Pinstriping Help

[T-Ray]

Hi, how do you do custom pinstriping? Let's take a Trans Am SE for example, the pinstripes that go all over the car are very thin on the 1:1 car and at 1:25 scale, they would be extremely tiny to paint on. The only way I could see doing it is if you had decals for the pinstripes but if you don't have those, I can't see any other way around it. That being said, how would you do this?  

[peteski]

You could first paint the body gold, then apply thin striping tape as mask, then paint the car black and expose the masked stripes.  Not sure how well that will work, and those will likely be oversize (I doubt you can find realistically narrow tape and apply it straight.  Decals seem like a more viable option and ever those will likely be out-of-scale.  The car in you photo seems to have rather restrained striping. I've seen other similar cars with more elaborate striping.

[Jon Haigwood]

The narrowest good tape that I have found Lime Line at 1/16 that would be 1 1/2" to scale

[64SS350]

1 hour ago, peteski said:

You could first paint the body gold, then apply thin striping tape as mask, then paint the car black and expose the masked stripes.  Not sure how well that will work, and those will likely be oversize (I doubt you can find realistically narrow tape and apply it straight.  Decals seem like a more viable option and ever those will likely be out-of-scale.  The car in you photo seems to have rather restrained striping. I've seen other similar cars with more elaborate striping.

I believe this to the best option as well. What I have done to create thinner tape is to lay down a wider strip on my cutting mat, cut a new edge to achieve straightness, then slide my metal rule over to desired width and re-cut. The trick is maintaining a consistent width, but definitely do-able.

My 2¢

[Jon Haigwood]

32 minutes ago, 64SS350 said:

I believe this to the best option as well. What I have done to create thinner tape is to lay down a wider strip on my cutting mat, cut a new edge to achieve straightness, then slide my metal rule over to desired width and re-cut. The trick is maintaining a consistent width, but definitely do-able.

My 2¢

I also read where you mount two blades in an Exacto knife put some thing between them as a spacer and cut the tape. On the two occasions I tried it I got curves instead of straight. 

[stitchdup]

fingernail art tape. as thin as bmf and in hundreds of colours and styles for about 5-10 bucks for 50 assorted rolls. it can be bent around corners if you work slowly. 1mm wide and 5 metre long. If you do go for it, i suggest buying 2 packs to be sure you dont run out as buying single colours is more expensive. some of them have an engine turned effect on the chrome that is very effective when dull coated.

[64SS350]

30 minutes ago, Jon Haigwood said:

I also read where you mount two blades in an Exacto knife put some thing between them as a spacer and cut the tape. On the two occasions I tried it I got curves instead of straight. 

Right, forgot about that, and I believe one guy said he even just put two blades side by side, the area that is sharpened creates a void or narrow width to cut with.

I'll be checking into the fingernail tape though!

Edited October 10, 2024 by 64SS350

[stitchdup]

18 minutes ago, 64SS350 said:

Right, forgot about that, and I believe one guy said he even just put two blades side by side, the area that is sharpened creates a void or narrow width to cut with.

I'll be checking into the fingernail tape though!

if you try the two blade, i'd use box cutter blades instead of exacto. the exacto blades wont give you much thicker than a thread while the box cutter is a little thicker

[Bainford]

2 hours ago, 64SS350 said:

Right, forgot about that, and I believe one guy said he even just put two blades side by side, the area that is sharpened creates a void or narrow width to cut with.

I'll be checking into the fingernail tape though!

I've done the 'glueing blades together' thing a number of times. The blades are .020" (0.5 mm) thick, so with two glued together, your cut tape will be .020" (0.5 mm) wide, which is a scale 1/2 inch. That's still pretty wide for in-scale pinstripe, but it can be difficult to work with tape narrower than that. There are some hobby pinstripe tapes available that are as narrow as 1/64" (roughly .015") which scales out to 3/8 inches wide. They come in a variety of colours, but the thickness (height) of the tape can throw off the look. Line-O Tape is one brand that comes to mind, and I think Detail Master marketed some pinstripe tape as well.

The mask for this hood was created using three blades glued together, to cut the pinstripe and edge of the flat black at the same time. 

This pinstripe was created using 1/64" pinstripe tape. I think it was the Detail Master brand. The thickness (height) of the tape is evident when viewing the model. Also, this model was built over ten years ago, and over time the tape has 'pulled in' at the corners. The stickum at the tape edges is also a dust magnet.  

Edited October 10, 2024 by Bainford

[peteski]

3 hours ago, stitchdup said:

fingernail art tape. as thin as bmf and in hundreds of colours and styles for about 5-10 bucks for 50 assorted rolls. it can be bent around corners if you work slowly. 1mm wide and 5 metre long. If you do go for it, i suggest buying 2 packs to be sure you dont run out as buying single colours is more expensive. some of them have an engine turned effect on the chrome that is very effective when dull coated.

To me, 1mm (0.040")is way too wide for realistic 1:25 scale pinstripe.  That in 1:1 would be 1" wide.  Something between 0.005" and 0.010" (~ 0.13 - 0.3mm)would be in scale.

Edited October 10, 2024 by peteski

[Can-Con]

5 hours ago, Jon Haigwood said:

The narrowest good tape that I have found Lime Line at 1/16 that would be 1 1/2" to scale

Chartpac makes down to 1/64". Very nice to work with as long as you don't mix up which is the sticky side.  , , , Don't ask.?

https://www.duall.com/store/product/110135.110135/chartpak-tape-gloss-black-1-64-x-648.html

Edited October 10, 2024 by Can-Con

[Rich Chernosky]

You can cut all kinds of tape down to the size you want.  My "go to" is  3M vinyl tape. Lay a piece of tape on a piece of glass. I use a 6" metal straight edge.  Lay the ruler on the tape to the width you want  and hold down very firmly with one hand and use a sharp X-acto  in one smooth cut. You can cut the vinyl tape hair thin and it will still stick. When you lay it on the model be careful not to stretch it. It can be moved slightly into position with a toothpick. It also holds very tight curves. Afterwards lay a thin wash of varnish on the tape to keep it in position. Its thicker than the paint but you barely notice it. I have been using this trick for many years. See below. 

The gold pinstripe on the side and hood are 1:1 gold pinstripe tape cut down to size.  These stripes come to a point and this was done while still on the glass using a razor blade at a sharp angle. I will often use this technique when I have two large stripes and the space between them is very thin. This is difficult to mask without bleed under. The vinyl tape can be sprayed body color. Some might call this cheating but what works is what matters.