How to Flame
Nothing says Hotrod more than a screaming set off flames! Sort of a specialty of Dave (my brother) and myself, we have been doing flame jobs for years, many having won paint awards and appeared on magazine covers. There are several style of flames that we use and they can really transform a ride, but if not done right they can look hideous.

Doing a flame job is fairly straight forward and the only part that requires artistic skill is the initial layout and color selection. I recommend you get an artist whose flames you like to do this layout if you are not up to it or practice taping out flames by imitating a style you like (using a photo as a guide) till they flow with out kinks.

Most flames are done under clear so you will need to use a wax and grease remover and fine sand all the panels that are being flamed. If you are doing a complete new paint job with flames, I strongly recommend you do your base color and clear it first. Let it cure then fine sand and do your flames and re-clear. There is so much fine masking and taping on a typical flame job, invariably some overspray etc occurs that needs to be wiped off or sanded off, so you need to be able to do this with out damaging the base color.

There are several specialty automotive tapes available that can turn the tight bends required for flaming, I prefer the blue plastic tapes out now as they are easy to see for masking and leave a clean edge. These fine line type tapes are available at automotive paint and auto body suppliers. I prefer 1/8 in. wide for tight layouts like motorcycles and 1/4 in. for bigger areas like cars and pickups.

Traditional layouts use long flowing licks starting at the front and running half way down the object. The "Cincinnati" or "Ohio" style flames feature narrower, tighter licks, and often run the full length of the vehicle. Tip: for Ohio flames use the size of an egg for your inside curves with long licks. Tribal style flames are really just traditional flames but you add kicks off the licks curving in an opposite direction.

On certain vehicles you need to define the starting point of your layout, due to the vehicles shape and trim, curvy vehicles lend themselves to flames easier than square or wedge shapes. If you are doing flames that overlap you will need to pay attention to what goes on top of what, you will need to mask and spray the under lick first let dry and cover to spray the top lick. Double over lapping flame jobs are time consuming basically you are doing a second flame job after completing the first it can be quite complicated masking if you are doing different colors going over and under each other. Tip: flames should flow gracefully featuring even curves of various lengths without kinks.

After you have done your layout, you can start taping in all the small areas that aren't painted and paper the bigger sections. Use only quality automotive grade masking tape or you could end up with a mess when you try and unmask. For novice maskers, the easiest way is to follow all your tape outsides with 1/4 in. masking tape, then use 2 in. on the wider spots and regular size 3/4 in. on the in-between areas. Try to avoid using razor blades when masking as you can easily slice down to the metal (or fiberglass). If there is a really narrow spot, use thinner tape or cut what you have off the vehicle than apply.

Most flame jobs run only from the front end and down the doors so you can use clean old blankets and plastic sheeting for the roof and rear sections to mask for overspray. Masking wheel well and grill opening can be time consuming but necessary for a clean job. If you are doing a ghost flame you don’t need to be so thorough in the masking department, but a multicolor can create a lot off overspray. When you are finished masking, go back and check for slivers (unmasked edges left between tapes), and make sure none of your tight turns are starting to lift. It can be challenging to get tape to stick flush on sharp contours while turning a tight radius – try not to stretch the tape too much or use 1/8” regular masking tape on these areas as it has no plastic “memory”.

Before painting – carefully wipe down your areas with a final wipe to remove any oils left by your fingers from taping and blow and lightly tack.

With its low film build and quick drying - base coat is an ideal medium for applying flame colors. Choosing the colors you use will determine much of the impact your flame job achieves. Traditional flames mimic fire starting out whitish yellow transitioning into orange then bright red and have great impact when done over dark colors. Ghost flames can be done with colors just a shade or two lighter or darker than the base color, or in an iridescent pearl or translucent candy. To create dimension on ghost flames use a touchup gun or an airbrush to apply, and spray aiming at the tape edge letting the narrow over spray to shape things. This will also allow some of the base color to come through adding to the ghost effect. For high impact, loud in your face flames, I usually start spraying everything white and then apply pure colors that will appear brightest over the white. Colors opposite in the color wheel to each other will have the greatest contrast for high impact: yellow/purple, blue/orange, red/green. If your base color is a solid (non metallic or non pearl) color, stay with solid colors for your flames, and similarly with pearls or metallic bases use only these types. Due to there transparency, candy colors are well suited for applying over metallic and pearl colors and are what I use to shade multicolor flames. For example, if you use a yellow pearl as a base, apply candy orange or candy red to just the edges of your licks with an airbrush to create a rolling 3 D look. Fading from one color into another is fairly easy with a touchup gun although it does take patience. Take color chips and put them against your base color – the ones that work will jump out. Tip: the new Kameleon type colors are very effective for ghost flames as they change color as the vehicle moves!

After you are satisfied with your paint application, you can start to carefully unmask your areas to be cleared. Try to pull tape off towards you holding it down near the surface, giving you the least drag and cleanest edge. We recently flamed over an old paint job (not one of mine!) where the paint started to peel (yikes!) and ended up having to carefully use a heat gun to soften up the glue and slowly remove it. When you are done, carefully inspect everywhere for overspray, fuzzy edges and take the time to clean up and touch up as required, to get a clean, crisp job. On multicolored high impact flame jobs, you may have to clear the vehicle twice if you don’t wish to feel an edge because of the physical thickness from layers of product. Start by clearing the vehicle with three coats of urethane clear, let cure for a few days, carefully water sand with P1000 to get rid off most of the edge and clear again with 2-3 more coats of clear. If necessary you can then sand and polish out any remaining edge.

If you are planning on pin striping around your flames under clear there are two methods I recommend – easiest is to stripe with the House Of Kolor striping paint after unmasking and clear, if you (or your striper) are using lettering enamel like One Shot – clear the flames first, let cure and water sand then pinstripe and let dry for a day or two then clear again (the One Shot can wrinkle when applied over basecoat and cleared but won’t usually when sandwiched between clears if dry, the House of Kolor is a base coat and is designed to be clear coated immediately). If you plan to add flames to an older paint job and do not wish to clear coat, do the flames in an automotive enamel and carefully wipe up any overspray immediately after unmasking with the enamel reducer.

A little patience (and a lot of tape) can transform your car’s personality or if you don’t feel up to it you can always call us – we love doing flames (416-285-7376).

John