Sorry for all the questions but I just don't know this process.
Anyway: I now have a white primered door. I need to paint the Basecoats of a Tan (Ford Sandlewood) at the lower part and two pin stripes at the top, the balance of the door is black. Should I paint the tan first and if so do I need to paint the entire door tan or just the areas that will be tan? Can I paint the whole door the black then mask and paper everything that stays black? I'm wondering because I don't have alot of the tan BC paint (1 pint plus the activator). I'm asking because I don't remember seeing the tan on any part of door but the bottom when I took it down to bare metal for prep and repair. The current pin stripes look to have been handf painted on. Maybe just leave them out of the BC equation? I'll have a week to work out what to do before I sand the primer and do the BC & CC. I'm not looking for a pro level job. This is for an old Bronco II to replace a door in bad shape. T whole thing should be painted but that's not possible at this point.
Appreciate any help.

 

I would paint the tan first. Reason being that black should cover your tan much easier then the other way around. I just did a two color job on a mustang. I have a few pics of it in basecoat on another site. Basically with basecoat, paint your tan up a little past the point where it is going to be. Once tan is on and you have coverage wait the correct amount of time to be able to tape on it. Not sure what your tape time is on your paint. Or you could leave it sit overnight to be safe. Then carefully mask off the area that will stay tan and paint your black. Unless it is really rough, no reason to sand the tan past your taped off area if you are still in your time window on your base. Most are 24 hrs or more between coat or to get clear on it. You will want to stay in the window anyways to avoid scuffing and reapplying the tan. You are not shooting your base to achieve gloss, but do want a somewhat smooth even coats so you won't have to try burying it in clear. Heres where I have some pics that somewhat show the process of the basecoat.
http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/sing...ing-95183.html
You can see on the hood, I painted silver past where the black would be, but there is still primer in the center, Then I masked off and painted the black, untaped, cleared the whole thing. I am not sure what you are talking about as far as pinstripes and how to work them into your job. Or are they vinyl stripes that go on after the clear?

 

okay reread your post. Even painted on pinstripes are done over the clear. Someone talented and with a steady hand goes around and applys them with a pinstriping enamel. Some factory pinstripes are painted on too. What you could do if you can find vinyl pinstriping that matches up, just vinyl pinstripe that whole side right over the painted on stripe, or even the whole truck. Or it is possible you can remove the painted on stripe. Don't remember exactly how this is done, but maybe some solvent, little buffing would take them off. Maybe a new topic.

 

Thanks. That is what I had in mind when I only purchased a small amount of the tan to keep my costs down. I just wasn't sure I could shoot a section without covering the whole outside door panel. Would the same thing work to make the pin stripes? A spray line across the door then 3M Fine Line Pinstripe mask tape or would this be a problem to remove with pulling up the edges since you wouldn't be able to remove without pullling at paint edges on both sides? If too much of a risk, I'll just leave the stripes off and worry about that later.

 

I don't know, never tried it. I did spray the stripe in the moulding on the mustang while I was spraying black. I used regular 3/4 inch masking tape to mask them, but used fineline to do the trunk where I had a lot of curves and dips to deal with. Fineline will likely stick much better with less chance of getting a bled through of color. I just go back over it again after masked and press down well with my finger. Are these wide pinstripes, or little narrow ones? Its very possible you could paint those too before clear. If it is a narrow one, maybe lay a stripe the width the stripe is going to be and how its going to run. Then fineline tape right on the edge of that stripe. Then pull the first one off where it is going to be painted. This should help maintain your gap when taping. If its a wide one you could probably just measure it out. Not sure what you are dealing with. To avoid the paint pulling up when you remove the tape, keep your coats somewhat light when painting it. Don't hog on a lot of heavy coats. Then when you unmask, pull the tape off slowly down upon its self away where the stripe was painted. With paint edges on both sides it will be a little more tricky, but should be okay if you keep coats light, pull slowly back and down and its unmasked early enough. Also try to keep your colors clean when doing your masking, and avoid smudging and marking the base.

 

After giving it some thought, I have decided to just leave the pin stripes off the door when I do the BC & CC. The ones on the now are painted over the clearcoat so I'll come up with something after the door is painted and go over the CC as they are now. That will make things a tad easier with only the bottom section to worry about being a different color.
Thanks for the help