Using Clear to Seal the Tape on a Two Tone Paint Job

[Miatatom]

I was watching HGTV earlier and they were doing a two tone paint scheme on a wall. They painted the lighter color, taped it off and applied another coat of the lighter color to seal the edge of the tape and prevent bleed through.

Here on the forum, everyone suggests applying some clear to seal the edge. Why use clear or would the HGTV method work as well?

[Harry P.]

Seems to me that the technique works because the paint is sealing the tape edge, so it would make no difference whether you used color or clear. So unless I'm missing something obvious, the answer to your question is yes, the HGTV method should work just as well as the "clear" method.

[Miatatom]

Doing a little research and found this info:

You can apply a coat of clear to seal the masking, any bleed under will be clear and shouldn't affect the base coat or the separation. Applying a coat of the base color over the masking will do something similar, the difference being the bleed under will be the color of the base. This can be especially useful if the finished model doesn't have a clear coat, it "just looks right" not having any clear along the separation line if you aren't going to clearcoat the rest of the car. However, it can be a problem if applying another coat of the base color would make it darker or otherwise shift the color. On certain metallic or candy paints, another coat of the base color would show up nearly as much as the second color bleeding under the masking.

[High octane]

Doing a little research and found this info:

You can apply a coat of clear to seal the masking, any bleed under will be clear and shouldn't affect the base coat or the separation. Applying a coat of the base color over the masking will do something similar, the difference being the bleed under will be the color of the base. This can be especially useful if the finished model doesn't have a clear coat, it "just looks right" not having any clear along the separation line if you aren't going to clearcoat the rest of the car. However, it can be a problem if applying another coat of the base color would make it darker or otherwise shift the color. On certain metallic or candy paints, another coat of the base color would show up nearly as much as the second color bleeding under the masking.

Sounds good Tom, but I always clear my paint jobs and I always use clear on the tape edges before the second color is applied. If it should bleed through, it would bleed clear.

[Miatatom]

Most of my builds will be race cars which shouldn't have a glossy look. I've got some others to build that will be cleared. Which method to choose depends on the look that the builder is trying to achieve.

[ScaleDale]

I've pulled a couple of tips from Dr. Cranky that have worked well. One is to use 3M automotive masking tape. It's tan and available from Auto Zone in my area. The other is to clear the first coat with Future before masking. This seems to do a good job of sealing the edge between the tape and paint. It's not super glossy, either.

Dale

[Art Anderson]

I feel like someone speaking from the wilderness here! I, for one, have NEVER used anything BUT the freshest 3M masking tape I can find, that coming from either a paint store or from a local specialty retailer catering primarily to auto body shops. I also NEVER use that masking tape "straight off the roll" as no matter what, the edge of commercially made masking tape will be at least slightly "boogered" by both the mass-production process and in handling the product at the retail end, no matter how it's been packaged. And, I have NEVER subscribed to the notion of using clear to "seal" the edge of the tape with clear to prevent "bleeding under" by the second color either.

What I do though, is to lay strips of this masking tape down on a clean piece of plate glass (fortunately, where I work I have been given several pieces of sample plate glass (I work around perhaps 70 people at the University who are involved in all steps of overseeing the construction, remodel and renovation of buildings on campus, and as such, they are constantly tossing samples of tempered plate glass, most generally 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick) and then using a straight edge (a strip of K&S brass strip works great for this) and a fresh #11 Xacto blade, I cut my own fresh edge on the tape, and then cut the tape into narrow strips, anywhere from 1/8" to perhaps 1/4" wide. I first lay down the narrowest strips of tape to get the "edge" of color separation, and burnish down that strip with my fingernail (your fingernails can be some of the most versatile "tools" you have, BTW!), which presses the tape adhesive down tightly against the surface of the first color, and then adding strips of tape until I have the entire body masked off.

As I airbrush 99.9% of all my models, I get thin coats of paint which virtually never bleed or run under the masking tape (years of experience I suppose), and when I pull up that tape from the finished 2-tone paint job, I have very little in the way of an "edge", although with any 2- or more color paint job (for nearly 20 years, my building was primarily Indianapolis race cars--and some of those had rather outrageous paint schemes) there will be a raised edge between colors simply due to the added layer of the second (or third or fourth) color, which is inevitable. Simply polishing out the paint job minimizes and de-emphasizes this though.

For burnishing down masking tape in areas where my fingernail won't quite reach, my trusty .5mm "push-click" mechanical pencil does a great job--again a very universal and useful tool at my workbench--I use the same pencil to press BMF down into the little details of scripts and emblems as well--and oh yeah, it works great for drawing lines on paper or styrene too).

Art

[ScaleDale]

Just to clarify, I spray Future before taping. This provides a very smooth surface for the tape to seal to and allows it to peel of cleanly. Nothing goes over the tape but the second color of paint.

Dale

[Cato]

Using BMF as a mask will eliminate the need for spraying edges. It's thinner than tape too.