Painting order... lights, darks???

[wirelessguy]

I just can't afford to ship my tank and panels out for a pro paint job so I'm hoping that I'm capable of doing some half way decent work on my own.

My question for today is, "what color would I lay down first?"

I'm including a picture here which is my basic inspiration but I will be replacing the Silver base color with a high gloss black, for sort of a black/red retro feel.



So do I lay down an entire black coat first or do I paint the red sides first and then tape over them and lay the black down? (I was also going to try and keep the pinstripe outline,which I'm guessing is just a wider original Red base with some piping tape covering an area around the red which gets peeled back after the black is applied.)

I was a bit concerned about being heavy-handed, so instead of getting the paint gun I'm planning on doing everything by airbrush. Overall my tank is not too big (nor are the panels or cowl) and I'm hoping the finer brush allows me some more control and less dripping / sanding later.

Any thoughts or sugg would be appreciated.
Thanks.

[tkent02]

I don't know about your painting the red or black first, not sure if it matters. Think about using a small spray gun, like an automotive painter would use for door jams and other small touch up work. It's just the right size for bike parts.
An airbrush would take forever, and a full size gun would be too hard to use.

I have used both of these on bikes with good results, no drips or runs.

http://www.harborfreight.com/touch-up-air-spray-gun-66871.html

http://www.harborfreight.com/adjustable-detail-spray-gun-92126.html

I think I liked the silver one better. They are both easy to adjust, easy to use. I'm sure an expensive gun would be nicer for a pro but these work fine.

[SVSooke]

The general order is light to dark.The dark colors could "bleed though" the lighter ones.You are going to mask off pinstripes?Good luck with that.

[Dave8338]

From experience: In a case where you have a two-tone paint scheme like you're suggesting, I would apply the black first and then tape off the the black and spary the red. Reason: It is likely that the black will show a slightly different refraction with red below it. This will show up as a balck with a different "tone" than your fenders and side pieces. The one place that you want the paint to look perfect on a bike, is the tank.

Red can be any color under the sun. The darker the base prior to applying the red, the deeper tone of red you're going to see.

Everyone looks at the tank, first...

[TheCafeKid]

Judging by the overspray on the stock paint models I have seen with two tone paint, Suzuki painted the "accent" on first. In the case of the pic you gave us (isleomans bike is soo frigging sweet) the red would have been painted first. On my blue and white ES ( or my EX blue and white ES I should say) with tue same pattern, the blue was accent (where the red is on your pic) and was painted first.

Tck

[tkent02]

The general order is light to dark.The dark colors could "bleed though" the lighter ones.You are going to mask off pinstripes?Good luck with that.

I have an idea for masking and painting pinstripes, even multiple ones. Might work pretty good, maybe. If it works l'll let you all know how it turns out in a couple weeks. And in a month or so I might have a stripey new paint job on my 550/699 hybrid clone.