Racing stripes!

[themikestro]

Hey!

My Jagmaster is getting jelous of its two hand made stablemates and I'm thinking i've got to spruce it up or sell it on....

Spruce wise it's begging for some mean distort 'o' buckers and some cheeky racing stripes, like the mustangs of old!

Question is.... Do you tape 'em (and if so what with?) or do you mask and paint them. I have tried painting them before on a cwappy old LP copy and they came out ok but not really sharp.. Anybody have any experience?

On a semi related note how easy/hard is it to spray a nifty hotrod flame effect and what is the best way to mask it?

Questions question!

Cheers!

[daveq]

I think LGM (Jeremy) has a lot of experience with airbrushing and projects like this. He helped me quite a bit with my tiger (see the "in progress" section). He suggested using sign makers transfer tape to mask the body for what I did. I bought a 16" wide roll of 100 yards for about $60.00 and it does a great job. Using smaller strips (of regular masking tape) and overlapping would be quite a nightmare so I'm guessing the same stuff might be good for what you are talking about doing. Check with other finishing guys here before you do anything.

Also - I think whenever you need a crisp hard line, you need to mask. Again, check with others on this stuff but that's been my experience so far.

[themikestro]

Yeah, I've noticed a lot of discussion about different masking tapes on here, I did mine ages ago with masking tape (the regular kind) and found that some bits were crispy sharp and others the tape must have lifted slightly... ho hum, anyhow I sold it so thats in the past!

Cheers for the advice

[Southpa]

Here is a trick I learned about masking from the boat building trade. Normally you lay masking tape down and then spray around it. Pull the tape off and you have a raised edge to sand down. When that polyurethane paint has cured its a real bitch to sand smooth. I mean that stuff is HARD@!

If you want a smooth transition between the original surface and the freshly painted surface lay the tape down a little further over the line than you normally would. Then gently curl up the edge of the tape and stop curling where your dividing line is. After shooting and peeling the tape off you will notice that the paint edge bevels down to nothing. It takes a lot of accuracy to get it just right but the end result is much easier to deal with.

[darren wilson]

Personally, on an inexpensive guitar like a Jagmaster, i'd just go to a store that does automotive decals and get a couple of strips of wide adhesive vinyl and apply those, unless you want the experience in painting.

Flames aren't easy. They require a good eye and a steady hand.

[themikestro]

Yeah, the flames were a bit unlikely really, It would look fantastic but I'd be pretty wound up if I messed it up though, I've got an airbrush that'd make things a lot easier.....

Does the tape work well? What was used on the original competition stripe mustangs, tape or paint? I know I can do it with paint but if tape works just as well there is no point bothering.

Ho-hum. I should probably just sell it anyways!

[pickleweaseler]

There's a guy on ebay that sells sticker stripes for this purpose. The photos look okay from the front but the back is sloppy. You might want to check those out.

[syxxstring]

A local sign shop maybe able to do what you want. Otherwise see if you can find a guy who cuts vinyl for cars. I have a friend that did logos for our band that way and a banner.