With the bike finally re-assembled and working from my engine repair, I finally got a call from the guys at Blue Ridge Outfitters in Lewisport that my Camouflage Wrap had finally arrived. Blue Ridge is an authorized dealer for products found on www.camowraps.com. They can supply camo wrap kits for Cars, Trucks, ATV's, Boats, Outboard Motors, just about anything. I chose the Natural Gear pattern as this is what Honda uses on their current factory camouflage bikes and I wanted mine to look as if Honda built a 1998 Foreman 450 Camo.

For this installation I removed the racks, all of the black plastics, lights, Warn 424 shifter, and anything else that would be in the way. Next the plastics were thoroughly cleaned then lightly sanded with 1000 grit paper to remove 11 years of caked on crud and to smooth out any gouges/bumps in the plastic. I also removed factory decals that weren't riveted in place. The wrap needs a clean flat smooth surface to adhere properly. Once the surface was wiped down with rubbing alcohol I formulated a plan for installing the wrap. The kit comes in 4 - 2'x4' sheets, so you need to decide how to apply based on the shape of the surface your working with.

I started by applying small pieces in all of the small indented sections such as around the rear tail lights, and the indentation for the seat release. My front and rear fenders are very curvy so I applied the wrap in 3 sections. First I applied a strip in the centre of the rear plastics, followed by strips to cover each side. Installing the wrap in this manner meant that I was dealing with fewer compound curves per piece. I used a heat gun to warm/stretch the wrap to adhere to the curves with fewer wrinkles. Even then there were still some wrinkles that formed as the surface is very uneven, some I left, others I cut with a razor blade and overlapped the seam. The nice thing about camouflage pattern is that its forgiving when you stretch/wrinkle/ align one piece to the next.

I continued the installation repeating the same process on the front fenders, then the gas tank side covers, and lastly the pull start cover. I always overlapped the wrap so that the edges ended up on the reverse side of a fender, or would be hidden by the black fender extensions. This way there would be no visible seams, and chances of peeling reduced.

I finished the installation with two new Foreman Decals from the dealer. I custom trimmed the coloured background from these decals so they would blend with the camouflage wrap.

All in all it took about 3 nights in the shed to complete this project and to reinstall the racks, black fender extensions, winch control, warn 424 knob, etc. The final product turned out great, and  I'm very pleased with my Foreman's fresh new look.

2019 Update:

In April the next phase of my 2019 refresh began. My Natural Gear Camo wrap which appears beautiful tan in pictures but its actually grey to the naked eye, and at 10 years old its showing its age in worn spots and some cracking/fading.

I began stripping the bike of racks, WARN 424 shifter, snorkel and everything else that was in the way. The wrap took some time to remove, a lot of it came off in large pieces, areas where I heated it to stretch during installation were glued very well! This quality 3M product held up well and left no residue behind while removing.

With the plastics stripped I removed them from the bike and gave them a thorough cleaning with hot water, spray nine and my pressure washer. When I installed the last wrap in 2009 I quickly gave the undersides of the fenders a quick and dirty Krylon Fusion spray paint to hide the yellow plastic from plain view. Surprisingly this paint held up remarkable well with absolutely no prep!

This time I did a proper job with the plastics removed and painted the entire surface with Gloss Black Krylon Fusion paint which is designed to chemically bond with plastic surfaces.

Next up was trimming up another set of OEM Honda Foreman gas tank decals to remove the yellow outline. I did this procedure in 2009 and was pleased with the results.

Finally it was time to begin the process of installing my new Wrap. The pattern is Moonshine-Harvest Moon. Its a neat black and white camo that will really set project Foreman apart from other bikes.

This wrap came from the helpful crew at camoskinz.com, its a 3M premium product that has a great feel and I think will be very durable.

Along with patience, heat is required to stretch the product over the complex compound convex & concave curves of the plastics. Very complicated areas were done with multiple pieces overlapped to help avoid a lot of wrinkles.

I am far from a professional in this field, but professionals I asked didn't want to take on these complex ATV plastics. My install isn't perfect but I'm very pleased with the results.

The front fenders were started with the centre section first.

Then the concave areas of the right front fender were covered.

Finally the remaining section of the right front fender.

My custom trimmed Foreman S decals were installed next to finish the Gas Tank plastics.

To say I'm happy with the finished product is an understatement. The final appearance is clean, unique and amazing in person.

Cheers, MIKE

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