[98f150/GT]

Hi, all I just became a member here, I post on Mustang forums a lot but I cannot seem to find an answer for my latest venture. So I am searching on here. I am wanting to paint my rear bumper under the letters. And I do not know if i need to prep it since it is already painted?

 

[white angel]

this forum should be more helpful! I retitled your thread!

:hello: and :welcome , Enjoy the site!! :happydancer:
Be sure to post some pictures into your gallery soon!!

 

[markwondi]

this forum should be more helpful! I retitled your thread!

:hello: and :welcome , Enjoy the site!! :happydancer:
Be sure to post some pictures into your gallery soon!!

a 1998 GT has a 4.6L

 

[EagleAutosports]

Hiya, welcome to the site.
I've done this, and if you use an automotive touch up paint, you can paint right over what you have now but make sure all wax, polish, dirt, grime, is off of it. It has to be totally clean. Once you paint them in, go back and lightly wet sand it down, and then go back over with a clear paint. You could wet sand the clear down too.

 

[Rav3nRacing]

Dupli-Color makes an Awesome KIT for that.... paint and Clear coat.... i have used twice... and the wheel kit... also... good stuff.

 

[Dendro_4.6]

If you use a single stage... (no base and clear, just one application) and tape off around the lettering, lightly wet sand the area, and paint, you will get a proffessional result. If you want a quick and easy job the Dupli-color is great. I am a stickler about perfect finishes, so I use Dupont base and clear, PPG primer (smells like popcorn to me) and Wizards finish compound. They also make decal inserts that last a good while, and look pretty good.

 

[tripleblack]

Daggers

One of the better jobs at this I've seen was also one of the most subtle. It was a silver GT.

First he taped it off and airbrushed with a darker silver/charcoal color, giving it a drop shadow look.

Then he used a slightly darker shade of silver (but lighter than the airbrushed shadows), and striped it on (about 1/8" line) around the outer edge of each letter.

Its one of those details that you can't see at 100 feet unless you know its there, but grabs you as you walk up on the car.

Takes a steady hand with a dagger (striping brush).

 

[Dendro_4.6]

One of the better jobs at this I've seen was also one of the most subtle. It was a silver GT.

First he taped it off and airbrushed with a darker silver/charcoal color, giving it a drop shadow look.

Then he used a slightly darker shade of silver (but lighter than the airbrushed shadows), and striped it on (about 1/8" line) around the outer edge of each letter.

Its one of those details that you can't see at 100 feet unless you know its there, but grabs you as you walk up on the car.

Takes a steady hand with a dagger (striping brush).

Pinstriping has become a lost art! The results can look very classy, but less and less ppl are learning it. When I first started working in a bodyshop, one of the older "grumpy" guys tried to teach me. I was ok I would say, but that man amazed me every time he pulled out his brushes. A steady hand, and only really good brushes. If you use cheap brushes you will end up with a string of horse hair in your paint! Air brush is a great technique to learn. I took a weekday night class at the local jr. college, and I recommend it to everyone that likes to paint. It cost $200 for the class, but I learned a whole lot, and had a blast there. I know you're a bit old school there Tripleblack, how do you feel about the art of pinstriping become a "lost art"?

 

[tripleblack]

Lost Art

Pinstriping has become a lost art! The results can look very classy, but less and less ppl are learning it. When I first started working in a bodyshop, one of the older "grumpy" guys tried to teach me. I was ok I would say, but that man amazed me every time he pulled out his brushes. A steady hand, and only really good brushes. If you use cheap brushes you will end up with a string of horse hair in your paint! Air brush is a great technique to learn. I took a weekday night class at the local jr. college, and I recommend it to everyone that likes to paint. It cost $200 for the class, but I learned a whole lot, and had a blast there. I know you're a bit old school there Tripleblack, how do you feel about the art of pinstriping become a "lost art"?

I'm a professional commercial artist, but also an illustrator, with classical art training. I think I'd be good at pin striping, but I've not practiced enough to be able to make any brags about it. the few times I've done it were OK, but a pro would be able to do better, and in a fraction of the time it took me. Pin striping is STILL pretty popular, and the recent surge in popularity for resto-mods and classic hot rods is breathing new life into the profession. Some young guys with skills are setting up shop, and I cannot wish them anything but the BEST of success!

Some people don't know it, but there is an evolutionary cycle to the universe.

In 1900 one of the largest and most powerful unions in the United States was the Engravers Guild. They were huge, with tens of tousands of well-paid members (they called themselves "artisans", and approporiately so - it took a great deal of skill to render the engraved images they created). It was their work that created every illustration in every book, magazine, flyer and newspaper printed.

Within 10 years, they ceased to exist.

Photogravure (a process using photographic methods to produce printing plates) sealed their fates.

Now only a handful of engravers ply their ancient trade (a very few work for the US Mint and the US Post Office), while there are a very small number of fine artists who make fine art engravings.

The artform flourished, was displaced by technology, and found a bare existance as a slowly dying technique with a handful of aging collectors keeping the tiny spark alive. (If I had my druthers, this is what I would be doing full time - I love engravings. But I also love to eat, and starving in a belfry somewhere lacks appeal).

This might surprise folks, but I consider the next "dying artform" will be the AIR BRUSH, not the pin stripe.

I have some very expensive air brushes sitting on the shelf gathering dust - I do all that work now in the computer. Yes, I too have become a pixel-pusher, a 'shopper.

Look at how many vehicles that would once have featured airbrushed graphics now have high quality printed vinyl instead, with the graphics designed in a computer. This innovation alone has already taken away about 90% of the marketplace - sure, the more commercial end, but also the end that used to pay the bills for hundreds of air brush artists.
If you also consider how many projects are composed in a computer, and feature masks and templates cut on a computerized cutter, that remaining 10% is already being invaded by the new tech.

Now machines based upon cad-cam technology and CC milling machines are being merged with ink-jet components, creating a virtual painter that can render "air brushed" projects without any human being every touching an air brush.

Dying art indeed. One artform often displaces another, then flourishes for a while and is displaced in turn, a darwinian cycle.

 

[Dendro_4.6]

You are quite wise sir... hats off to you!

Well at least I can go to the county fair and do kids t-shirts if I really need to get my airbrush fix...lol

 

[C.Hunt1006]

use #400 Sandpaper, i did the same thing to my bumper. tape off the area with masking tap and use a razor to stencel it out, then use the #400 sandpaper on the letters then use dupli-color paint.