"Pretties" for my Trike

Today I added some 'pretties' to my trike.  With the help of my buddy, Fly'n Phil, over the last month or so, I made some things out of aluminum to put on the trike, just as Phil has put the ones he made on his Harley.  He is very creative and very patient when it comes to making things like this and he offered to teach me how to do these.  First, you need to draw out what you want to make, it's good to draw on poster board or some other thick paper.  You then cut it out and use it as a template, tracing around it to put the picture on your aluminum.  Now you cut it out, Phil does this with a jig saw though a scroll saw would likely be better. For some things you have to drill holes in the aluminum so you can put the jig saw blade into the holes so you can change the direction of the cut. Once it's all cut out you then file the cut edges then start sanding.  First you do a bunch of sanding with one grit of sand paper, then with a finer grit, next an even finer grit.  You continue sanding with finer and finer grits of sand paper until you have used 2500 or even 3000 grit.  Now it's time to polish your piece with a good metal polish, we use Autosol.  The end product, after a lot of work, looks much like chrome and is so shiny that you can see yourself in it.  In my case, we made 2 feathers, now on my gas tank, and 2 eagle heads which are now on either side of the cargo box at the back of the trike. 

I have been getting a lot of comments and compliments on my trike ever since I put it on the road, after all, it is a one of a kind machine.  It would appear that the addition of these 'pretties' will get even more attention and compliments.  This evening I went to Zellers to look for an air mattress for camping and when I came out to my trike there was a couple in a car beside the trike.  He started talking to me about how much he loves my trike, and he said how good the feathers, eagles heads and horse shoes look on it.  No sooner had they left and along came a mom & daughter who 'oooh'ed and 'awwww'ed over the trike and the girl asked if she could take a photo of me and my trike.  Of course I said yes.  I wish I could have talked to them a bit more, but my cel phone rang and it was an important call I had been waiting for so I had to take it.  Many people ask to take photos of Phil's Harley... now it's starting with my trike too.  Both are one of a kind and both look pretty cool!!