[Painting Nose Cones]

The pin stripe tape I tried had the right properties (the ability to stretch, as you mentioned); but also had too much adhesive; raising the risk of removing paint and/or leaving adhesive on the part. I've found the 3M plastic tape to handle the job with the same abilites and less adhesive problems.

 

GIL

 

 

And after all the hard work it would really stink to have the paint pull off. That already happened to me once.

[Painting Nose Cones]

Ron,

 

That sounds like a really great technique too. I have liquid mask already! It amazes me that the topic of painting spinners of WW2 aircraft isn't talked that much in tutorials, etc. There are lots of photographs in the magazines of WW2 planes with striped spinners that are nice and crisp, but in the articles they never talk about how the builder did it.

 

Thanks again,

Will

 

 

 

 

How this sound. Paint the spinner in the lighter color. When completely dry, gloss coat or use gloss paint. Then when completely dry, cover the whole thing in liquid mask. Let this dry as well. You may even want a second coat for thickness. Then take that circle template and with a #11 blade, and put it over the cone and scribe in the boundaries of the darker colors using the appropriate holes. Remove the masking from the areas that are to be the darker color. Shoot the darker color. Remove the rest of the mask and then dull/gloss coat as necessary. You might want to lightly go over the boundaries of the remaining masking to "cut" it away from the paint that is over it to avoid pulling up the paint.

 

Its important that you not use liquid masking over dull finishes. It tends to "grab" and is very hard/impossible to completely remove. Listen to the voice of experience on this point.

[Painting Nose Cones]

That's actually a pretty cool idea. Do you think it would be possible to have the circle template act as the actual mask? For example, you stick the spinner into a hole so that the bottom 1/3 is exposed and paint it red, and then stick the spinner into a hole so that only the top 1/3 is exposed and then paint that part red next? But, I bet the template won't give you a very good seal and you'd get underspray and mess it up.

 

That would work too. My example was for trying to make a one-piece tape mask for that center stripe.

 

GIL

[Painting Nose Cones]

What you really need, essentially, is a "conical" mask, made by interposing 2 oval shapes. However, I don't know HOW to do that.....

 

So actually, the technique you tried is probably the best. BUT, the KIND of tape you use is important. Regular masking tape/kabuki (Tamiya type) tapes want to bind when wrapped around tight conical shapes.

 

Try using (if you haven't) PLASTIC tape by 3M. You can get this in almost any hardware store/department. It comes in single/multi roll packs and is usually brightly colored. Cut it to 1/32 or smaller strips. The advantage here is that it actually stretches a bit, allowing it to conform around compound curves (like cones). It's still up to you to make sure you wrap it "parallell"; but you can do that by marking the spinner, or just using Mk1 eyeball. Do this for both the back and the front of that yellow stripe, and thin fill the gap with short thin pieces of regular tape.

 

Two tips to remember when working with plastic tape: 1) Handle it as little as possible. The heat from your hands (and the room) will combine to have the adhesive start to come off. Handle it sparingly and in a cool room, and you should have few problems. 2) When you remove it, pull it BACK on itself, and NOT "UP" (a good tip for ALL tapes). This lessens the chance of pulling up paint.

 

Short of a correctly shaped, exact fitting mask (say, from a spare spinner that you make and then transfer), this is the surest technique I've come across, even though it IS tedious! Best of luck!

 

GIL

 

Thanks for the idea Gil. I really appreciate it. You're right, the Tamiya tape and the other 1/32 tape I have want to bind as you wind it around the curve.

[Painting Nose Cones]

I need some suggestions on painting striped nose cones. My 1/48 Mustang has a nose that is red on the tip and the base with a yellow center. I painted the entire nose yellow, but masking seems to be a HUGE challenge due to the conical shape. It's very difficult to have tape remain parallel with the base of the nose cone. I have even tried working with tape that is about 1/32" wide, but that doesn't work well, especially when you try to mask off the tip area. Any ideas?

[Decanting from a spray can.]

Decanted paint from a spray can doesn't need any more thinning. Just wait till the bubbles disappear and spray away.

 

 

If you want to learn more about decanting, there is a good video demonstration on YouTube by a user named hyperscale.

[masking can o' peas]

If you use enamels to paint with, you can use Goo Gone to remove the adhesive residue. Other than the residual adhesive, I never had problems with Scotch tape. I switched to Parafilm to avoid the adhesive residue issue. Oh, and I think you meant to say that it is translucent--Scotch tape certainly isn't opaque.

 

Since I switched to Tamiya tape, I haven't looked back. Great stuff....

 

Ralph

 

Yes, translucent is the word I was looking for. I usually use Testor Acryl paints. I tried holding it under some warm running water to get the residue off, but that didn't help. I think if I would have tried to use fresh tape to lift up the residue it might also lift off the acrylic paint as well. I use Tamiya tape, too, but I have noticed that it can leave a very slight residue, depending on humidty, etc. Apart from the residue problem, I did find the Scotch tape method very good in terms of leaving me with crisp lines and I didnt' have a problem with any paint creep.

[masking can o' peas]

DO NOT use Scotch Tape or any such product. There are forums out there were people are talking about using this product (standard gift wrapping tape) that I have read. It is claimed that because it is opaque, you can take a very sharp X-Acto knife and easily trim around the frame edges for a clean, crisp paint job. So, I tried it. BIG MISTAKE. It was hard to peel off, left marks on my clear areas, didn't wash up well and cost me major deductions at the contest. The canopys were Futured first, and that didn't make a difference. The scotch tape idea is a total bust.