Boot line help

[ACoyne]

Hey all,

I need a little help. I have become more proficient with the painting of my models over the years, but the one problem I have had was the black line (boot line) between the lower and upper hull. Any tricks I can use to make sure this line comes out as neat as possible.

Thanks

[biggles2]

Use masking tape?

[PiperMat]

I take a piece of micro masking tape the lenght of the hull and the width of the desired boot stripe, for instance 3mm, and carefully tape it where I want the boot line to be. Then I take wider masking tape and mask of the area above and below the micro tape. I then carefully remove the micro tape, and there we go: perfectly masked for airbrushing the boot stripe!

[sgtryan13]

Make sure the model is completely flat and level on all planes. Then mark the waterline with either a specially designed height marking pencil contraption, or, you can make your own like the one I did below for the USS New York. As long as you make sure the table and model are completely level, you will have a perfectly marked waterline.

[MightyJJK]

I think it is much easier to use decal instead of masking/painting.
See the second page, about a quarter of the way down, of my 1/720 USS Enterprise work-in-progress, link below.
I just coated the hull with Future, then used Microscale 1/16"" Black Stripe decals to create the boot stripe between gray and red sections of the hull.
Good Luck

[djandj]

The BEST method I have found is to airbrush the entire bottom of the hull black. Then when dry use 1 or 2mm masking tape (made by Jammydog (http://www.jammydog.com) to cover the black line. spray over the area with your grey etc. and when done, remove the tape and you will have a perfect boot top line.

I use 1mm for most cruisers and smaller ships. 2mm sometimes for auxillary ships or if pics show it with a larger boot topping.

[ComfortablyNumb]

The BEST method I have found is to airbrush the entire bottom of the hull black. Then when dry use 1 or 2mm masking tape (made by Jammydog (http://www.jammydog.com) to cover the black line. spray over the area with your grey etc. and when done, remove the tape and you will have a perfect boot top line.

Thats the method I use as well. ...

[George W]

Djandj & ComfortablyNumb very good idea. I must order some.

Comfortablynumb - did you use 2mm the St Laurent? I have it as well but not started yet. Did you get any bleed through to the rather light shade of RCN grey?

George

[ComfortablyNumb]

Hi George! I used 1/8" Tamiya tape on the St Laurent, with no bleeding experienced. The thing to watch for with this method is paint buildup along the tape edge...keep the coats light. I think you will enjoy building Resin Shipyard's St Laurent...it's a nice kit!

[George W]

ComfortablyNumb

Thanks for that. I should be able to get it locally.
George

[biggles2]

Another consideration: the larger the ship, the wider the boot line. I don't know the exact widths, but from photos destroyers seem to have a 4 - 5 ft. wide boot line, and capital ships seem to double that. Cruisers and escort carriers, and anything else in between, presumably also have "in-between" boot line widths. Perhaps there is a formula for a ratio between the ships length, and width of boot line?

[KevinH]

I use pin stripping tape for model cars. The sizes range from 1/16 to 1" or so. Seems to work really well, sometimes on bigger models you need a steady hand to lay the tape straight tho.