Soldato
- Joined
- 22 Sep 2005
- Posts
- 3,267
- Location
- Manchester
Hi guys 
I'm in the middle of painting my pickup bonnet! I've had mixed luck every time I've tried to decorate this truck and believe it or not I've never had a vehicle of my own with any airbrushing on! in current time I’m halfway through the bonnet but I'll make updates to this thread every so often as some parts will take a long time to complete!
I thought I'd share the progress, answer questions and show the 'car lads' what the 'case lads' normally see.
The car:
is a 1999 Skoda Felicia 'Fun' pickup.
it's one of 512 cars made and features a fold out pair of rear seats, frog design interior and decals. They come in yellow, and yellow with a choice of yellow.
The bonnet:
Is a brand new part, cheaper than a scrap-yard and it would be silly to paint the original. This way I know the bonnet is clean and know what paint history it has had - none.
The design:
The design is going to be a little old school. It goes back to when I started looking at airbrush art. I've always loved the styles of a few years ago - style from around the time of the release of my car. Main influences are the works of Fraser and my own styles.
The design will not be to everyone’s taste but it will be to mine. it will be loud, bold and old school but there will be some modern twists too.
The main problem I had was painting only the bonnet. I did not want it to be a different colour to the rest of the car but I did want a black background to paint on. to achieve this I had to make a border. I have also made sure that this will work if I decide to paint the rest of the truck.
I decided ol' school flames were the way to go.
before I get onto any art I'll go through the prep:
First off the bonnet has to be scrubbed down. I use a DA / polisher with a scotch pad attached. to aid this I use water and G-Matt solution. this gives the bonnet more tooth than a great white.
the bonnet is then CLEANED and CLEANED again.
I then shoot the bonnet with 1 coat of high build primer in egg shell yellow colour. this primer is mixed to a ratio of 4:1 - 4 parts primer to 1 part hardener. this primer 'dries' by chemical reaction so it can be laid on thick and will harden all of the way through. It's applied then left over night.
after a night of hardening it's sanded and then primed again.
The flames are going to be around the edges. they will be yellow to match the wings of the car so I need to paint the bonnet white before I paint it yellow. I only need to paint the edges so I only paint these with the white paint.
the yellow is left overnight then the masking starts.
I start by drawing flames on by hand with a stabilo 'all' pencil it's a special pencil which will draw on any surface; including glass. It will not mess with the paint so it's safe to use.
I draw the flames on then rub most of the pencil off. Then I use some green 3mm fine line tape to create the outline of the flames.
The flame shape does not need to be a work of art as the pinstiping well take care of any uneven curves etc. I also plan out how to the front of the bonnet.
I need to get the same flame shape on the other side of the bonnet. there are a few ways to do it but the oldest is still the best.
I lay a sheet of paper over the masking, tape it to the bonnet and trim it as to match the shape of the bonnets edges. then I rub the paper over with a piece of chalk and graphite. This will show me where the tape is under the paper and give me an outline - just like doing coin rubs in school.
I take this piece of paper and 'pounce it' I use a pounce wheel along every line. the pounce wheel creates tons of tiny holes in the paper.
I clean the chalk off the paper with panel wipe.
I flip the paper over and offer it up to the bonnet. line it up carefully and tape it in place.
I use a piece of ladies tights filled with pink chalk and dab it over the lines in the paper.
this leaves a dotted chalk line on the bonnet - the perfect shape of the flames. the thick of the chalk is blown off leaving a very faint line which will not cause adhesion problems with the masking tape.
I line the flames with the same green tape then complete the bottom pieces using the same pouncing technique.
once the outlines are done I mask the flames off with 12" masking paper and cut along the lines. the green tape forms the edges of the flames while the masking paper is simply to mask the areas I don’t want off.
Also you will notice that the yellow is now dull. It has been rubbed down in preperation for the next step.
once I'm happy I shoot the whole thing with black basecoat. I take it easy here as any runs would be bad news.
That's all for now - next up is metal plates
I'm in the middle of painting my pickup bonnet! I've had mixed luck every time I've tried to decorate this truck and believe it or not I've never had a vehicle of my own with any airbrushing on! in current time I’m halfway through the bonnet but I'll make updates to this thread every so often as some parts will take a long time to complete!
I thought I'd share the progress, answer questions and show the 'car lads' what the 'case lads' normally see.
The car:
is a 1999 Skoda Felicia 'Fun' pickup.
it's one of 512 cars made and features a fold out pair of rear seats, frog design interior and decals. They come in yellow, and yellow with a choice of yellow.
The bonnet:
Is a brand new part, cheaper than a scrap-yard and it would be silly to paint the original. This way I know the bonnet is clean and know what paint history it has had - none.
The design:
The design is going to be a little old school. It goes back to when I started looking at airbrush art. I've always loved the styles of a few years ago - style from around the time of the release of my car. Main influences are the works of Fraser and my own styles.
The design will not be to everyone’s taste but it will be to mine. it will be loud, bold and old school but there will be some modern twists too.
The main problem I had was painting only the bonnet. I did not want it to be a different colour to the rest of the car but I did want a black background to paint on. to achieve this I had to make a border. I have also made sure that this will work if I decide to paint the rest of the truck.
I decided ol' school flames were the way to go.
before I get onto any art I'll go through the prep:
First off the bonnet has to be scrubbed down. I use a DA / polisher with a scotch pad attached. to aid this I use water and G-Matt solution. this gives the bonnet more tooth than a great white.
the bonnet is then CLEANED and CLEANED again.
I then shoot the bonnet with 1 coat of high build primer in egg shell yellow colour. this primer is mixed to a ratio of 4:1 - 4 parts primer to 1 part hardener. this primer 'dries' by chemical reaction so it can be laid on thick and will harden all of the way through. It's applied then left over night.
after a night of hardening it's sanded and then primed again.
The flames are going to be around the edges. they will be yellow to match the wings of the car so I need to paint the bonnet white before I paint it yellow. I only need to paint the edges so I only paint these with the white paint.
the yellow is left overnight then the masking starts.
I start by drawing flames on by hand with a stabilo 'all' pencil it's a special pencil which will draw on any surface; including glass. It will not mess with the paint so it's safe to use.
I draw the flames on then rub most of the pencil off. Then I use some green 3mm fine line tape to create the outline of the flames.
The flame shape does not need to be a work of art as the pinstiping well take care of any uneven curves etc. I also plan out how to the front of the bonnet.
I need to get the same flame shape on the other side of the bonnet. there are a few ways to do it but the oldest is still the best.
I lay a sheet of paper over the masking, tape it to the bonnet and trim it as to match the shape of the bonnets edges. then I rub the paper over with a piece of chalk and graphite. This will show me where the tape is under the paper and give me an outline - just like doing coin rubs in school.
I take this piece of paper and 'pounce it' I use a pounce wheel along every line. the pounce wheel creates tons of tiny holes in the paper.
I clean the chalk off the paper with panel wipe.
I flip the paper over and offer it up to the bonnet. line it up carefully and tape it in place.
I use a piece of ladies tights filled with pink chalk and dab it over the lines in the paper.
this leaves a dotted chalk line on the bonnet - the perfect shape of the flames. the thick of the chalk is blown off leaving a very faint line which will not cause adhesion problems with the masking tape.
I line the flames with the same green tape then complete the bottom pieces using the same pouncing technique.
once the outlines are done I mask the flames off with 12" masking paper and cut along the lines. the green tape forms the edges of the flames while the masking paper is simply to mask the areas I don’t want off.
Also you will notice that the yellow is now dull. It has been rubbed down in preperation for the next step.
once I'm happy I shoot the whole thing with black basecoat. I take it easy here as any runs would be bad news.
That's all for now - next up is metal plates
