Hi Nick,
Like you say, painting certainly a trickier subject than you'd think it would be. Lately spray paint has started to behave in ways that I've never experienced before. I've been spraying with rattle cans for 30 years now and, to my mind, the move away from CFFs in the propellent has changed everything and forced me to learn some new lessons.
For achieving a crisp demarcation line the best trick I know is one I learned years ago for house painting. Once you have everything masked off, before you apply the gunmetal color, give the helmet a light coat of black. Let it dry the obligatory 20 minutes so that it is just dry to the touch then start in on your gunmetal. That way the black color seals off the masking tape so that it's harder for the gunmetal to leak underneath. Also make sure that you've burnished the painting edge of your masking tape. You only need for that leading edge of the tape to have a solid seal against overspray so I make sure that I run a fingernail over about the leading 1/8" of the tape.
Obviously I'd also try and stay within brand and type of paint with your colors (enamel with enamel and lacquer with lacquer). These days that's no guarantee that things wont blow up on you but it's a step closer to hopefully not having to strip everything down.
That's all I've got hope it helps!
Dave
|