handmade pinstriping on tanks

is anyone aware who is able to pinstripe by hand on the tanks as used to do originally?

The Lass went on strike with the rest of the brit industry back when and now she's in a rocker ? But I want to learn this ancient art myself as I have a brand new pinstriping brush (given to me years back) to attempt this. It's very special with long flowing to a fine taper hairs and a short stub of a wood body. Maybe 3 inches long. Anyone know more on this artform ? Is there a pattern or path laid down first ,then followed by the brush ? I think the little finger is used a guide to provide consistency of line width. Seen chopper painters working freehand in swirls n' patterns. That's all I know.

If you live in India you're all set:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRQKbwRvvTw

I get by with lots of fine line tape and about 2 hours of masking!

Although I did cheat on the side panels:





Maybe I should do some tank masks too? :shock:

Lorenzo said:

is anyone aware who is able to pinstripe by hand on the tanks as used to do originally?

Click to expand...

I had my tank and side covers painted by California Cycle and Watercraft Design, Costa Mesa CA. They hand striped the tank and side covers. You could give Boris a call there. Here's a link to their website.

http://www.calcycledesign.com/index.htm

Also, Mick Cassidy at Badass Paint in Howthorne might be an option, but I haven't used him myself. I talked to him and I think he would do awesome work, but Boris was a smidgeon cheaper when I got my bike painted.

http://www.badasspaint.com/

By the way, here's a pic of my bike. You can see the striping on the tank. It's not a close up, though.

I can tell you this much. I decided to do without it on my tank after spending a bunch of hours masking and still not liking the results! I might have done better free hand for all I know, but getting the bends just right and getting them to match was beyond my patience level. And skill apparently! My hat is off to those who have mastered it and I would be grateful for any tricks used.

Even the guy who does it free hand in the video is following a chalk line or something. I have seen similar things done where you take an overlay that has pin holes in it (made by a pizza cutter looking thing with points on it) and use a chalk bag to slap it a few times. When you remove the overlay, you have a series of dots to connect. When I was fresh out of high school I worked in a place that had a sign shop. It was kind of interesting that I was next door building circus tents that got rented out for fairs and exhibitions. The sign shop had three guys in it that would hand paint custom signs for the exhibitors. One of these guys hand striped a '34 Chevy roadster. He used plastic like one would use for a boat curtain to make his overlay. Once he figured out how to get it to lay on the fenders he was able to duplicate it in reverse for the opposite side. Mostly the chalk line created was to keep perspective of size and not as a guide to make a straight line. Even on hand painted signs the guys would lay out a faint grid in chalk so that there lettering could be kept uniform. But the point of the story I guess, is that he spent 40 hours a week doing this kind of work and was really good with the hand-eye coordination required. My experience with this type of thing is that confidence is the main ingredient. Sadly in our digital age, there are not a lot of hand painted signs and it is an art that doesn't get a whole lot of practice. Back then it was acceptable to have things be a little less than perfect because it was hand done. I don't mean sloppy, but obviously done by a human. Now we have been trained that this is not acceptable. If you don't believe me, just read the threads here about parts that need fettling before use!

Russ

Here is a good one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vNqe8RMW1U

Torontonian said:

Anyone know more on this artform ? Is there a pattern or path laid down first ,then followed by the brush ? I think the little finger is used a guide to provide consistency of line width. Seen chopper painters working freehand in swirls n' patterns. That's all I know.

Click to expand...

For a start, Eastwood has pinstriping paint, brushes, stencils, and other supplies, as well as instructional books and dvds.

http://www.eastwood.com/

Just google pinstriping and you'll find out more than you ever wanted to know about the art.

FWIW, I bought the supplies and gave it a try back in the '80s. Takes a lot of practice, and still really easy to screw it up, but satisfying when you get it right. I practiced for hours on scrap Masonite panels, just so I could do some outlining on the gold leaf design I did on my Norton tank. It still wasn't up to professional quality, but not bad either. This is the only picture I have of the bike. I outlined the gold leaf in red 1-shot brand pinstriping paint.




Ken

lcrken said:

For a start, Eastwood has pinstriping paint, brushes, stencils, and other supplies, as well as instructional books and dvds.

http://www.eastwood.com/

Click to expand...

Eastwood does sell a kit. I have used it on another tank, and it looked OK, but not professional by any means. The real difficulty with the Commando tank (850) is that the stripes merge from two to one. That would be tough to accomplish with the striping kit. Plus, the sharp curve at the front of the tank, getting the lines parallel and evenly spaced both sides: That takes a skill level that you're unlikely to pick up in a weekend's practicing, IMHO!

the paintscheme I am looking for is the one adopted with the black 750s with the big 'D' on the tank..
anyone had it pinstriped by hand somewhere?
also, I don't think there's a pre-made striping to use as template for this..

There used to be a guy called Vic Bogner in Melbourne Australia who used to a lovely job of pin striping motorcycles. If you ever saw a bike advertised with one of his paint jobs, you knew you should stay at home and save your petrol.

My 850 tank had the standard two into one lines. But you could see where they laid the tape when you looked closely. But they didn't spray it, it was done with a brush. Probably saved a lot of masking. What I considered doing was to lay one line of tape and then hand paint a stripe on both sides of it. When the tape was peeled at least they would look parallel. Where they merge the tape could be carefully cut with a razor.

I don't know if anybody has tried this but it might actually be how it was done originally.

As for the D-shape. Contact Brent Budgor. I assume he sprays his but my guess is he is good enough to figure it out.

Russ

Lorenzo said:

is anyone aware who is able to pinstripe by hand on the tanks as used to do originally?

Click to expand...

G'Day Lorenzo, check out the Beugler pin striping tool! Makes a professional out of anyone!
http://www.beugler.com/
Ive even had a go at a swap meet and it made me look like I'd done it before, most impressed! :mrgreen:
Regards Foxy

I agree with Ken, do it yourself. It sure saves a lot of money. I used engine enamel in rattle cans, a bit of one-shot sign painting enamel, a pinstripe brush and some clear adhesive backed film for shelving to paint this Matchless tank. Not anything that would win a concourse, but it cost me only tens of dollars to do it and it made my old man happy to have it to set on his 650csr in the garage.

You can probably tell that the emblem is not a decal, it is a painted on copy of a Matchless emblem I made by tracing the shape on the clear film and using it as masking, cutting the shape out with a razor knife. A lot of cheap fun.

If ya care to learn pin stripes hard to beat Ed Ross putting Von-Dutch on the fenders. If ya can stick it out for the lengths of this interview.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Gtb6991Hxc&list=PLCF16928CB84CADFE[/video]

Practice on a pane of glass. You can wipe it down and clean it up and try again.
No caffeine first, you need a steady hand.

i had mine done by this guy (located in germany though)

amazing job, great person

http://linieren.de