Tip for masking tight body lines

[mewalsh100]

I'll post this under Tools and Procedures as well.

I'm working on painting my '73 Proline Bronco body. I'm doing the flares in a different color than the body. The lines and curves of these are fairly tight and fine. I attempted to use narrow Tamiya masking tape (1/8"), but every time I tried to make the radius of the fender line it would crinkle up and not fully adhere to the body. Plus all those little wrinkles and crinkle lines are going to let that paint just bleed right under. No bueno.

I ended up going to my local auto parts store and picked up some vinyl pin striping tape. (also about 1/8") The vinyl tape easily allows you to make nice tight radius's and turns and remains flat with no wrinkling and crinkling. It also adheres really well to the lexan. So, my procedure was to do my outer most edge of the line with the vinyl tape to get a nice, clean and crisp line, then go back and do the broader masking with blue painters tape as per usual. I was also able to do up in the roof line and windshield line with this method since these areas were pretty tight as well. A roll of the pin stripe tape in this size was $2.59, so pretty good deal to boot!"thumbsup"

 

[HumboldtEF]

Nice tip, I went to my auto parts store for pin striping tape but ended up with the regular painters tape which was no better, I knew there had to be something better.

One thing I've learned over time was many light coats of paint, of coarse its painting 101 and we've all heard this over and over but actually following this advice doesn't always happen. Anyway if you have a masked area that has sharp curves theres nothing worse you can do than to flood it with paint, you never want your paint so thick that its flowing. If it starts to flow its very, very likely to run through your masking. Also the more coats of paint there are the more dried out standard masking gets, and it will start to pull away on curved areas and let the paint through your lines, maybe the vinyl doesn't do this?

 

[Mike Flea]

Vinyl pinstripe tape won't do that. It stretches, and as long as you are smoothing it with one finger while unrolling with the other hand to the contour of your body, you shouldn't get any bleed under the tape. Best to do this with 2 people, like your wife/girlfriend, or just a friend to hold the body while you apply the tape.

 

[dr frankenstyle]

I recently discovered that Tamiya also makes "masking tape for curves" in 2, 3, and 5-mm widths (item # 87177, 87178, and 87179 respectively). It seems to be vinyl, but a bit thinner than striping tape, and it bends and curves really nicely. I'll use it to edge, and stick blue painters or Frog tape onto it. I used it, that way, on my Orlandoo Jeep's paint-job.

8)

 

[Killa-Cotton]

Liquid mask. Simple to apply and you can make sharp lines with no bleeding. Practice on some scrap lexan and you will be amazed at what you can do with that stuff.

 

[HumboldtEF]

Liquid mask. Simple to apply and you can make sharp lines with no bleeding. Practice on some scrap lexan and you will be amazed at what you can do with that stuff.

Any tips to avoid scoring the body too deeply? I've always been concerned that the lines you cut into a liquid mask if they were too deep might be where the cracks will start to form.

Also is there a lexan specific liquid mask or will any work?

 

[mewalsh100]

I recently discovered that Tamiya also makes "masking tape for curves" in 2, 3, and 5-mm widths (item # 87177, 87178, and 87179 respectively). It seems to be vinyl, but a bit thinner than striping tape, and it bends and curves really nicely. I'll use it to edge, and stick blue painters or Frog tape onto it. I used it, that way, on my Orlandoo Jeep's paint-job.

8)

I saw that Tamiya had the vinyl tape as well for complex and compound curves. It's basically the same as pinstripe tape, and about 4X times the cost.:shock:

 

[canadianbacon]

Any tips to avoid scoring the body too deeply? I've always been concerned that the lines you cut into a liquid mask if they were too deep might be where the cracks will start to form.

Also is there a lexan specific liquid mask or will any work?

I used Fasmask from Parma, put a lot on and put it on thick.

Biggest tip is get a brand new blade in your hobby knife, or new razor blade, and just let it do the work. You barely have to put any pressure, since cutting through the mask is a lot easier for it than the lexan.

Just practice on a scrap piece of lexan and you'll figure out exactly how much pressure you'll need to make crisp cuts.