laying flames down

I have a Tamiya Civic type R kit that I am building for my kid, but he is wanting me to lay some flames down on it. Last time I tried that was about 5 years ago and I royaly screwed that up. This is just a basic paint scheme of a green car with white flames. I want it to look good though. I already have tape (2" wide) that I picked up at an automotive paint store, they told me would work for what I am trying to do. Do you have any good tips on how to go about doing this with the material I am using? :banghead:

If you're just doing solid white flames, the best way to go is by decal film! Get ahold of some Superscale solid white decal film- best place to find it is usually at a hobby shop speciallizing in model railroading. Draw out on paper the flame patern you want, check in on the side of the car, and when you're happy with it, cut out the shape out of the decal film. Apply the decal with water like usual.

If you do decide to try to paint it (Don't do it! :disappoin ), then the tape you want is Tamiya tape. Terrific stuff. They sell it in 2" rolls, and several much smaller sizes, and it is by far the best product out there for masking work. Draw out your pattern (like above) cut out the tape to shape, stick it down, and paint. And hope. This way is not nearly so forgiving. If you mess up, you get to strip both layers!

Good luck!

Painting flames is not an easy job. It sure is challenging, but when it's all done, you get to say that you painted it. If you have a really good airbrush, and some good talent with it, you can always just paint the base color, then airbrush the flames by hand.
If your going to do it by masking tape, there is a great how to in the the how to thread at the top of the page. Read that, and it should help you bunches.

Thanks guys. Unfortunately I will be using spray paint, but luckily the color of the flame will also be the base color. The main color of the car will be green, then I will atempt to outline the flames with silver. I am not going to make real complicated flames or anything (thank god). The tape I am using is not brown masking tape, it is a tape that is used on the real cars, it is 2" 3M 233+ tape, green in color. As for the Tamiya tape I could not find tha large 2" at my local hobby shops, they only had the 4 smallest sizes, which I already have. I have some tricks that I have learned over the years, I am not a rookie at building models or anything I've just always done one color or two-tone paint jobs. I have been building them for 16 years now, my specialty (at least 4 years ago) was building the hydraulic model cars by hand, no kits. I built way to many of those things so if anyone has questions on those I think I would be the man to ask. Any way if I can get a hold of a digital camera I will try and post pictures of how I did it. Merry Christmas guys :smile:

I've never tried a flame job either, but there was a pretty good article in the Oct/03 issue of ScaleAuto that covered flames and the various techniques. If you can't get a copy, send me an email and I'll scan the important stuff...

Murray

Once you get a digi cam, I would love to see some or your work. If you've been building that long, your probably really good. I've only been building for 6 years now. None of mine are good though.
What kind of things would you need to build a hydraulic car?

I had a few years in that time that I didn't even touch a model car so I'm sure I lost some of my touch. I won't say that I am really good but I have had a few come out looking good. I am still trying to work out my shine on my paint jobs, but I read something on this website that tought me something, so I am going to try that, but not on this project. As for the hydraulics I got most of my parts from the hobby shop and some from Radio Shack. You will need 4 motors, not sure of the name but I know that they come in a yellow box usually 140 speed or smaller, they are used for RC cars but the small cheap ones, if you need to know the name I can call my hobby shop and get the name. You will also need Great Plains wheel collars, strong fishing string, Pegasus T's & O's (the only part I buy in a kit), a 7.2 volt battery and a plug that plugs into the battery. The things you need from Da Shack is a switch box, momentary switches either 1 or 2 way, rainbow wire (it has 4 wires that are of different colors), a spool of black wire, a hot glue gun, a soldering iron and some solder. The easiest kit to learn this on is '64 Impala. If you want instructions I can put them together for you, but it may be a few days. I've never given my secret out :grinno: . If you want to here more about what kits and what I have done with these PM me and I will email you info, sorry no pics, I'm not up-to-date on all of this hi-tech stuff yet.

I've never done a flame job, but I've thought about it. If I did it, I'd ideally use a frisket mask like graphic artists use, very low tack, easy to cut, very thin, and clear(ish). However, I'd probably be too lazy to look for it to find the right stuff, and I'd use masking tape like you are using. To get the flames the same on both sides, I would design half the car and scan it, flip it, print both halves together. I'd lay the design under glass, (a light box, if possible) and trace the design onto the tape. Apply the tape over the white, then spray a final coat of white (or clear) over the car, esp. over the flame edges. This seals the tape to prevent runs. Then I would spray the green. This adds an extra layer of paint, but under a few coats of clear it should be ok. Hope this helps, and this is all heresay and mental planning. There may be a better way to do it.

Thanks man! I didn't even think about making sure they looked the same on both sides, that glass thing would work out great! Hopefully I will start this thing this weekend. I have already prepped the car for primer, all I need to do is wash it then let it dry. :biggrin:

I did flames on a model of mine,they didnt turn out mint, but I was in a hurry...gimme a sec and I'll go take a pic of it.

Heres a pic: First pic is my 1/25 replica car, Second is my 1/1 car.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid95/pa2b46d7d318f127a44a443dfd9f5fa6e/fa31917b.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid95/p6e66478b540df14da0ade45e8db4d7d4/fa31917d.jpg

All I did was sprayed the model silver, drew my design on frisket film, cut it out (Which is where I got sloppy), stick it on, and spray the rest of the car white. Very simple, and looks great if you take the time. I did that in literally about 15 minutes, so it looks like crap. No primer or clear coat or prepping.

Oh, and another thing about the glass: putting the tape on the glass to cut the flames out will pull off a lot of the adhesive on the back of the tape. Real masking tape tends to be too sticky, and can leave residue or pull of old tape and generally be a pain to remove. When I mask anything, I lay tape on a peice of glass before transfering it on a model to remove some adhesive. Glass is good for this because it is easy to clean and easy to check if it is clean or not so I won't mar the surface under the tape with chips of metal or something. This also gives me an opportunity to cut a fresh edge on the tape, using a straight edge; I don't trust the straightness of the tape on the roll, plus the edges get handled more and so the tape edge won't make as good a seal as the middle.

I don't want any of your secrets. Those are yours to keep. I was just wondering what kind of things that you needed because I was think about trying it sometime.
Sorry I got this thread so off.

Flaming: How To (http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=90554)

The tape that I am using is not just a regular masking tape, it is a tape that is used in body shop to mask of areas on a car. I agree on not using the edge of the since it is handled alot, thanks. I think what I might try is to put the tape on the car and cut out the shape of it in a one piece design, then draw out my flames and cut them with a fresh x-acto #11 blade. As for the hydraulics, it's not really a secret, I was just joking :lol: , alot of people have used those same parts on theirs, so it is not a problem me telling you how to put it together. If you want me to I can put something together and get it to you. It would take me a few days like I said but I can do it. It's not really that hard. Let me know.

another great how to, good luck
http://public.fotki.com/DLEE61/reference_pics/brian_nehring_flame/

dag65, Thank you for that. I think that will help me a great deal even though I am using spray paint. I would think that it would be the same technique since I am using two colors, the front and flames are white, and the back half or main color is green pearl. I will keep everyone posted. I am a newbie here and I have to say this is really cool, thanks guys.

You are welcome!

Well I have messed with the tape a little and I can tell that it is not going to work as well as I had hoped. Luckily I tried it on some spare platic sheets I had laying around instead of the car. The mask that the guy in the flame tech used, thanks to dag65. Does anyone know what the best kind to get or the kind that he used? Also do you think that it would work just as good applying it with a brush, my air brush isn't working that great, or do you guys reccomend that I go buy a new one?

good luck man that seems to be very tricky. I screwed up a few models with infamous flames.....

I've made a few cars with some graphics.


As long as you're patient, spray it LIGHT and use tamiya 40mm tape as a stencil, you should get good results.

Make sure you give the base paint time to dry so you don't pull it up. Tamiya is awesome for me because I can temporarily stick it on a shiny plastic surface (to minimize tape adhesion and retain it for the car) and draw directly on the tape using a construction paper stencil. I then cut and peal it off and stick it on the car and spray nice light coats (at least 3). Pealing off the tape is probably the finest art of the whole mess. You have to peel away from the car towards the flames (hard to explain). If you're looking at the car and the flames are say in the middle of the car (i.e. in between top and bottom or the door window and the bottom skirt...not the left and right middle), then start from the front of the car peal the tape to the back towards that middle not towards the top or bottom of the car. [sorry i sound like an idiot]

To get rid of the lifted effect, make sure you get some rubbing compound or super fine sandpaper so you can sand the graphics/flames even with the body. Then spary a couple of clear coats and it should look fine

here are some examples. Let me know if you have some questions. If you're using 2 colors, just wait about a week after laying down the first color and then repeat the process for the second color.

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/502/109320integraback-med.jpg

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/502/109320integra_no_mirrors_side-med.jpg

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/502/109320integrawheelswithgraphic-med.jpg

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/502/109320myeclipsedone-med.jpg

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/502/109320mycivicdonefront-med.jpg

Thanks spidereddie! I do understand what you mean by peeing off the tape. In otherwords, since the front of the car and the flames are the same color, peel from the front of the car to the tip of the flame right. Luckily the color of the flame is going to be the base color of white so the main color, pearl green will stand out even more. I am also planning on striping the flames with a silverchrome paint by hand. By the way those cars look really good, how loong have you been building, I've been doing it about 16 years now, but haven't touched one in about 4 years now. Also I noticed your wheels were painted, did you sand them down or just primer then paint? Sorry I got off subject.

I've been modeling for like 10 years i guess. but I haven't made a model since 96. That blue one is my first since taking the time off. Since then i've made 4 (total lifetime under 20). I just did ALOT of searching here on this forum for all my questions, tips and techniques. It's really not that difficult to be decent as long as you're patient and willing to spend some money getting tools and time researching.

The only rims that were painted were the white ones, I threw them in bleach and then lightly sanded, primed and painted. Those gray ones came stock in the revell itr box (awesome kit b.t.w.)

the clear artists film that your talking about is called "frisket film". go to any decent graphic design/art store and they will have it, best thing is you can reposition it and also can draw on it b4 you have to stick it down. another method i came up with was to buy a piece of clear acitate film like you use in projectors a4 sheets. get a pic of your car side on and print it out to the same scale as the 1/24 model,
lay the acitate sheet over the pic. then using a acitate/cd marker draw round the out line.
this way you can stick the tamiya tape over the top and cut through following the lines. the remove the unwanted tape and place another piece directly on top to act as a carrier film. lay that on the car and rub it down. peel off the carrier film then you have perfectly positioned tape!

also remember to use a scalpel to go round the edge of the paint b4 you remove the tape as you can pull of chunks of flame if your not carefull.