Oz build SS7

[metalman]

Lookin good mate,
Stopping the stripe colours from blowing the the masking is a constant drama , I can spend nearly as much time checking and rechecking mask lines as I do with the initial masking, all a good learning curve, and almost every stuff up is fixable with out to much trouble,

[rosslr]

Thanks Matt. And yes, I have been thinking that stopping the bleeding under the masking tape will be a challenge! Looks like you have it mastered Phil. Yours is looking great! did you find any particular type/brand of tape stopped the bleeding better than others? I dont have a paint scheme pic Phil - just basically copying Paul Leaderbrand's and making it up as I go. I have run out of white polytone now so have to wait for a few days until it arrives. Plenty more to go on with though!

[metalman]

Just wondering if your using fine line tape for the edge of the stripes, it stops the bleeding and shoddy edge that you'll get with just masking tape?

[airlina]

I learned a neat trick to get nice sharp lines when masking without bleeding past your mask tape. After taping and running your fingernail over the edge of the tape, use your overall color ( base color under the mask) to shoot the edges of the tape (I used a modeling airbrush gun to do this ) . The base color paint will fill the tape voids so that when you shoot your striping color it will not sneak under the tape and ruin your clean edge. Hope that made sense. Bruce N199CL

[KFfan]

Just a thought.
Has anyone tried the brand name Frog Tape in lieu of masking tape. It is green in color and supposedly prohibits bleeding.
That is a brand name in the US, don't know about other countries.

[PapuaPilot]

Ross,
I am using 3M fine line tape. It is light green color and is a plastic like material. You can make curved lines to a certain point as the tape will stretch a little. I used 3/4" wide. They make 1/4" wide too if you want to make really tight curves. It leaves a perfect line if you take it off correctly (at a 45 degree angle away from the line) and at the right time. I let the Poly Tone dry while I cleaned the paint gun, then I removed the tapes. If the paint is too wet it will pull strings of paint, but you don't want to wait until the paint is too dry.

Like Bruce said: push the tape edges down and paint all the edges first. I was really worried about the tape lifting between the ribs on my horizontal stab. The 3M tape lifted if it was left for more than an hour on my stab. The last thing I did before spraying my stab was to press the tape edges down. My stab turned out good, the only thing that happened was a little bleed through at a couple of the pinked edges, but it was very minor.

Regarding Frog tape. I bought some but ended up using the 3M tape instead. I think Frog tape would be a good second choice if you can't get the 3M. It appears to be very sticky.

FYI I got some marks where the tape was on my stab and elevator. The tape was on them for over a week and I think the tape's glue reacted with the paint. It is best to tape, immediately paint and remove the tape. I did this on my fuselage and there is no sign of the tape.

[Av8r_Sed]

Good tape helps, but you're going over fabric and tapes that have an uneven weave. Best practice is to do as Arlina mentioned, or be a bit dissatisfied with your results. I wish I'd figured this out before I painted my plane.

[Dutch]

I found that after applying the green 3/4" fog tape. It works best if you use the edge of a credit card to scrape across the width of the tape. It really makes the paint edges sharp.

Dutch

[rosslr]

Thanks guys - I feel the pressure now! If I made a mess without the knowledge I could have claimed ignorance - no excuses now! I will post the results - either way - promise!

cheers - off to town to find myself some fine line and/or frog tape.

[Danzer1]

IMHO - Fine Line is the better product. Might have to try and auto paint supply store. If you have a choice, try not to get any tape color that matches or is close to the colors you are painting - you want to be able to clearly see where you are laying it.

If you do the edge paint base color, don't leave the tape on any longer than necessary after painting the trim color.

Another method is to paint the trim color first in the area of the trim leaving the overspray then masking/taping the trim detail and then over painting over the mask/tape with the base color. Works very well with fine lines (pin stripes) and areas with lots of detail. It's also faster and easier to get one straight, consistent fine line with one strip of the proper width tape than trying to mask both sides of what you hope will end up being a fine line or pin stripe.