Advice please - How to paint just the lower half of a tank, leaving the top bare metal??

Hi - Im looking to try and achieve the paint job on this tank...

http://thebikeshed.cc/2014/10/27/jonathan-reas-tracker/

Bare metal at the top, a gloss black lower half with the stripe....My tank is bare metal at the moment and Im ready to go....

Here's my intial thoughts - Wipe down with acetone and using auto paint tape/masking tape/paper - cover the areas I dont want painted...Im aware you can thin auto paint tape off ebay etc..

Presumably I need a x2 primers coats?

Then once dry without removing the tape I hit it straight with the black auto paint? Im concerned if I do this, when I remove the tape you'll be able to see the primer just poking out at the top..

Any advice how I get the tape perfectly straight too pls? Trial and error?

Thanks guys

 

I may be wrong, but isn't that top of the tank, Metallic Silver? I might suggest that you do some research on " How to Paint" you can get books from the Library or online. Have you decided on what kind of paint system that you will be painting with? If your going to leave the top of the tank unpainted you will need to use a clear coat designed for bare metal. Unless of course you want to see the rust and are making a Rat Bike. Welcome to the Forum

 

According to what you posted, the tank is pearl white with black lower accents and ghost airbrushing accents.
That being said, I have a friend of mine with an old KZ400 with a bare metal tank but he searched and searched to find a perfect one without dents. ANY dents big or small will show up something fierce with a bare metal tank, no Bondo allowed obviously! Anyway, he sanded off the paint, polished the metal surface to a moderate shine and sprayed several coats of clear (lacquer, IIRC). If you use some proper detailing trim tape (not just blue painters tape) you could set the edge of the black paint below and spray the lower half. Keep in mind that you will have a ridge where the painted and non-painted surfaces meet, the paint will obviously be thicker. Here again a good clear coat will protect that painted edge.

 

Paint the whole tank clear, with a fuel-proof paint first.
Paint the black, stripes, and lettering with a compatible paint system
Sand the paint edges lightly.
re-paint the whole tank clear for your finish.

 

Thanks all, Timetoride - Why clear paint it first?? Wont the black have trouble sticking to it??


And to confirm what Im actually looking for - its not an exact copy of that bike - its a bare metal tank with the black stripe and lower half...forget the pearlescent stuff....

 

Your bare metal and black WILL turn to RUST and black if you don't at least put a clear coat on it. You DO know what happens to bare steel when it's exposed to the elements, right?!?!?

It's your tank though..... Do what you want, but if you're trying to achieve the paint job you showed, then READ the description of the paint job--- it's white pearl. It says so......

Dave

 

I think what he was asking in his last question is, why put the clear coat on underneath the black, as TimetoRide posted. I kind of wonder that as well, I have always steered away from putting clear UNDER anything, whether it is compatible paint or not. However a good layer of clear over everything should keep the bare metal protected, in fact it would no longer be bare.

 

I concurr. Nothing helps separate two different colors of paint ( or bare metal) than a contrasting pinstripe. It will mask the transition between the two fields of color.