How I pinstriped my 33 Tudor

[Doctor's Ford]

I did the pinstriping on my 33 Tudor this weekend. I could not find a similar process description in other posts and thought that those planning to do the same job will find the comments helpful.

It seems restorers usually do the job using a special brush to apply enamel pinstriping paint. Apparently the most common paint brand in the USA is OneShot. I quickly discarded the idea because I had to mix colors to obtain the Tacoma Cream needed for my car and I am totally clueless on how to do that. OneShot is sold in all base colors but no information on which ones to mix to obtain the needed color and after visiting several paint shops with this question I could not get an answer.

My next option was to use the same paint that I have already used to paint my wheels. It is a PolyUrethane-based Tacoma Cream color and I have enough left after I did my wheels several months ago. It is not as thick as enamel and not good to apply with brush so I asked my painter for help and he was willing to come over the weekend with his spray gun and compressor to work with me to finish this job.

I have a kit of Pinstriping stencils from a company kwown as Finesse www.finessepinstriping.com . This company sells stencils with the Pinstripes pattern for every classic american car. I bought kit F-43 which has 3 adhesives stencils covered by a transparent layer. The stencils are separated so that they will let you paint two 1/32 inches stripes separated by 3/32 inches between them, just as the original pattern. You can use a brush to apply the paint or a spray gun as I did.





First step is to clean the area well and gently sand the clear coat with 2000 grit just enough to favour adherence of the new paint. Then apply the Finesse stripe with no interruptions all around the car beginning on one end of the hood. On the gaps between hood and cowl and on the door gaps you just keep covering with the tape to make sure there is a continuous sharp line all around the car. Next 4 photos show this process. The most difficult part is to cut the middle stencil to create a spear-shaped end on the front end of the hood. I had practice several times before I was happy with it.












Then I removed the clear cover leaving the 3 stencils attached to the car as shown in this photo.



Next begins the masking process to protect the rest of the paint from accidentally being sprayed. I put enought newspaper around that you can read the entire news just walking around my car!







My painter applying PU Tacoma cream.




Waited about an hour and applied a couple of layers of clear coat and then removed all the masking paper. Here we start removing the masking tape on the edges of the Finesse striping.




Removing the top masking tape leaving the 3 stencils still attached and now painted.






Next the top and the bottom stencils removed and here I am removing the center stencil to leave the pin striping visible.





Edges in gaps are very sharp



This is how the ends look like at the front of the hood, to me this was the most difficult part





The R side not as even line as the L but still very acceptable.



And this is how the final job looks like. I am totally happy with it. It took an entire day, two of us, very tedious preparation and application of the Finesse stripe. Everything depends on it so you better get a lot of patience, cool drinks, good weather, no interruptions, etc, etc and it will look just like original. If you have a steady hand for a brush AND you got the right color in enamel paint probably will be as good. Others may have different approaches, I just wanted to show in a single post the way of doing it with the Finesse stripes plus a spray gun. Manuel

[petehoovie]

What about the stripes on the louvers on the hood sides? Same process? Same day?....

[Lawson Cox]

It appears in several places that when removing the strips of the stencil the paint lifted off as well, leaving a chipped appearance. Any way of preventing that?

[roadster36]

Great job. You should be proud of your work.

[Henry/Kokomo]

Nice job and a great looking car!

[Lawrie]

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Manual, I did mine with the small brush that came with the kit,turned out great.
Lawrie

[Chuck Kuntz]

What is the price of that kit?

[Displayman]

Wow, great job!
You must have a lot of patience.
Bob-Hampshire, Ill.

[stangblue]

PS. don't forget to remove the rear spare tire

[jagnweiner]

Originally Posted by Chuck Kuntz

What is the price of that kit?

According to the Finesse website, $10.29 (plus shipping to Paraguay, in Manuel's case)

[Bob/Pa]

nice job, I paid for mine, darn it.

[rotorwrench]

It looks good. This tape looks like it sets down well with minimum bleed through. The type of tape used is critical on striping, especially if you have to lightly abrade the surface to get it to stick such as when striping over an older paint job. Bleed through is a product of tape that doesn't stick down well enough or is affected by cleaning solvents. How a person pulls the masking tape can affect the striping a lot. I pull it right after the final coat so it is still tacky and can flow enough to level out a bit more. I pull straight back on the tape to eliminate the stringing of paint that can happen sometimes. It takes a steady hand and a lot of concentration to get it right.

I caution folks about using newsprint as a mask. The paper is drawn through machines that perforates it with little grabber teeth in several places. I recommend using regular masking paper if you can get it. It's well worth the price and can save a lot of grief.

[V8COOPMAN]

Originally Posted by Lawson Cox

It appears in several places that when removing the strips of the stencil the paint lifted off as well, leaving a chipped appearance. Any way of preventing that?

Well, I sure missed the part where the paint "lifted off", and the "chipped appearance". Where did you see that, Lawson?

I think this job came-out beautiully on the Doctor's car....time and effort well-spent! DD

[Lawson Cox]

Originally Posted by V8COOPMAN

Well, I sure missed the part where the paint "lifted off", and the "chipped appearance". Where did you see that, Lawson?

I think this job came-out beautiully on the Doctor's car....time and effort well-spent! DD

Left cowl appears to have some lift off in the area of the short strip on the belt molding. Not much, but very noticeable to me anyhow. A couple of other small places as well. Just saying. Really a nice job over all.

[FlatheadTed]

Nice job

[Lanny]

When removing the tape from the new pinstripe, do NOT pull upwards, as you have
a chance of leaving an un-clean edge or even lifting the pinstripe edge up with the tape.

Pull the tape at a very low angle towards you, it has a better chance of leaving a clean edge.


Sorry this picture is not very good, but hope you can see the angle to pull the tape

Click on picture to Enlarge.

[Heard]

I think that looks great! Thanks for the write up.

[tinman080]

If you spray stripes an enamel based color can be shot with a small fingertip gun, thinned with lacquer thinner and the tape pulled while the paint is still tacky. Not quite tacked over enamel will NOT leave an edge you can feel when the tape is pulled at this time. Pull the tape back over itself in a line even with it's application. Gary P. S. Great Looking Car!

[Royal Ryser]

Excellent write-up, and great results. This looks like a good way to stripe without having an expensive striper do it.

[Doctor's Ford]

Thanks for all your comments! My intention was to share the complete procedure to follow using this inexpensive method, especially for those who like me don't have the skills to do signs or letters by hand.

I will try to clarify some of the questions.

Lawson: I checked and doubled checked on the car with good daylight today again and I don't see any of the imperfections you described. The lines are very straight and even. I took additional photos shown below. Sometimes photos are tricky and deceiving. You start zooming in and non-existing problems show up. Optical illusions? Poor resolution? and other reasons.

petehoovie: The stripes on the louvers were done a week ago with same process but it was much easier. I used a different tape with two stencils with a single 1/8 inch separation between them. Tape # F29 from same company.

Chuk Kuntz: The "kit" is not really a kit. You can just buy the tape (stencils), whatever pattern is correct for your year model. One roll of tape is about $10. I bought 2 different tapes, one for louvers and one for body and then had to buy some general paint supplies like masking tape, thinner, etc. Overall I spent 40 bucks in materials. If you have a spray gun and know how to use it you can get the job done with very little expense.

Lanny: You are right. Very important to lift the stencil towards you in the angle you showed in your photo. I did it that way. The stencil adheres to the body very well with no bleed through.