Painting Stripes on Car Body

[70 STING]

Good evening,

I'm looking to airbrush stripes on a Ferrari kit as opposed to using the supplied decals. 




The straight decals are not problem, it's numbers 1 & 2 with their curved edges that concern me. I don't have access to a Silhouette or Circuit cutter and I'm pretty sure using scissors or an X-acto to cut masking tape will result it jagged or uneven edges. 

Any tips are greatly appreciated.  :^)

[eaglecash867]

Do you have a scanner and printer?  Maybe scan the decal sheet and print it out?  Then you can lay that printed sheet on top of something like the Tamiya Masking Sticker Sheets and use the printed sheet as your guide while you trace along the edge of it with your Xacto #11 blade.  If you actually peel the backing off of a piece of the masking sticker sheet of sufficient size for the stripes on that printed sheet and lay it down on a piece of tempered glass, the adhesive on the sticker sheet will hold that still and if you're not having to also cut through the backing paper of the sticker sheet, you can get some really clean, precise cuts that way.  Maybe not machine-like precision, but you'll be able to get pretty close.  Depending on which color you start with, you can either use the stripes themselves to mask off the color for the stripes, or you can lay down the material that surrounds the stripes and use that to mask off the rest of the paint.  Not sure about how you're going to paint the black pin-stripe borders around the stripes though.

Unlike standard masking tape, those masking sticker sheets are almost infinitely re-positionable, and they suck down flat to the surface, so you won't get any bleed-under.

[kyledehart5]

I second the Tamiya masking sheets. I have a set of curved scissors I use to cut the curvy decals out and then use the decal as a template on the masking sheet. Very Carefully cut that out and as was mentioned, perhaps not machine precision curves but close enough.

[406 Silverado]

Sept 7, 2023 20:02:49 GMT -5 eaglecash867 said:

Do you have a scanner and printer?  Maybe scan the decal sheet and print it out?  Then you can lay that printed sheet on top of something like the Tamiya Masking Sticker Sheets and use the printed sheet as your guide while you trace along the edge of it with your Xacto #11 blade.  If you actually peel the backing off of a piece of the masking sticker sheet of sufficient size for the stripes on that printed sheet and lay it down on a piece of tempered glass, the adhesive on the sticker sheet will hold that still and if you're not having to also cut through the backing paper of the sticker sheet, you can get some really clean, precise cuts that way.  Maybe not machine-like precision, but you'll be able to get pretty close.  Depending on which color you start with, you can either use the stripes themselves to mask off the color for the stripes, or you can lay down the material that surrounds the stripes and use that to mask off the rest of the paint.  Not sure about how you're going to paint the black pin-stripe borders around the stripes though.

Unlike standard masking tape, those masking sticker sheets are almost infinitely re-positionable, and they suck down flat to the surface, so you won't get any bleed-under.

I didn't know that these existed.....till now. I'll be looking further into this. Thanks for sharing that.

[eaglecash867]

Sept 8, 2023 6:03:46 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

I didn't know that these existed.....till now. I'll be looking further into this. Thanks for sharing that.

No problem.  They have blank sheets, and sheets with a 1mm grid printed on them.  I like the sheets with the 1mm grid.  You can take a little strip of it and use it as a measuring tape and not have to worry about scratching anything while measuring.

[406 Silverado]

Sept 8, 2023 6:11:50 GMT -5 eaglecash867 said:

Sept 8, 2023 6:03:46 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

I didn't know that these existed.....till now. I'll be looking further into this. Thanks for sharing that.

No problem.  They have blank sheets, and sheets with a 1mm grid printed on them.  I like the sheets with the 1mm grid.  You can take a little strip of it and use it as a measuring tape and not have to worry about scratching anything while measuring.

Nice. I'll be looking this up today.

[70 STING]

eaglecash867 and kyledehart5 Either way it’s going to take a little precision on my part. Can’t be more difficult than scribing shallow panel lines… am I right? ;^)

Thanks for the idea. I’ll give it a try.

[keavdog]

Not sure if the tape material supports it, but fold it in half and you can cut both masks with one cut. At least they will be symmetrical.

[kyledehart5]

Sept 8, 2023 9:22:18 GMT -5 keavdog said:

Not sure if the tape material supports it, but fold it in half and you can cut both masks with one cut. At least they will be symmetrical.

never tried it but it’s just sticky paper so I’d imagine you could do this in theory. I don’t think a fold line would really hurt it. I don’t know. Might have to do it with the backing still on the sheet so it doesn’t stick to itself.