Always wanted to try flames on my car. So I got a pair of decals. The decals had a white background, so I had to cut them out with a sissors. Then I used the cut out paper for a template on the hood. Traced it out with a marker and brushed it with yellow. I still need to get some orange and maybe blue accents on the begining and tail of the flames. I also have a air brush I want to tryout. Be gentle, this is my first time!!
Cool car The wheel well flames look neat The hood not so much, maybe if you did the complete leading edge ? nice flame job for brush paint!
I'm not a flames guy, but agree the hood flames don't look as good as the wells... But hey, if you're happy we're happy for you. It's your ride my man. Do what YOU want with it!
Hey B, That is a nice T-Bird that you have. The stock look has always been a favorite classic of most everyone. Your T-Bird is a classic with its place in automotive history. I am sorry to say that those little yellow flames as nice as you cut them out, are out of place. They look like decals from a model car kit that was put on the side of a real sports car. Even though you went through all of the trouble of cutting them out, using the left over stencil as your pattern, it just was/is not the right size for your T-Bird. Perhaps on the side of a little red wagon, but not a life size car. You are on the right track. It is just a little too small for a real car. The real flame guys have a "stencil" once they hand paint the overall design, tape, mask off the whole areas and then cut out the area to be sprayed, like a stencil. Jnaki I like flames since trying to draw them as a little kid. Over the years some of them look good on paper. I have tried, as well as possible, to hand letter and do some pinstripe flames on a real fender. I have used fine tip water markers for the preliminary outlines, in case of mistakes. I started to use my real pinstriping brush that has some history, but it just did not look good. It is a little frustrating and also intimidating to try it on a real car. If I want flames, I will have someone local that is a professional do those pinstripe flames. In So Cal, there are a ton of good flame painters and artists within a short driving distance. I am sure you should not have any problems finding a local pinstripe guy/girl in your area. Don't be disappointed... Those dinky flames just do not go with your classic T-Bird.
It definitely looks like 50's flames when they were a new style and there was no definition of how they "should be". Sent from my SM-G965U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
You should be ashamed of yourself doing that to such a 'classic/really cool body lines' car! IMO. IF......you decide to "flame it" I would save up the $$$ and get the right size and right "look" flames painted on by a pro (if need be). Doing flames is NO EZ task. For one....there are many/many types of flame jobs and its not a one-size-fits-all deal. Nice try but..........NOT!! 6sally6 PS......Don't be too hard-on yourself, I couldn't have done any better! Like I said before.............it needs a pro to do it and look really trick.
When I did flames I layed out the whole area with 2" tape, free hand my flames, cut the tape out, come back with 1/8" blue fine line tape and walked the edges of the flames with it then scuff and paint. Hate templates.
If you really want flames , stickers are not the way to go, they look like stickers. Get some thin tape and lay them out, when your happy cover the area you don't want painted with paper and spray your main color, then go back and over spray with another contrasting color, remove the paper & tape and pinstripe with Blue one shot. It's not that hard , it just take time to lay it out, Good luck. BTW, there are a lot of video's on you tube .HRP
I too wanted flames but didn't want them to over take the look of the car so I had my buddy pin stripe them on. Just a few ideas.
thanks for all the nasty coments! (kidding) only person that i care who likes my flames are my 10 year old grandson and 12 year old grand daughter!! they think they'er "COOL". I do have a quart of red paint to cover it up when I finally realize you are all correct, I can't paint flames.thanks, stay safe.
Then there is plan-B: Wraps. Find a business that specializes in business trucks and automotive wraps and have a talk with them. Could be worth your time to at least look into it.
NO you can't.............but neither can I!! My hat is off to those that can. I just don't see how they can get them uniform on both sidez. Just some good old fashion HAMB 'ribbing' here! Funny how much 'influence' those grandz can have!! 6sally6
Get some 1/8” vinyl pinstripe tape and lay your flames out how you want them. If they don’t look right, peel and redo until you get the look you want. Use a contrasting color like white on the red car. You might like the looks of them just like that, and when you get tired of them just peel them off. I did a hood on a Chevy Caprice I owned, they looked pretty good, got a lot of compliments.
On the race car, the nose was always yellow, but we started with white paint. Lay out the flames on the white base with 1/4 in tape. Then we masked the top part of the flames and painted the yellow. I didn't have an air brush so I mixed a little yellow and red and lightly fogged the yellow tips of the flames. Next step was to un-mask the top of the flames, mask off the yellow part and paint the rest of the hood red. Pull off the masking and finally the 1/4 in tape. You end up with flames outlined with a 1/4 in of white.
You guys crack me up. The guy did what 90% of us did when we were kids, either on model cars or our first beater. Had to make it unique. Making 90 cents an hour delivering pizzas didn't permit buying even masking tape and spray cans of paint. I think the decal flames are entirely period correct. And if the grand kids like it, discussion ended.
Hey C, Very nice job with the dinky tape. I have worked with those small size tapes on cars, skateboards, R/C Cars, and surfboards. It is not an easy thing to use or make as permanent as possible. Add in the curves and odd shapes and it is/was a difficult thing. Your design is not an odd ball size or shape, just clean lines and flames. Kudos to you. I also want to congratulate you on your T Bucket being symmetrical in design. A lot of T Buckets have similar bodies and they have a rake in the mounting position. Their motor and header arrangement then, is out of shape as it heads off into their own angle and has no symmetry. Yours has the super clean lines, stance and the look of a cool roadster. Yes, the sharp rake angle has been on many famous T Buckets, but, usually the headers and other suspension items seem out of place. Jnaki Again, nice build of a good design. It all flows together to make a cool hot rod. Be safe and "locked in place..."
Junji, Thanks for the kind words. The look did not happen overnight, but I got it so I liked and it rode pretty nicely. The T had some features used in Chester Greenhalgh's How To Build a TBucket On A Budget book and I continued the theme with improvements over the years (I had it 12 yrs.). It wasn't the flashiest or the fastest, but it great lines. Hope you are doing well, Carp.
about a year ago I tried laying some pinstripes on my Model A, looked like ass, then I rubbed them off. I'm just sayin'
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