Here we have a 1980 Mazda pickup undergoing major body work. Fixing dents, filling miss. holes and radiusing the rear fender wells were some of the task.
The fender wells have been radiused and strengthened in this picture. Much block sanding has taken place already.
This wild looking scoop is in the middle of block sanding. It had some stress cracks which needed to be fixed.
After hours and hours of block sanding by me and the owner, I sprayed the entire truck with PPG primer sealer. Not only does this seal the vehicle, but really helps to conceal any areas where heavy bodywork was done.
I sprayed the entire truck with PPG basecoat and let it set about an hour before I started laying out the flames.
You can see we have laid the flames out with 3M 1/8" fineline masking tape. Chris is in the process of cutting out a template we made of the flames. This is accomplished by using 36"x48" paper and regular pencil. Holding the paper over the flames we just laid out, the pencil is used scribe the impression of the flames onto the paper. Once we scribed all the flames, the paper is laid out on the floor, taped together and cut out with scissors. After the templates were complete, we taped them onto the other side of the truck and again used 1/8" fineline tape to outline the flames. This is necessary to make the flames match on both sides of the truck. This process was used on the sides, roof and hood.
Once all the flames are outlined its time to start masking. In this picture Chris has already masked a portion of the fender and door and is using an xacto knife to trim the masking tape from the area to be painted. Once the "brown" masking tape is applied overtop of the fine line tape, it creates a ridge. In other words you can see the fine line tape under the "brown" masking tape. Very lightly run your xacto knife through the center of the ridge created by the fine line tape. When finished, peel away the "brown" masking tape from the area to be sprayed.
Here we can see the entire side of the truck has been masked with "brown" tape and trimmed out with the xacto knife.
This is a really good shot showing the truck fully taped and ready to spray the flames. At this point you should go ahead and use some cleaner on the surface and tack rag it off to remove dust.
Three different custom PPG colors were sprayed to create the outline color of the flames. We sprayed one color then temporarily masked it off to spray the other colors. Note the small color reference taped to the side of the truck to keep things from getting sprayed the wrong color.
Now its time once again to break out the fine line tape, only this time use the 1/4" wide stuff. Following the edge of each flame, apply the tape with 50% on the previous masking, and 50% on the flame itself. In other words, apply it so that when peeled off, it will leave a reveal.
All of the main flame colors have been sprayed and after 30 minutes to an hour of sitting the truck is ready to be unmasked for clearing.
After I knocked the edges of the flames down by wet sanding with 1200 grit sand paper, we prep'ed the truck once again. Mom helps clean and tack rag the truck down in preperation for spraying the clearcoat. Note the outline we created on the flames in the previous steps.
Mom snapped this shot of me spraying the clear coat. I begin by spraying a light coat over the entire truck. The PPG clear starts flowing nicley with each progressive coat. I laid down four coats of clear with no runs and minimal dirt in the finish. Lighting is VERY critical when spraying clear, without enough its hard to tell how the paint is flowing and even where you have sprayed.
After spraying clear, I like to let the vehicle set over night if possible before unmasking. It gives the paint time to cure and harden a little. At this point the paint work is basically done besides for any buffing that may be required.
Jumping back a few steps, we see the hood in the middle of block sanding. The cowl scoop on this hood needed some fine tuning. After much block sanding it was ready for the basecoat.
Hood in black basecoat.
In this picture the hood is well underway. I have already sprayed the outline color of the flames and just finished using the 1/4" fine line tape to create the outline affect. Next step will be to spray the main flame color.
After the hood is clear you get the full effect.
Here is the truck fully assembled and ready for the drag strip.
The hours and hours of bodywork and block sanding really paid off on this truck. Flames dont get much wilder than this. Note the old gasser scoop on the tunnel ram which is also flamed.