How to paint coachlines on a saloon

[Oldmogman]

Has anyone painted coachlines on a Morris saloon who could give me some guidance?

Sadly, a Buegler pinstriping tool is beyond my reach but a friend has offered to loan me some proper signwriter’s brushes. I’ll be using Humbrol enamel paint.

However, I’m not sure if my hand is steady enough to paint a straight and evenly thick line along the sides of my saloon, so I was thinking of running two lines of masking tape along the coachlines to guide me.

I’ve seen a special masking tape called Frog Tape, that is much more flexible than paper masking tape, doesn't allow the paint to bleed, and is available in two grades denoted by its colour (green or yellow). Does anyone know which would be best for pinstriping? Or is there something better I should use?

And does anyone have any advice for applying the masking tape in straight, equally spaced lines?

Finally, I see from a piece about pinstriping in a back issue of Minor Matters that I would need to use panel wipe to clean off any polish. Would isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) be OK?

Any tips would be much appreciated!

[bobtail4x4]

you used to be able to buy a tape with a central bit you removed to give the required line,

[King Kenny]

I used two strips of low tack masking tape and newspaper to mask the top and the bottom of the pinstripe leaving an appropriate width uncovered. Then gently sprayed an approbriate colour along the sripe, gently building it up to the desired strength.
I find that too heavy a stripe looks wrong and a semi transparent coating looks more natural.
I read somewhere that it was only one man who was employed to paint the stip by hand.

[les]

Using tape either side of the line results in unsightly sharp edges when the tape is peeled away. When it’s done by hand the paint feather edges.

[alanworland]

I used a bueglar type device (much cheaper) that did a superb line following the raised rib but as the ends of the rib narrows to a taper it took the line with it!
90% of the line looked super but I never got the ends sorted out so wiped it all off.
Perhaps I should have another go?

Alan

[Steve Phillips]

If you want to pinstripe your Morris yourself it's relatively easy.
You will need some fineline tape, this is available in single strand or multi strand,

Fineline tape is thinner at it's edges than in the centre so does not give a thick unsightly edge like masking tape.

Multi stand is often supplied as a 5 or 7 strand, pick 3 strands that give you the centre strand of the width of the pinstripe you want and apply the three strands together then remove the centre strand, now you can paint or spray the pinstripe in-between the two remaining strands.

If using single strand tape, buy the width of tape you want your pinstripe to be, apply the tape to give you the pinstripe you want then apply one above and one below, now remove the middle tape and paint or spray the pinstripe you require,

If you are going to spray the stripe you will need to mask up around the pinstripe area to stop over spray, if you are going to paint the stripe a paint like one shot is ideal but you can use humbrol enamel or similar,

Steve

[Oldmogman]

Thanks everyone, that's great - sounds like Fineline tape is the way to go!