Flaming a polished aluminum tank

[t-boy62]

Hello,

I am new to the board, great site! Anyway, I have a polished aluminum tank I want to flame. I am worried about paint adhesion to the polished alloy. Would a simple adhesion promoter be enough to counter the problem? Any advice?

Thanks,

T-Boy

 

[flamethrower]

You can use an adhesion promoter, but if you really want to paint it and you want it to last then sand it with about 2000 grit and prime it, paint it, and clear.

FT

 

[Stretch]

I just painted a steel trashcan in the same manner you're speaking of. The flames we're the metal and the negative space was painted. I used an adhesion promoter after cleaning and degreasing the surface, then taped the flames and painted. I ran into a bit of a problem with the adhesive of the tape sticking to the adhesion promoter. If I were to do it again I would have cleaned the surface, applied adhesion promoter and then intercoated cleared the whole thing. Once that's setup you can go in and tape the flames and probably avoid my newbie mistake.

-Stretch

 

[t-boy62]

Thanks Stretch,

That's exactly what I'm talking about. I wonder if I could tape my flames then spray the adhesion promoter. I am also going to have the flames be the polished tank and the "background" be the yellow with black or dark gray striping separating the two.

 

[Stretch]

I think the adhesion promoter is suppose to go over everything to help the basecoat and clear coat stick to the metal. I really can't say for sure though?

-Stretch

 

[t-boy62]

I want part of the tank to be the polished aluminum. It will be a polished tank with yellow flames. I do plan on clearcoating the entire tank afterwards but any kind of sanding or abraisives would mess up the polished surafce.