dave6666
Enthusiast
To everyone that voted in a recent poll I had about what color to paint the Viper GTS logo on my hoodpad... Thanks. Red and white striped it is.
So what's up with the "how NOT to" business? I learned a lot and will pass on my entire experience here. Good, bad, and what I would do different if I ever do this again.
First off, for those that want to see what I did but don't care how I got there.
That area of the pad where the logo is had recently had 2 light coats of Rustoleum satin black from when I wrapped up doing Sneaky Pete. So to start with then, the base area was still porous and a little fuzzy.
I felt though that a good quality adhesive template would provide the adhesion I needed to get a clean edge. Lesson learned Part 1...
Back to how I made the adhesive template. I used a piece of 6" wide masking tape applied to a sheet of PTFE Teflon, then overlaid a wire frame trace that I had printed from my CAD program. Used an Exacto knife and straight edge to cut my template. Hand cut the radius corners. Took about 2 beers.
Next, I covered it with regular blue painter's tape to keep all the insides from shifting around when I peeled it off the Teflon sheet. Short of the peeling, the template is now done.
Next was to lay a piece of tape down for an edge and center guide. The black mark is the center. Got one on the template too.
Peel... and stick...
Mask, and shoot the white Rustoleum 'till it has that hard shell look.
Once the white is dry, tape off the stripes with 1-1/2" and 1/4" tapes. Shoot the red Rustoleum.
Peel the tape and start to feel warm and fuzzy.
Back to lessons learned... There were 2 of them coming up real quickly here.
1. I got a fuzzy edge after pulling the template. Not bad, but I have higher standards than what I got.
2. The white had such a high profile (or build), that the red top coat had a white edge too.
Please note that if there was a time to get a clear sharp picture now would have been good. The camera did not focus well, so the situation is exaggerated in this photo. But I think you can see the problem...
So I regrouped.
I got out the black satin and a fine touch up brush and started going around everything. I have the patience, beer and hand skills to do that. I was doing a fine job of edging the logo.
Introduce lessons learned Part 2...
As you apply paint to a porous surface, the sheen will increase as it builds and transitions into a hard shell type finish. So, the detailing I was doing around the edges, which I was not being careful toward the black portion, was creating an uneven black sheen while beautifying the red & white logo.
Edging the logo Plan B...
I got a fatter brush, like maybe 1/4" wide or so and started putting a fat EVEN edge around the logo in satin black. Was working well, with one exception. After numerous coats, the sheen was descent, but still not even enough for me to be happy.
Edging the logo Plan C...
Got some flat black paint and did the edge ONE MORE TIME. Even sheen, every time, those flat paints. So now I have a really cool looking black ghost border. That must have taken FIFTEEN HOURS! Or more. I am not joking. Sorry, but yes I needed to get a life for about 1-1/2 weeks.
My recommendations for you, or if I ever do this again, me.
Make an oversize border template and paint the black to a hard shell first. Yes, you might get a little black bleeding under the edge of the border template, but it was so light it would not have showed had it of been black on black. White on black took very little to be a problem.
Then, use the logo template as applied to the hard shell surface of the bigger black area. Tape sticks good to hard shell surfaces.
Using this technique, based on my experiences, I would suspect that total process to take 3 to 4 hours plus dry time between coats.
Finally, why not just paint a ********* rectangle to work on? Cheap looking in my opinion. And you certainly don't want to just plaster the whole pad to a hard shell finish. Yeah, lets put 50 pounds of flammable paint residue on top of my V10...
So what's up with the "how NOT to" business? I learned a lot and will pass on my entire experience here. Good, bad, and what I would do different if I ever do this again.
First off, for those that want to see what I did but don't care how I got there.
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
That area of the pad where the logo is had recently had 2 light coats of Rustoleum satin black from when I wrapped up doing Sneaky Pete. So to start with then, the base area was still porous and a little fuzzy.
I felt though that a good quality adhesive template would provide the adhesion I needed to get a clean edge. Lesson learned Part 1...
Back to how I made the adhesive template. I used a piece of 6" wide masking tape applied to a sheet of PTFE Teflon, then overlaid a wire frame trace that I had printed from my CAD program. Used an Exacto knife and straight edge to cut my template. Hand cut the radius corners. Took about 2 beers.
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
Next, I covered it with regular blue painter's tape to keep all the insides from shifting around when I peeled it off the Teflon sheet. Short of the peeling, the template is now done.
You must be registered for see images
Next was to lay a piece of tape down for an edge and center guide. The black mark is the center. Got one on the template too.
You must be registered for see images
Peel... and stick...
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
Mask, and shoot the white Rustoleum 'till it has that hard shell look.
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
Once the white is dry, tape off the stripes with 1-1/2" and 1/4" tapes. Shoot the red Rustoleum.
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
Peel the tape and start to feel warm and fuzzy.
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
Back to lessons learned... There were 2 of them coming up real quickly here.
1. I got a fuzzy edge after pulling the template. Not bad, but I have higher standards than what I got.
2. The white had such a high profile (or build), that the red top coat had a white edge too.
Please note that if there was a time to get a clear sharp picture now would have been good. The camera did not focus well, so the situation is exaggerated in this photo. But I think you can see the problem...
You must be registered for see images
So I regrouped.
I got out the black satin and a fine touch up brush and started going around everything. I have the patience, beer and hand skills to do that. I was doing a fine job of edging the logo.
Introduce lessons learned Part 2...
As you apply paint to a porous surface, the sheen will increase as it builds and transitions into a hard shell type finish. So, the detailing I was doing around the edges, which I was not being careful toward the black portion, was creating an uneven black sheen while beautifying the red & white logo.
Edging the logo Plan B...
I got a fatter brush, like maybe 1/4" wide or so and started putting a fat EVEN edge around the logo in satin black. Was working well, with one exception. After numerous coats, the sheen was descent, but still not even enough for me to be happy.
Edging the logo Plan C...
Got some flat black paint and did the edge ONE MORE TIME. Even sheen, every time, those flat paints. So now I have a really cool looking black ghost border. That must have taken FIFTEEN HOURS! Or more. I am not joking. Sorry, but yes I needed to get a life for about 1-1/2 weeks.
My recommendations for you, or if I ever do this again, me.
Make an oversize border template and paint the black to a hard shell first. Yes, you might get a little black bleeding under the edge of the border template, but it was so light it would not have showed had it of been black on black. White on black took very little to be a problem.
Then, use the logo template as applied to the hard shell surface of the bigger black area. Tape sticks good to hard shell surfaces.
Using this technique, based on my experiences, I would suspect that total process to take 3 to 4 hours plus dry time between coats.
Finally, why not just paint a ********* rectangle to work on? Cheap looking in my opinion. And you certainly don't want to just plaster the whole pad to a hard shell finish. Yeah, lets put 50 pounds of flammable paint residue on top of my V10...
All your work and attention to detail is truly inspiring...this looks FANtastic!!! Thanx for the write-up/pro AND con and your experiences. 
~juli
