely different look to it.

From one metal guy to another . . . NIIICCCE!!!!! You use TIG and how do you create the depression in the head piece??

Keep it up --- lovin it!

Was that powder coated?

Either way! That is creative as hell! Awesome job!

McTiki

Thanks metalhead! Yea, I TIG everything. I only use a MIG a couple times a year. I don't like sparks and burns so much...

For the beads in the head, I use a stamp die I made for a pullmax P-8. One of my favorite machines for sure!

I've got some ideas for a round tiki next, I just don't have much spare time to play with the ideas. Hopefully in the next couple months!

On 2011-04-21 15:51, McTiki wrote:
Was that powder coated?

Either way! That is creative as hell! Awesome job!

McTiki

No, it's just a kandy gold paint, with some brown kandy fades and a few coats of clear. Powder has a translucent powder that could still give the same affect, but I could never get the fades with powder.

Sweeeeeet!

On 2011-04-21 14:10, pacificustoms wrote:

WOW!!!

J.

Thank you J.!

well done! I'm impressed