Pinstriping Experiment

[Gbrebes]

Hello All,

I am a pinstriping novice. I once re-applied orange outline to my 1950 Pontiac Silver Streak, which had flames painted on the hood. The original orange tape had peeled off, so i decided to pinstripe in the outlines with 1 shot paint. It turned out ok, there was a lot of leeway in following a paint seem.

So fast forward to 20 years later, I decided I would like to try and pinstripe my tank, fenders, and battery box on my home made bike.

Here is a test of different colors I bought at a local art store. I used a primary belt guard that I built for my bike, but never used. The results are frighteningly shaky and crooked, but I feel like I can get better. Looking at the pictures, its funny how some of my lines follow the lumpy outline of my home-made belt guard.

I was trying to figure out a two stripe color combination that looked good on bare metal. I used Ivory, Tan, Green and Maroon. I was wondering if anyone had opinions on color combinations. I kind of like the Ivory (white) with the green. I also like the maroon with the tan.

If anyone has access to images of older (1900-1920) motorcycle gas tanks with pin striping, please share your photos.

Or if anyone has pinstriping tips, please share them.

Thanks,

Gilbert

 

[culvercityclassic]

I tried to do it myself and just figured its not for me, I will stick with metal work. I did take a bike to get done close to you on Sunset, Sonny Boy. Good people, of you want it clean and done right see him.

Btw: got those motors and cvt if your interested in one of them? They are really nice.

 

[Gbrebes]

Definitely interested in one of those motors.

 

[cannonball2]

I to have tried hand striping with about the same results. Vintage type builds need painted stripes, tape looks out of place. Still I have striped some with it. I did come up with a way for "sorta" painted stripes using the paint pens found in art stores. I use either pinstripe tape or fine line masking tape to lay out the stripe. I apply this in two layers. Then its a simple matter of pulling the paint pen along the tape as a guide. I usually make two runs allowing drying between. Then the tape is pulled. Once the paint has completely dried I "feather" in in a bit with rubbing compound. Gives a pretty good painted stripe appearance. I have never tried pulling a brush along the tape, but that may work also.

 

[2door]

Striping is an art. It takes either lots of practice or a natural ability. Like many others I've tried it but never mastered the technique. I've watched pros pull a perfect line down the entire length of a car, stopping to replenish the brush and start again without being able to see where the stop/start place was. Not something just anyone can do.

I've had good luck with striping tape. The trick is to apply several coats of clear over it so the edges aren't so obvious. On painted surfaces I like to sand the color coat with 400, even 600 paper and put the tape down then shoot the clear coats.

If you're intent on painting the striping you'll need to buy a pin striping brush. Regular short brissle brushes just don't work. Then start practicing. Good luck.

Tom

 

[Gbrebes]

Believe it or not, I was using a pinstriping brush! I took zero practice runs and just free handed the lines to get an idea of how the colors looked on bare metal.

I'm not sure if I like the look, but I'm going to try and paint my gas tank anyway and see what it looks like. I can always sand it off. I'm kind of done tinkering on mechanical components, and I thought it would be fun/challenging/something to do in the shop until the next Grange race.

Thanks for the tips, I'll do a lot more practice on cardboard before I try the tank. The problem is, my tank is lumpy in all directions, so I'll have to ignore the wavy contours of the tank edges.

I was thinking maybe I could trace out a light grease pencil version of the stripe with a straight edge and then paint over the grease pencil line with 1 shot paint.

Gilbert

 

[2door]

Don't paint 'over' the grease pencil line. Paint next to it. Your paint might not stick to the grease, actually a waxy compound. Just a suggestion.

Tom