should i put pinstripes around the edge of flames?

[Flea]

just found the site and its great!!! ... i have been playing around with different things and painting flames on stuff.. but i have a question... a lot of times when i paint the flames and pull the masking tape back up i end up with a ridge where the paint and tape met... i am guessing it is from to much paint... i normally sand it down a little and put a pinstrip around the edge but that doesn't always look good...

what do you think? what should i do differently?

this is a peice i am working on right now... if you look at it closely you can see the ridge at the end of the paint..

and i would like to avoid that if possible...

another thing i have problems with ... sometimes no matter what i do to prep the surface.. when i go to peel the masking up .. sometimes it wants to lift the paint up with it (the paint for the flames) so it is not always adhearing to the surface...

i go between my airbrush and spray cans for painting them... i get about the same results either way...

(the ones in the pics was done with spraycans)

 

[TAZ]

Hello,
Great job on the flames! I'm sure the ridges in the box made it even harder to tape off.

Anyway, you can check out one of my tips on this board in the "Tips" section. The post is with the heading "Keeping the flame edge "clean". This gives you an idea of how to keep the edge cleaner. Basically you put a "basecoat" clear down first, this way, when you pull the tape off, you will roll up the clear and not the bottom color of your flames. You still need to keep your colors thin as possible though.

It does appear the you possibly are putting on quite a bit of paint material, thus this is giving you a "bridged" effect over your tape. If you use a true bascoat paint, the paint is very thin and dries quickly, so when you pull your tape up, it will give you a nice edge.

One other thing that might help you is to pull the tape along the flame line. Meaning, pull it backwards and follow the flames, this will help "cut" the paint, thus keeping it from peeling the paint back.
Hope this helps!
Glad you enjoy the site!
Scott F

 

[Flea]

just read that tip i will have ta try that on the next one...

yes the ridges made it a total ***** to tape it up but it turned out okay... the paint is REAL thick on there tho... i need to hook up my airbrush and start trying to use it right now mostly i use spray cans or my touch up paint gun .. but even that will put it on a little to thick most of the time...

i have another mailbox that has a smooth finish on it i am going to try to use the airbrush and see how it turns out... will put down a coat of white first since the box is black...

again Great site!!

 

[TAZ]

It sounds as though you might be trying to get both the shine and your flames at the same time. You might want to try using a true basecoat (with reducer). You can do this with your air-brush.
When using a true basecoat, you want to simply give your flames some color (don't worry about gloss or shine yet), then once you pull all your flame tape off, then you can clear the complete box. This will *really* help keep the edge down.
Scott F

 

[Flea]

hmmm okay... well in the airbrush is there a certain type of paint i need to use (acrylic , enamel?) since i have not used it but once and then was with paint specifically for the airbrush ...

 

[heather]

Dear Flea,

Hi, was having problems also with my edges. However I am finding the best adheasion is with an etch primer then a regular primer over it or try a adheasion promoter over the etch primer. I also will use an acid etch first to remove any old anodizing(if it is aluminum or titanium) to start fresh.
Also with an airbrush, because I have painted with many mediums, you can use automotive paint with a reducer, it becomes very thin and you should be able to use it in the smallest detail needle.

I always need to ask questions.