Westlake Publishing Forums

General Category => Painting & Weathering Techniques => Topic started by: 5thwheel on September 27, 2013, 06:58:17 PM

Title: pen striping material.
Post by: 5thwheel on September 27, 2013, 06:58:17 PM
I've been away from this kind of stuff for many years.  What I'm looking for is pen striping material about 1/16" wide at the most.  I don't want decals which have the clear on each side of the stripe.  What is out there now days?  I used to do it by hand but my 81 year old hands aren't steady enough now days.
Title: Re: pen striping material.
Post by: marc_reusser on September 29, 2013, 01:34:54 AM
I think you could find pre-sized pin striping tape at shops that specialize in/cater to custom car painting shops.

I recall having to do some striping maskin in design school, and we used a small pencil sized adjustable 2-wheeled wheeled cutter.....to score/cut a narrow line into wider masking tape that could then be lifted out. It was vet sharp, so care needed to be taken  not to score through the paint surface.

What about hand striping along a straight edge using a......oh, for crying out loud....senior moment.....those drafting ruling pencil thingies that look like adjustable tweezers on a pencil?
Title: Re: pen striping material.
Post by: jim s-w on September 29, 2013, 02:21:09 AM
We call them lining pens Marc although they are sometimes called ruling pens too.   ;)

One option it to reverse the painting and paint the lines first then mask them with very fine tape. 

Cheers

Jim
Title: Re: pen striping material.
Post by: Max Corey on September 29, 2013, 12:01:06 PM
Typing model pin striping tape gets lots of hits off Google.

I have often used the very fine pin striping tape with great results.  Need to try it on my Case traction engine but also need the case eagle-perched-on-planet-earth logo in the center so may go with a custom decal (white on black).

Early (and even the latest) machinery, locomotives, autos and the occasional airplane often used lots of pin striping.   I particularly like horse drawn and engine-driven fire engines for the gold on red.  My Honda GoldWing motorcycle has three gold stripes all over its candy apple red.  The gold was applied first over the entire tank, side covers and boxes, the stripes were then masked, probably with tape, and then the red applied in thin, translucent layers over each entire piece.  Then after careful sanding, clear coats to smooth the edges of the taped pin stripes.  Looks sharp.

Max who also has a motorcycle model to finish (Revell 1/16 Vincent Black Shadow - nice kit)
Title: Re: pen striping material.
Post by: greenie on September 29, 2013, 01:32:16 PM
Hi Bill, here's one for you to have look at,

http://www.lineotape.com/shop/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=55&cat=LineOTape

or this lot, go down to the bottom of the page.

http://www.kitformservices.com/decals.html

These decals are for 1/24-25th scale, you need something for 1/12th scale, so these will be ideal for what you want.


Now I know you would prefer to use the vinyl tape, but, there is a price to pay for the ease of using it, that's the thickness of it and the very square sharp edges it has.
Been there and seen that movie, it will take a couple of coats of clear, to try and hide the sharp edges, lot's more chances of something going wrong with all that painting.

Now a MODERN screen printed decal, is about a quarter of the thickness of the vinyl tape, get out a micrometer and do some form of comparison, so only one coat of clear paint is required to blend the edges.

Choice is yours on what you use, but I know what I'll use.



regards  greenie 
Title: Re: pen striping material.
Post by: chester on September 29, 2013, 02:19:35 PM
Micro Scale has sheets of water slide decals that are solid in color so you can cut the striping you want with no clear sides.

http://microscale.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=TF
Title: Re: pen striping material.
Post by: marc_reusser on September 29, 2013, 04:02:14 PM
That brings to mind, if you know the exact pattern and size you nee, and you can draw it out....you can try contacting Mal Mayfield @ Miracle Masks, he cuts beautiful adhesive out of really thin adhesive film.
Title: Re: pen striping material.
Post by: 5thwheel on October 01, 2013, 08:20:01 PM
Lots of great sources, will check them out Thank you all.  I had a generous offer to print me up some decals by one of the contributors on this forum and may take him up on the offer if it still stands.

Bill
Title: Re: pen striping material.
Post by: 5thwheel on October 01, 2013, 08:21:07 PM
Quote from: marc_reusser on September 29, 2013, 04:02:14 PM
That brings to mind, if you know the exact pattern and size you nee, and you can draw it out....you can try contacting Mal Mayfield @ Miracle Masks, he cuts beautiful adhesive out of really thin adhesive film.

Thanks Marc,  I will check it out.

B