Thread: 1st time flames, masking residue help

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What do you mean "rubbed the guard back"? That's a term I'm not familiar with. Do you mean you sanded off the gloss?

Hmmmm... Not sure why a residue was left under the tape. Are you sure it's a residue, or did the paint solvent attack the existing paint under the tape? You said you are using single-stage acrylic. Acrylic what? Acrylic enamel, acrylic urethane, or acrylic lacquer? Is the paint you are using on the flames the same type and brand used on the base color?

The hard edge is paint build-up. Your flames are 4 coats thick which could be anywhere from .006 to .020 inch thick. This would happen no matter what type of paint you are using. The only way to get rid of the edge is to bury it under a clearcoat, that is, clear the entire panel. That may also get rid of the residue/ solvent marks.

Below is a pic of the last flame job I did a few years ago. It was DuPont Chromabase acrylic urethane basecoat/ clearcoat. I sprayed the black first, then did the flames, then clearcoated the whole truck...

As JR sez, any masked paint job will leave a ridge. I sometimes pinstripe over the ridge with blue, or just leave it.

I'm confused. Are you saying that the "melted glue" is an actual residue now bonded to the original paint, or are you wondering about the "step" between the original color and your new flames? You mention laying down two coats for the flames, then adding two more coats of clear only to the flames which made the step bigger once the masking is removed.

thanks for the replies, I have decided that flakes are too much effort for a beginner, although they turned out not too bad for a first timer, i am just going to strip back and repaint to body color and concentrate on getting my car back on the road, I will save my dollars and have the flames painted by someone who knows what they are doing sometime in the future.
cheers Brett