Advice on painting lug cutouts (windows)?

[jasonification]

My custom max fork should be enroute to me in the next few weeks. The builder is painting it completely black and then clear coating it..I was thinking of doing a contrasting paintjob for the lug cutouts, and was wondering if the forum had any advice to ensure a good job? TIA!

[Hindmost]

The amateur in me would use model paint and brush, float in an even coat, and carefully wipe the edges with a cloth.

Make sure the frame is fresh from clearcoat and hasn't been waxed or wiped down with anything.

[buddybikes]

Sure masking it and spray would be ideal. Another idea is just outline (inline) the edges with fine brush.

[one60]

paint pens might work but this would be a great option too



https://www.dickblick.com/products/l...xoCVn4QAvD_BwE

[Spaghetti Legs]

I touched up pantographs on a couple of forks and just daubed Testors paint in with a small brush and wiped off excess with my thumb. Came out pretty nice.

[choke]

+1 on Testors....that's what I've always used.

Use a Q-tip to spread a thin layer of vaseline around the cut out so that the paint won't stick.

[William]

Originally Posted by choke

+1 on Testors....that's what I've always used.

Ditto

I used a fine model brush and carefully filled in some cut outs with gloss yellow on a black frame. Let it dry and it held up for years...never had any issues with it.






William

[sloar]

One-Shot pinstriping paint and a toothpick.

[C40_guy]

I handfilled the cutouts in my old Condor Cycles road frame. IIRC, I used model paint and a small brush. It came out great.

Here's the thing...you're handpainting a handmade work of art. It's okay for it to look like it was painted by hand.

[ultraman6970]

Fill up with paint and then use your finger or a piece of papaer towel or a piece of fabric.

Obviously let it dry a little bit 1st, if the paper doesnt work dont desperate just use the paper towel wet in rubbing alcohol and start going around, the paint will turn soft and will wipe out. Done.

[ultraman6970]

This looks interesting.

Originally Posted by one60

paint pens might work but this would be a great option too



https://www.dickblick.com/products/l...xoCVn4QAvD_BwE

[one60]

Agreed...

Originally Posted by ultraman6970

This looks interesting.

[ultraman6970]

What you can use is toothpicks, just dab them in a lot of paint and let the drop of paint go down... the other option that worked well is just use a thin brush maybe a #1 just paint the thing you need, let it dry a little bit and then use your finger or a paper towel wet with rubbing alcohol... go around w/o putting the towel inside of the engraving obviously and you will do ok.

The other thing ive done in a stem i have with a lot of engraving is to use the wet towel but kind'a trying to lay it it flat over the surface and kind'a rub it, in that way I get a nice edge all over.

Hope this helps.

[William]

Use a very fine brush or tooth pick and let the paint flow into the cut out. If you have to clean up excess on the edges and it's relatively flat use a small wood block (even better if you have a thin sheet of rubber/cork fixed to the flat surface of the block but that's probably not in the scope of the one time DIY'er) and wrap a paper towel around it snuggly. dab a little rubbing alcohol and gently wipe off the excess. No chance of it dipping into your work that way.

It's exactly how I clean up (with straight acetone) excess when colorfilling carved glass. Same concept.






W.

[unterhausen]

I have the Kemper large fluidwriter pen, similar to the one linked above. I bought mine through Amazon. Brian Chapman posted a video of him using it to paint a lug window sometime last year. I'm sure it's on his instagram.

I also have the small version. It's too small for this job.