Doug Fattic 

One of the tools that can be really useful in laying out masking tape so it will be straight on a tube is aluminum angle that can be bought at almost any hardware store. Get the size that is 3/4'" X 3/4" X 1/8". It comes in various lengths. It can be cut to a length that fits in-between braze-on bosses. I also use it to make sure decals are straight on a tube. Here are pictures of Yuriy using a piece of aluminum angle to mark masking tape so he can place our decal exactly where it should be. Many decals can not be moved once some part touches the frame. These pictures were taken a few years ago in our shop in Bucha Ukraine where we make bicycles for our charity project. The Russians did break into this shop earlier this year. They took general use tools but not bicycle specific equipment. For example the grinder you see in the first picture and all the wrenches on the back wall are now missing. Yuriy had to hid in his root cellar for several weeks while his place was shelled. He eventually escaped across the Irpin Rivier and has lived in the west Ukraine since March. He is coming back in October to more fully assess our losses. In this case Yuriy is marking lines on 2 pieces of tape wrapped around the top and bottom of the down tube. Using the aluminum angle insures the marks are lined up with each other.

For box lining, the angle piece can be used to help lay a section of regular masking tape along the length of a tube. Then thin 3M "Fineline" tape (the real masking tape) can be laid along the wider regular masking tape. This process can insure the Fineline tape can be perfectly straight.


Yuriy preparing to apply decals with the assistance of an aluminum angle tool waiting to be used on the chair

The angle piece in use. The store markings on the left can remind you what to get

Using the lug point and water bottle bosses as placement guides


the decal backing paper has centering guides that are matched to the masking tape marks

The decal is correctly placed after using an aluminum angle piece to help position the markings