Painting black outlines between colours

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PostPosted: Mon Mar 02, 2015 5:18 am
Hi everyone and thanks to the people who helped my before, hoping I can get come more help now.

I am painting a 1979 smallframe vespa. I am just about finished painting a blue orange gulf theme to the scooter and am pretty pleased with the results so far. I have attached a picture of the frame to show what I mean. What I would like to know is how to effectively paint a thin black line between the two colours. I painted my helmet yesterday more to just test some techniques than anything. I put the black down first, masked out the design and then painted the orange and blue which left the black line underneath. This has left a slight lip however between the paints. Is it best to mask out a line over the two colours and paint on top although I am concerned that this would also leave a slight ridge.

Any ideas or recommendations that anyone may have would be much appreciated.

thanks in advance
Attachments
GULF HELMET.jpg
gulf vespa 2.jpg

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PostPosted: Mon Mar 02, 2015 7:50 am
Very nice! Unless you are clear coating, you'll always have a ridge when you paint a stripe over existing paint (e.g. if shooting a single-stage paint). I've heard guys talk about very gently running their finger over the edge of the paint while still soft, to help reduce the ridge - but I've never tried it...I don't like touching paint until it's fully dry. Maybe some of the more experienced guys here will add some ideas...



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PostPosted: Mon Mar 02, 2015 8:48 am
alright mate, thanks for your response.

I am clear coating as im using 1K acrylic. The lip is very slight so I suppose the clear coat would possibly fill that. Just wanted to see if anyone used any specific techniques.

flattening the edge whilst still wet sounds like a good idea in practice but like you say I wouldn't want to ruin it after all the time I've put in. I don't trust myself haha.



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PostPosted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 6:46 pm
I ditto Chris.
I have used the fingernail trick and it works pretty good but only with base coats or lacquers. Gotta time it right tho.
Something else that will help is to make sure you pull the masking tape back over itself as you remove it (don't pull it up and away from the panel) By pulling it back over itself it helps to cut the paint away. There is a "sweet" time for pulling the tape off, too soon and the tape will pull out from under the paint or the paint will string away from the surface and you won't get a crisp line. Too late and you can get a jagged edge as the paint tears away.
One way to lessen the severity of the edge is to mask the outline of the stripe, spray it, remove the masking from around it then mask over the stripe and spray the other colors, they'll all be close to the same thickness.......its a lot easier to bury it in clear then wet sand and polish it smooth



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PostPosted: Fri Apr 10, 2015 3:35 am
Thanks for your help with this. I ended up just leaving the line as it was as I didn't trust myself to flatten the edge. I cleared over it and there is no ridge so happy days. I'll get some pics up soon if anyones interested. One further question I have tho is how long would you recommend to leave it before adding some vinyl decals? I left it a week before cutting and buffing and everything went great. very shiny now after a bit of wax and polish. I have heard that it should be left a minimum of 4 weeks before applying decals, seems a bit extreme. What do you reckon?

thanks again for your advice. much appreciated as this is my first proper paint job!

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