how to paint the red/white pinstripes on a 1/700 Scipione Af

[RichardAigner]

ricano? The challenge: paint 8 white & 8 red stripes, of equal width, all parallel of course, within an inch. The deck in question is rather three-dimensional. All sorts of protuberances foiled repeated attempts at masking with Tamiya tape. Someone suggested cutting guidelines into the white paint and handpaint the red color in between. So far, that did not work out either. The resulting lines are way too wobbly. So, short of a computer assisted laser beam, how would you tackle that project?
TIA, Richard.
P.S.: while I am at it: how do you tone down red to achieve scale effect?

[MartinJQuinn]

I did the stripes on some Italian cruisers some years ago with tape. I think I used Testor's tape? It was more elastic then Tamiya tape and easier to use. I airbrushed the white first - masked and then airbrushed the red. Not perfect, but not that bad (I think?):

Trento (left) and Bande Nere (right)

Bande Nere

Trento

Trento (left) and Bande Nere (right)

These are more than a few years old, and have been languishing on the "shelf of doom" for sometime. I should really get around to finishing them sometime.

[RichardAigner]

Heureka! "La Mimetizzazione delle Navi Italiane 1940 - 1945" is my friend: p. 72 has an aerial photo of Scipione Africano, dated summer 1943. She is in camouflage colors, and definitely without red/white stripes on the forecastle. So I am saved.
Cheers, Richard

[a380]

but the question remains, how would you paint something complex like that? hope one of the experts chime in!

[nikosmadakis]

i guess you have to trim all deck details, mask, paint, then glue them back on.

or start masking by adding the edges with narrow strips about 2mm, then start filling in with bits of tape to cover deck details