Taping off for Ghost Flames

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afmcorp

New member
Hello folks I'm a first time painter and have chosen a sems kandy mandirin concentrate. my base is their met silver. i'm using a devilbiss finish line gun with 1.3 tip. i'm painting my tank, rear fender and side panels.

my basic paint setup is, 6 coats of dur-fil primer and 5 coats of met silver. now i'm going to layout my flames and mask off. then going with appx 3 coats of kandy. then i will high light the center of the flames with metallic gold for a more pronounced flame center. now i will finish with 2 maybe 3 coats of kandy. and last i'll finish off with 5 or 6 coats of clear.

at this point my silver base coat is on. now here is my problem...

i'm using both the greenish 3m fine line tape and the blue plastic to lay out my flames. they are the 1/8 in size. what i keep experiencing is on the inside curve the tape (either type) wrinkles up. i can smooth out the blue w/ my fingernail but it won't last but a few minutes until it wrinkles up again.

what i expect is if i use it this way paint will run up into the wrinkles. so is there a trick to getting the tape to lay flat.

side note: i just got a book on building kit bikes from west coast choppers and their painting section shows laying first the 1/8" then going back over that with the 1/4" size. but they appear to be accepting the big time wrinkles in the 1/4" and their curves aren't very smooth.

can someone advise what i'm doing wrong or what is acceptable in the taping proceedure? i can use the stencil paper then draw and cut but i'd like to use tape so i can learn.

i certainly appreciate any guidance. any dvds or books i should buy??

tks
craig
 
J

Jim

Member
You can either try the 1/16th tape first or do a search on tape here,alot of guys are switching from 3M to other brands that seem to work better for them.Jim
 
A

afmcorp

New member
tks for the quick reply jim.

i'll look around for some other brands and see if i can get a better layment.

i got the sticky mickey tracing paper out and i got the effect i wanted the very first time. i was concerned about cutting thru and scratching my base coat like i did on my 1st attempt with the green fine line. but the paper worked just fine and i didn't cut thru once and the unwanted area pulled off with a hitch. i may just use this on my first attempt. i need to get my bike done so i can move on to my other cars.

just one last question. with my description of how i plan the layout do you think i should outline the flames in a contrasting color or just leave the silver met edge.

thanks again
 
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Jim

Member
Craig,It just depends on the look you want,outlined flames are a little bolder than non-outlined.Just curious,why all those coats?it's going to be very thick and prone to chips.next time use enough primer to get every thing smooth and two,three at the most of the silver should do it,just my opinion,Jim
 
A

afmcorp

New member
thanks again jim for the good advice. i kinda got roped into the primer coats. i was having a tough time getting the primer to go one without me making a mistake so each time i tried i would screw up. it was from lack of experience and a paint gun i had no clue about using.

i sanded on each coat for smoothness. on the last coat i thought i had it down. but when going to the bc silver met i had a couple of problems there too. so once again i had to sand back. but i finally did get the smooth with no mistakes finish.

what my original thought was to use a met gold air brushed in the middle of the flames leaving the 1/8th in tape as my silver outline. the gold will darken up the center so i was thinking i could see the color and texture change and that would be enough.

i do know one thing thou... time is an enemy because i've been doing nothing but thinking about other ways and colors. so i'm going to stick with my original plan as i just described except... for the number of coats. i will watch very closely as i start.

i bought that tape from innate. i should have it this week so i can finish this painting project next weekend.

and thanks again for your input.
craig
 
A

AirArt

New member
Hi Craig,
The 1/4" tape may look wrinkled and not have a symmetrical look to it but that's irrelevant. It's the 1/8" tape that needs to be smooth and have the shape of a nice flame inside. All the outer tape is just masking so don't pay much attention to that, only be sure there's no spots where underspray can slip past. Push it down hard, wrinkles and all.
You can draw some flames with chalk on the tank to give you an idea where you want them but when you lay down the tape, you'll see it's very easy to "draw" with the tape. Work about 10" of tape at a time. If it doesn't look right, lift it and reposition. It can be repositioned several times and then the masking will hold it down too.
The blue tape is best of the blue and green. Stretch the tape slightly when making the turn. Once it's as you want it push it down to get the wrinkles out then run a piece of 3/4" masking tape over the tight curve to lock it down. You'll trim it with the exacto knife later.
See the pic.
Good luck,
Phil
 
H

hambiskit

New member
Craig- sounds like you've put a lot of work into your paint job, and I'm sure that it's going to be great. Just a quick question for you- what was your last sanding grade of paper?
 
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TAZ

Guest
I was going to say the same thing Phil said. When you get a few of the 'ovals' done, go ahead and mask them off to hold them down, then continue on.

You may want to also use just regular masking tape instead of the green tape. If I remember right, that's pretty expensive.
:luck:

:pics: when your'e done
 
F

fleabag

New member
Craig
One of the reasons the blue tape does that is because its on the roll too tight. Undo a section ( probably 2-3 feet, or as wide as your shoulders )from the roll and let it relax a little before applying, this take's some of the tension off of the tape. Hope this helps

fLEa
 
F

fleabag

New member
I also use RBL brand 1/8 inch crepe tape for ALL my layouts and then mask up too it. Fine line tape cost too much and if you let the base dry a little bit longer it will pull off just as clean a line as blue/green tape

fLEa
 
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uhohjim

New member
Hey Craig have you thought about masking and cutting back flame pattern?? I had the same tape out problems on some tanks i did and just masked the whole paint area and cut out my flame pattern........Carefully...then did my paint work as usuaal Hope this gives you another option Jim
 
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Ultra Al

New member
I switched from blue fine line to Colad brand and I like it better. Most of the time I just use 1/8 tan masking tape. AL
 
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