Flames layout made easy.

[J4F]

Thought I would share my experence. I'm not very artistic so I had to think of a easy way out. I looked threw magazines untile I found a flame I liked. I then took the picture and scanned it to my computer using Picture Perfect program I then traced the flame out and blew it up to the size I wanted. Went to my local craft store and got some transfer paper. I traced the flames out on my tank and layed blue 3M tape over the lines. It turned out great and was easy. The hardest part was picking out the flame. Hope this might help some of you other non artistic people.

 

[Ski_trick]

Good idea.

I used some of the 3M vinyl paper (you may be able to use shelf paper), then drew my flame design onto it. Cut out your design from the vinyl paper a little smaller than you want the flames to allow for the blue fine line tape. Stick the shelf paper to your tank, then trace around it with your fineline tape. This also helped me to get both sides of the tank the same design flames. I just did this and looks great.

Ski_trick

 

[J4F]

HI Ski. Sounds like that might work good to. To update my first statement. DON'T use transfer paper. When I took off the tape there were lines close to the flames that when I sanded the edges they wouldn't come off. I ended up sanding threw some of the flame and I'm anal about some things so I just sanded off the flames completly and starting over. This time I'm using tracing paper with a wheel that pokes tinny wholes and then I will pat some chalk onto the paper leaving small dots on the tank where the wholes were. I will let everyone know how it comes out. Please don't use my first method.

 

[Ski_trick]

HI J4F!

One thing that I learned from doing this is you have got to cut your flames out of the vinyl paper smaller to allow for your fine line tape. This way the fine line tape will make a great line.

Let us know how the wheeler (Pounce wheel) works?

 

[J4F]

The wheel didn't work. I went back to the transfer paper. You know I always concidered myslef a farley smart person. Well this time when I went to take the transfer lines I took soap and water to them and they came right off. I wasn't very smart the first time. I guess you learn by your mistakes. Just finished painting the flames and they came out great.

 

[Jeremy Farny]

Hi, just painted my 95 harley fatboy and what I did was freehand flames on one side till they looked good and then took typing paper, or some thin paper and traced the flames and one flame at a time cut them out taped them to other side taking measurements with fabric tape measure for refrence then taped the stripes around the cutout flames and it looks like a mirrored image. Works real good.

 

[Deacon Blues]

If you're looking to get symmetrical, just fold the transfer paper in half (before you pull the protective sheet), trace the flames onto one half, and then you'll have an indented trace on the otehr side that you can run over with a pencil. Unfold and cut down the fold line and you have mittor-image flames with their own transfer. Works better than tracing and retracing, at least. This also works really well for those tribal designs that branch left and right from a central axis... in this case you don't need to cut down the center fold, just unfold, position, and tape.

(if you need a full sheet for each side, you can put two sheets together back to back, then trace and cut. Works the same way.)

Personally, when I did my tank, I just freehanded the whole thing, didn't even worry about symmetry. Ever see real flames that were symmetrical?