Originally Posted by
tiger1964
So basically the idea is to establish an accurate annular ring around the tubing to measure off from? Hmm, I'm going to try something, hopefully it works. Plumbing pipe will not, as you point out, snugly fit the tubing diameter except by accident. That said, I just got back from Home Depot, making some minor purchases, and I brought home one of those snap-on plastic covers for shower curtain rods. They have what looks like a good squared-off machine-cut end, and the smallest diameter is going to be smaller than the smallest tubing I'll encounter other than stays. Might need to cut two sections, one from each end, to overlap if a section of tubing like the head tube is greater than the rod cover's "max". If it does not work I am out only a couple of dollars (and I use them as friction-reducing covers on closet hanger rods anyway!)
Four frames down, one to go. While not as precise at aircraft-quality tubing (which I'd certainly use if I did this for a living!) the results are fine to my eye. I cut two short sections about 2-1/2" long. To cut, I used a tiny miter box I bought to cut track for my wife's HO railroad. Mounting two sections concentrically (one on top of the other) but the open ends ( Guess frame tubing is a little larger than a curtain rod) 180 degrees apart, I got a "ring" around the tubing that works. This allowed placing a tape line (luckily, lime green 1/8" masking tape shows up really well on bright red frames).
Peel-n-stick decals, three from Cyclomondo and one set of (frightfully old?) decals from the Palo Alto shop, applied "wet", no luck being able to "slide" into place but I could lift/move, and like the results. The final set, bought from SSSink which I found out about through BF, is a far different technology, rub into place and remove covering film.