foxbat426 Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 Ok this might be an obvious question, but how do you modelers two tone a model car?? a good example would be the 57 chevy. up until now i've only painted cars one color - would like to try a ford edsel or 57 chev, but really not sure how to go about it. john Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hgbben Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 Prime, then paint the lighter color first, otherwise you will have bleed thru by painting the darker color first. If you are not using a body line to separate the color, I like to put a coat of clear over the edge of the lighter color to "hide" the line. Mask accordingly for the 2nd color. Apply clear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930fordpickup Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 Ben you are saying clear over the tape before you paint the second color? That does sound like a good idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hgbben Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 No, after the tape has been removed and the lighter color has cured, apply a coat of clear to hide the line. Once that is cured, tape and mask off accordingly. Paint 2nd color. Once tape has been removed and paint has cured, apply clear and polish to desired result. Individual results may vary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kennyboy Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 This sounds like a decent process to me.......each time the masking is removed, the clear covers the masking line. Good advice Ben. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930fordpickup Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 Thanks Ben for setting me straight on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxbat426 Posted February 28, 2015 Author Share Posted February 28, 2015 sounds easier said than done! Plain ole masking tape? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelo7 Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 (edited) I just use masking tape and press a little around the tape edge to avoid "bleeding". I wait at least one week before putting tape over the painted color to avoid pulling the paint off when removing the tape. Edited February 28, 2015 by angelo7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randx0 Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 (edited) Also if you find yourself having a little color sneaking under the tape, you can use a clear coat prior to the color to help seal up the tape lines. As with all new techniques practice is required don't be dismayed if it doesn't work the first time . Edited February 28, 2015 by randx0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobraman Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 I like to cut a fresh edge on the tape rather than use the factory edge. Sometime the factory edge does not lay down as good. You can also cut more narrow strips if you have any curve to your layout. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramfins59 Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 Your best bet for masking is to use Tamiya tape. It is GREAT stuff, although a bit pricey... but well worth it. Burnish down the edge real good and you get NO paint bleed under the tape. Use it along the edge of your first, lighter paint color, and mask off the rest of it with regular masking tape. A well-stocked Hobby Shop should have it. Or you can order it from http://www.modelroundup.com/ It's listed under "Glue/Paints/Tools" and is $5.75. You won't be disappointed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lghtngyello03 Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 Will be using this procedure soon. Thanks guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krazy Rick Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 Better still, practice on sheets of styrene before going to the kit body, when removing the tape, pull it over itself slowly; it will give you a clean edge....oh.... and don't overdo it with the paint either, remember, your just trying to acheive the color, so even light passes are best, no need to soak it; your final clear coat will give you the gloss you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 (edited) Your best bet for masking is to use Tamiya tape. It is GREAT stuff, although a bit pricey... but well worth it. Burnish down the edge real good and you get NO paint bleed under the tape. Use it along the edge of your first, lighter paint color, and mask off the rest of it with regular masking tape. Agreed! Tamiya tape will give you an amazing edge! The first time you buy some, buy it in the dispenser. The answer to the post below will explain that! While it's expensive, you only need to use it for the defining edge. Once you have that masked, you can mate it up with painters blue tape to cover the rest of the body. The Tamiya tape also cuts very well and I will often place it over the line I need to paint, and cut it just like Bare Metal Foil on the body. That gives an exact edge and you can create curves and such. I like to cut a fresh edge on the tape rather than use the factory edge. Sometime the factory edge does not lay down as good. You can also cut more narrow strips if you have any curve to your layout. In a professional paint shop once a roll of masking tape hits the ground, it gets thrown out. Reason being, the edge of it has gotten dented and picked up dirt from the floor. You can't guarantee it will provide a clean mask. So your idea of cutting a fresh edge is good. My rule is that the roll of painters blue tape on my bench never gets put down on the bench. I have a shelf over the bench where the bracket sticks out further than the shelf. I put the roll over that. It took a bit of training to get myself to do that every time. No dirty edge! And that's also the reason to get the Tamiya tape dispenser. The tape edge stays clean inside it. Edited March 1, 2015 by Tom Geiger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 Guys in my club who consistently do the best quality work use BMF to mask straight lines. Perfect edges, and frankly, much better than I'd thought possible on a model car. I'd sure like to see some pix of the results the advice-givers are getting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramfins59 Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 I'll usually put the Tamiya tape on the side trim lines so after everything is painted the BMF on the chrome trim covers the paint separation line. A picture of my 2 tone cars won't show those points, but I'll vouch for the clean paint lines once the tape is removed, whether you believe me or not (and I'm not saying this as a "snarky" remark. I've tried using BMF to mask paint but found that the BMF is sometimes a real bear to get off after it's been painted over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveM Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 One trick I used with BMF was to mask to within about 1/8th inch from my masking line with regular hardware store blue tape. Then I laid down my foil and trimmed the edge right on the masking line. When it came time to remove the foil, I used the tape under it as a handle to pull it up, Practice on a scrap body, because it takes a bit of a touch to get it right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 Guys in my club who consistently do the best quality work use BMF to mask straight lines. Perfect edges, and frankly, much better than I'd thought possible on a model car. I'd sure like to see some pix of the results the advice-givers are getting. The roof on this '34 Ford was masked with Tamiya tape. Once I got it, I stopped using BMF for masking, except in tiny spots where the Tamiya tape wasn't flexible enough to get in there, like on dash boards with lots of curves. My first two tone was on a '57 Ford some 25 years ago. The tip back then was to use the frosted Magic Tape. And it worked like a charm too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 The key to any two tone/multi colored paint job is make sure to rub your tape down well whatever kind you use. If tape is burnished down well, there's no need to spray clear over it before color. I've got great results using Tamiya tape and Blue Painter's Tape. If you buy the Tamiya tape, get it with the dispenser. This keeps unwanted dust and lint from sticking to the edges of the tape and getting transferred onto your paint. One rule with Blue tape is to never use the factory edge. I always lay it out on a piece of clean glass and cut a new edge with a metal straight edge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Anderson Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 The key to any two tone/multi colored paint job is make sure to rub your tape down well whatever kind you use. If tape is burnished down well, there's no need to spray clear over it before color. I've got great results using Tamiya tape and Blue Painter's Tape. If you buy the Tamiya tape, get it with the dispenser. This keeps unwanted dust and lint from sticking to the edges of the tape and getting transferred onto your paint. One rule with Blue tape is to never use the factory edge. I always lay it out on a piece of clean glass and cut a new edge with a metal straight edge. I second Roger's advice. I've been doing two (and sometimes three or more) color paint jobs on model cars since the 1960's, when real masking tape was the only game in town. I still use regular masking tape, and replace the roll after it's been around for more than say, 3 months or so--this ensures that I use tape that has fresh adhesive, and it's not all that much of an expense either. Like others have suggested, a piece of plate glass and a metal straight edge are excellent tools, along with a fresh #11 Xacto blade in my knife handle, for cutting a truly sharp edge on the tape I use--most certainly when that piece of tape is going to be the demarcation between colors. I then burnish the tape down tightly (my fingernail does most of that) and where I come to some detail or body shape that makes the tape want to "tent" away from the surface, I'll work the tape gently down into that area with a .5mm push-click mechanical pencil Burnishing the tape down can also go a long way to preventing the second color of paint from "running down" into a door line or other panel line on the model surface. That generally is not a problem when using an airbrush due to the much finer spray mist of paint as compared to a spray can--but even then I've almost never had a problem with it as long as I burnish the tape down. One point of caution might be in order here: Virtually all hobby paints are formulated to "dry" quickly--to the touch of your fingers--but they aren't really dry enough to withstand serious handling, certainly not the stress of masking tapes.. With lacquers such as Modelmaster or Tamiya, the drying time can be just a few days--although the heavier (thicker) the paint job, the longer it will take for all the solvents to evaporate out of lacquers. I'd let a lacquer paint job dry for at least a week before doing any masking. With Testors enamels, the drying process takes a lot longer--upwards of a month or so, before the paint is completely cured. This is because enamel paints such as Testors dry in two stages: First the solvent has to evaporate, which it will do from the outside inward, and second, the resins in enamels cure by contact with the oxygen in the surrounding air--that's what makes them into a hard finish, given enough time. This is one reason why I (and others) have spent a little money on a food dehydrator, as that speeds up the drying process quite a bit. If you rush to put masking tape on, before the paint (lacquer or enamel) hasn't cured out hard yet--the tape can mark the surface of the paint on which it is applied, and you may or may not be able to polish that completely out. Even leaving the masking tape on longer than necessary can cause this effect as well--words of advice from my nephew, who is a museum-certified (to among others, the Smithsonian) furniture restorer and top-of-the-line cabinet maker. Even with all I mask using masking tape, there are times when I have to go to using Bare Metal Foil to get an edge in a tightly cramped area where there are sharply raised details that masking tape just won't seal down on long enough to get a paint job done. Others have already described how to do that, so I'll not belabor the point any further. Art Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtx6970 Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Something to keep in mind. The thicker the tape you use..the taller the paint edge is going to be. Not a big deal if your taping off at a mldg so to speak..but if the 2 colors are going to butt up against each other you might have an edge you don't want Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxbat426 Posted March 2, 2015 Author Share Posted March 2, 2015 great info everyone - thanks, ill be trying these tips soon. for awhile anyway i'll be sticking to cars that have chrome seperating the two colors, such as the edsel and 57 chev among others. Should i just bring the tape (and paint) onto the raised "chrome" area. If it bleeds a bit, so what right?? It'll get covered with BMF anyway?? Is this correct? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 Should i just bring the tape (and paint) onto the raised "chrome" area. If it bleeds a bit, so what right?? It'll get covered with BMF anyway?? Is this correct? BMF won't cover a mess, it will enhance it! The foil is so thin you need to make sure you have a smooth surface under it. Yes, it's good to do your paint color separations on top of the chrome strip (you don't want to do above or below since you may miss a spot), but once you have both colors painted, give the chrome strip a quick sanding to flatten out any edge or mishap that will be under the foil. Once sanded, wash the body before applying BMF to make sure the sanding dust is gone. That will show up too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRX7Project Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 I've successfully used plain masking tape and cut around the edge with a hobby knife. This only really works if you have a body or trim line to cut around (unless you have a really steady hand or are cutting out a shape). Make sure you press it down tight! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tubbs Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 great advice from everyone. I find I have my best results with Scotch clear tape. yea, that stuff you use for wrapping gifts. it's thin, very flexible and its clear so you can see thru it if you need to.my advice to you is to try all these ideas and find out what works for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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