Painting Technique
I used Montana Cans Gold paint in a total of six colors. I’ve generally heard good feedback on them, and I did find them easy to work with. It was easy to get an even finish. I don’t know how well they will hold up long term though.
Since my paint scheme was fairly elaborate, I spent some time figuring out what sequence to paint in. It’s generally best to start with the light colors because the darker colors tend to cover better. To ensure an even color when overcoating with a second color, I extended the base coat across the whole area.
Before painting over the primer, I wiped it with isopropyl alcohol to remove any fingerprints or dirt. This did not seem to attack the primer, but I was still careful with it. I did not use alcohol on the Montana colors because they tended to soften from the alcohol.
In most cases, I used two coats of paint, with a light sanding (1500 or 2000 grit, wet) after the first. The first coat was fairly light, but I went heavier with the second coat so that it dried to a smooth finish.
When I painted a region, I masked off most of the rest of the frame to avoid overspray. I used a couple of different kinds of tape. When masking over areas I had already sprayed with Montana Cans, I used Frog Tape Delicate Surfaces because I’ve had good experiences with it removing cleanly. I used the cheap blue painter’s tape over the primer because I wasn’t worried about it lifting. However, some of this stuff left a sticky residue that was a pain to remove. I’d use the Frog Tape everywhere if I was doing it again even though it’s not cheap.
For masking the sharp lines between colors, I used Tamiya tape. When cut into 2 to 3 mm wide strips, it can be bent around curves. This allowed me to mask inside the fork, seatstays, and chainstays. Cut the tape with a straightedge and use this edge for the sharpest lines. For some of the unusual edges, such as by the brake mounts, I put a wider strip of tape overhanging the edge and carefully cut around the contour. I then filled in the inside with Frog Tape.
When I sprayed the first colors, I wanted to create a soft transition just past the edges of those regions so that it would not show up underneath the second color. To do this, I rolled strips of wide blue painter’s tape into tubes about 1 cm in diameter, sticky side out. I lined the area with these strips and used more tape to fill in the gaps. This generally creates a fuzzier edge than just sticking the tape on the frame. After the paint was dry, I sanded the transitions so that they were smooth to the touch.
Montana Cans spray fairly well and it was fairly easy to get a good even coat. The paint comes out much more slowly than the primer did, so I held the can about 15 to 25 cm from the frame. I still moved fairly quickly and added layers until I got a fairly smooth, wet look. I did end up with a couple drips, so work carefully.
I used the standard caps that came with the cans (gold, I believe). These give a good spray pattern for the frame. However, a wider spray likely would have given softer fades.
The fades were a bit more challenging. I tested a few times on my test pipe and strongly recommend doing this. I found it best to make quick passes perpendicular to the tube and build up layers for the solid region. The inside of the seat stays was the most challenging because it was hard to get the can at a good angle, and the two needed to be symmetric.
It is easy to go too far, although it is possible to fix some mistakes by lightly spraying the original color. It took several iterations before I was happy with the fades. I found that some cans sprayed better than others, so I used these for most of the final fade work. (Light colors seemed to be less likely to sputter, but that may just have been a coincidence.) A light sanding will remove some of the distant specks and make the transition a bit cleaner. Be careful with this - it is hard to make sure it is even, especially on small diameter tubes like the seat stays.
After all the painting was done, I gave it a light sanding with 2000 grit sandpaper. The goal is a smooth, even, semi-glossy finish. However, I was very careful with the fades because it is easy to remove the fine spray and change the appearance. I left those areas slightly rough. I also smoothed the masked lines slightly with 1000 and 2000 grit. This reduced the raised edge where the colors meet although I did not eliminate it completely.
There were a few areas that required touching up. In a couple of places, spray got through gaps in the masking tape. I was able to fix these with a light sanding with 2000 grit paper, as it was only a light overspray. There were also a few places where I sanded too far and exposed the base color. For these, I masked around the affected areas using rolled up tape for soft edges and resprayed. I sprayed as small of an area as possible and blended the new paint with the old using 2000 grit sandpaper.
