How to paint a "soft" line?

szicree · #1 03-04-2007, 05:34 PM

Does anybody know how to go about creating a soft transition from one color to another. I'm not talking about a full-blown fade, but more like what you see on a typical camo paint job. I figure they do those by holding stencils, but I'm hoping to achieve this type of line for several (straight?) feet.

az_gila · #2 03-04-2007, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by szicree

Does anybody know how to go about creating a soft transition from one color to another. I'm not talking about a full-blown fade, but more like what you see on a typical camo paint job. I figure they do those by holding stencils, but I'm hoping to achieve this type of line for several (straight?) feet.

Steve,
Try a hard stencil (such as cardboard) held by spacers a little above the surface.
Experiment with the height above and your painting technique to get the fuzzy edge look you want.... something like 1/4 inch should work

gil in Tucsn

hgerhardt · #3 03-04-2007, 07:08 PM

For the fade areas, use a touch-up gun with the fan set to almost zero. Paint the airplane overall with the lightest color first and then go progressively darker with the accent colors. You'll probably have to touch up the lighter areas again and then redo the dark areas around the edges. Main thing is to end with the darker colors.

Many moons ago, I painted a camo scheme on the Northrop ATF (YF-23) radar test model in this fashion, hanging from a crane in a hang glider harness.

brianwallis · #4 03-04-2007, 09:16 PM

Hello, Here is the way I paint soft lines. Take a roll of tape and pull out however long a line you need and then roll the tape like a cigerette and tape the tape to itself with the sticky on the outside... 2.5in tape should work ok. Basically you make a straw out of the tape... then you place the tube on the surface and move it around to whatever pattern you need and then either place another piece of tape above it... On it... and spray
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__/0
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Above the tape is the spray pattern. The top is the tape... the middle line is the masking and the tube of tape and the bottom is the surface... sorry I dont have a pic.
Brian