D-Day/Suez Stripes

I did a Wyvern in the Suez scheme and masked it. In those days, I used ordinary paint masking tape but now I should think it would be a lot easier with something like Tamiya Masking Tape, as it's nice and thin, also low-tack. You might want to try black decal instead.

Regards

Pat Macguire

The tape I mentioned is Tamiya Tape. the problem is not only getting it to the right width but also getting each stripe in the right place. I just wondered if there was a technique or do i just struggle - grin

David Pennington

I've just remembered how I did it, but it's almost impossible to describe, here goes!

1 Draw a horizontal line on a piece of paper, equal to the total width of the "yellow" area. 2 Erect a line at right angles to this (doesn't matter what length) so you have an "L" shape. 3 Mark on this upright line, five points at exactly equal intervals.

4 From the top mark, draw a line connecting with the right-hand end of your original line, making a triangle.

5 Now draw similar lines from the other four points on the vertical line, making sure they are parallel with the "hypotenuse" (aren't you glad you paid attention in Maths?)

6 You should now have the widths of the yellow area, as well as the widths and spacing of the two black bands to either mark on the model, or the decal sheet.

Regards

Pat Macguire

in article snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, David Pennington at snipped-for-privacy@totallyobjects.com wrote on 14/3/05 9:04 am:

Spray area white or yellow ,start at one end lay tape of correct width down in correct position, when happy lay another bit right next to it, then another bit next to that, lift second tape, repeat as nessesary!

Fun fun fun!!!

I had the same problem with a 1/72 Tempest V. I needed to paint D-Day stripes on the lower fuselage. I painted the area white then marked the positions of the stripes with a sharp pencil along a panel line. After doing this on both sides, I was able to lay strips of masking tape over the white, following the positions marked in pencil. Using cheap tape, I masked one or two stripes at a time but the result was very good.

The sad sequel to this story is that I later tried to extend the lines upwards because I had not taken them far enough up the fuselage. I used the same technique and made a complete pig's ear of it!

Best of luck,

Gordon McLaughlin

'' patience is a virtue'' have done many stripes latest being D-DAY markings on a french navy F-8 have switched to tamiya tape and it works well but you have to press it down with the butt end of a paint brush to avoid bleeding. Ken

Thanks to everyone. It seems I was on the right track but just not patient enough. I have also found that you have to lay Tamiya tape down and burnish it :-(

Thanks again.

David

I have been able to cut precision width tape from either Tamiya or Nichiban tape by putting a larger width against the edge of a piece of perspex and then using a tool I'd purchased from Micromark that allows you to cut from the edge in exact increments. The tool can hold a #11 scalpel blade and a knob on one side allows you to dial the width and cut your tape to size.

Kenny

in article 4235f200@212.67.96.135, Gordon McLaughlin at snipped-for-privacy@onetel.com wrote on 3/14/05 2:23 PM:

Now that sounds more like it. I will see if I cna source that in the UK of failing that get my ever patient mate in CT to get one for me.

Thanks

David