Detail Painting Tips. Need help!!

[bobby28384]

Hello, I am attempting to paint the underside of my Audi Quattro. However, I can't use tape because of the irregularness of the chassis. I got it painted with many errors. How do really good people do the detail painting on chassis and dash? Thanks!!!!

[mike@af]

Very steady hand, and very small brushes. Get a bunch of small brushes, and have napkins and rubbing alcohol nearby to "erase" mistakes quickly before the paint adheres.

[hobbes874]

Don't forget about toothpicks

[chaos]

I think Pman answered a similar query some time back re the chasis. He uses markers to do the outline of the area he's painting, thus getting crisp lines.
As for the dash - I use toothpicks!

[scaleracecars]

Originally Posted by bobby75024

Hello, I am attempting to paint the underside of my Audi Quattro. However, I can't use tape because of the irregularness of the chassis. I got it painted with many errors. How do really good people do the detail painting on chassis and dash? Thanks!!!!

Masking tape will work. This may sound a little crazy but I start in the corners and really small areas with the tape. I cut it into very small parts in a triangular shape or trapazoid. Then proceed to filling in all of the hard spots finishing with larger parts of tape until all of the masking is done. Takes time but works well.
David

[bobby28384]

So you cut lots of triangles out of tape, them make them fit around the hard parts? Maybe I'll try that. I've struggled for an hour now trying to use this damned pen thing. I'm going to wait till tomorrow to screw around more. I'm just scratching off the areas that are too paint heavy...

[dag65]

I just picked up a pac of Sharpie Silver Markeres that are great for metal details.
Don't sweat those small errors either, get a nice say 1/4" wide flat brush. use that to touch up the errors woth the chassis colors, go lightly and go over it a few times if you have to and with a kittke practice you can paint nice clean lines every time
and if you mess up with the clean up you can retouch the detail color

[EMAXX]

I don't have a very steady hand, so its very hard for me. Most of the time, I just go very slow and use toothpicks and tiny 00 or 01 brushes. It sucks when you don't have a steady hand.

[Murray Kish]

Sounds like good advice so far. Here's another thing that I have started to do... (only used it on aircraft landing gear wheel wells so far)

If there is tricky masking to do, I've found that Silly Putty works fairly well. Just plop a small amount into the area to be masked, and then push it into the corners with a dull knife or toothpick. You can stretch and push the stuff around really easy and get it into all the little nooks and crannys. Shoot your color and then pull out the Silly Putty.

Works for me and it's really cheap. The only caveat is that you have to be careful with hot paints like lacquers. If you put these paints on too thick, they will 'eat' the silly putty and turn it into a really gooey mess. Light mist coats will work OK though.

Murray