Painting carrier deck-markings

Robbo · Post by **Robbo** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 9:56 am

Hi all,

I'm working on Trumpeters 1/350 Kuznetsov, and i have decided to paint on the markings rather than use the (rather poor IMO) decals supplied. It's worked out pretty well, the markings look much better painted on. However, i have one problem- circular helicopter landing markings. They consist of a white circle inside a larger white circle. Also, each one has a number in the centre. Anyone able to suggest a method for painting such things?

I really have no idea how to paint these circles. Any help would be appreciated.

Post by **Timmy C** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 6:29 pm

You could put a piece of masking tape over it, trace out the circle, cut out the area to be painted, then paint that area. This shouldn't be too hard, since the marking's already engraved onto the deck.

Robbo · Post by **Robbo** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 4:47 pm

Thanks Timmy, i had thought of using masking tape, but how to cut out the perfect circle was the thing bothering me.

Would you be tempted to cut out and use the numbers from the decals to put into the centre of the circles, or would you try your hand at painting the numbers somehow?

Post by **Timmy C** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 7:52 pm

If the numbers are straight-edged, then I wouldn't mind trying to cut tape stencil from them.

Admhawk · Post by **Admhawk** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 10:56 pm

Do you know anyone who has a vinyl cutter? You could cut a number of circles and use them for paint templates.

They used to sell hobby vinyl cutters, but sometimes you might find a sign place who would do a small job for you if you did the artwork.

Darren

Robbo · Post by **Robbo** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 8:14 am

Use tape to cut a stencil? Such as what i would be doing with the circles themselves?

i have a compass cutter on order from ebay, i'm hoping that should make cutting easier at least. My only concern is that the circle cut out is quite wide in comparison to the tape im gonna use, it will only leave 1-2mm at the outside edge. Not sure if it will hold a true circle shape in this case....

JimRussell · Post by **JimRussell** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 9:07 am

I have had very good results with colored pencil flight deck markings. For a circle use a cheap compass (holds a short segment of a pencil) and lay down 3 or 4 thickness of masking tape at the center (the pivot pin will dig into the tape and not mark the deck). You can then mark the id and od of the circle and fill in the rest by hand. This job has to be done on a matte surface with "bite".

Jim

Post by **Dave Wooley** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 8:02 pm

Hi Robbo When building Moskva at 1:125 scale I used the compass cutter for the KA25 landing spots using vynal peel off white which came in sheets 12inches sq, but painted all the stright lines. It worked a treat but a little practice helps.

Robbo · Post by **Robbo** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 1:58 pm

Well, i tried the cutter with masking tape, and card, and also paper as a crazy long shot. Card and paper simply let the paint bleed under, and tape doesn't do much better after the circles have been cut out.

I havent tried the pencil idea yet, but i'm interested in "vynal peel off white"...where abous was this bought, and how was it to use? I figure pencil may just give a lsightly inconsistant look when the rest of the markings have been painted.

I do intend to weather the flight deck to match photos, making the markings less vibrant, but it would be good if they were all around the same kinda look before i start weathering them.

johndon · Post by **johndon** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Robbo wrote:Well, i tried the cutter with masking tape, and card, and also paper as a crazy long shot. Card and paper simply let the paint bleed under, and tape doesn't do much better after the circles have been cut out.

To stop the paint bleed with the tape, spray either the original colour or a clear prior to spraying the white - this way, if there is bleed it will not be the white and the extra coat will help 'seal' the edges of the tape.

HTH

John