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Does anyone have any good masking techniques for painting those steel rims that you see on the front of airliner engine cowlings? Tamiya masking tape doesn't work for me since it doesn't seem to fit around that type of contour. I plan to just paint them using a regular paintbrush.
try holding an appropriate sized circle template around it. I just did that on my arado engine nacelles with an airbrush and it worked pretty well. You just have to hold the circle template square, or tape it in place somehow
Paint the rim first then mask from the other side of the tape to paint the rest of the cowl.
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I have freehanded them with reasonably good results.. But that is probably a lot of pure, dumb luck.
Excuse me.. Is that an Uzi?
If you're lucky you may find an elastic band that stays tight in the right spot. Back that up with some tape to keep it in place & use that as your masking line if you are careful.
On the bench: Airfix 1/72 Wildcat; Airfix 1/72 Vampire T11; Airfix 1/72 Fouga Magister
This is one of those application where I think one of the liquid masks like Micro Mask, the blue stuff, is perfect. The 'IF' is... if there is a panel line at the edge of the metal rim. Paint the metal part with Alclad, paint on the mask and let it dry. Cut along the panel line and peel away the unwanted mask.
Marc
There's this blue artist tape you can buy at Hobby Lobby that can curve. Similar in texture to electrical tape but lower tack. I've found it better than 3M fineline tape for cowls and fuselage bands.
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Also, I HIGHLY second the tip of painting the cowl first, then masking it and painting the rest of the aircraft. The cowl usually represents an uneven cross-section, with the fuselage sloping up/down/in. In practical terms, this means that if you wrap tape around the cowl, the circumferences at the forward and aft points will be different. The aft line will be nice and smooth, but the forward line will want to bunch and lift.
If you paint the cowl, then mask, you can take advantage of that aft line effect.
I am still not sure what we are talking about here. Most of the cowlings I am familiar with are all aluminum on the exterior. Not sure exactly where this steel rim is. Do you have any photos or drawings that show where this is?
Don Stauffer in Minnesota
I thik the use of thre word steel was a mistake. I beileve he is refering to the front edge of the egine cowl such as this as it is onmost that have the cowl painted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:United_Parcel_Service_757-200PF.jpg
wing_nut I thik the use of thre word steel was a mistake. I beileve he is refering to the front edge of the egine cowl such as this as it is onmost that have the cowl painted. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:United_Parcel_Service_757-200PF.jpg
Ah! okay, I was thinking of older aircraft. I have sometimes wondered on these current aircraft why this ring is left unpainted- why not the whole cowl/nacelle white?
Don Stauffer Ah! okay, I was thinking of older aircraft. I have sometimes wondered on these current aircraft why this ring is left unpainted- why not the whole cowl/nacelle white?
I believe they pump bleed air through that section so they don't get ice build up on the inlet.
paintsniffer Don Stauffer: Ah! okay, I was thinking of older aircraft. I have sometimes wondered on these current aircraft why this ring is left unpainted- why not the whole cowl/nacelle white? I believe they pump bleed air through that section so they don't get ice build up on the inlet.
Don Stauffer: Ah! okay, I was thinking of older aircraft. I have sometimes wondered on these current aircraft why this ring is left unpainted- why not the whole cowl/nacelle white?
That's right! They'd get hot!
It's easy to get perfect results using Tamiya tape.
I lay a piece of the tape dowm on a sheet of plexiglass, cut a thin strip - about 2-3mm - and use that to mask the demarcation like from cowl color to alloy intake ring.
The extremely thin strip easily conforms to all sorts of complex compound curves so you can get a perfect line....then, just fill in the blanks with full width tape and paint the cowl ring. Easy!
Cheers, LeeTree Remember, Safety Fast!!!
Thanks for all the tips, guys. I think I'll go with painting the cowl first and then masking. I already use this technique when painting radomes, but there's more room to work with there. Cowlings may be a bit tougher. I'll post later how it turns out....
The engine nacelle(inlet) is not painted, is aluminum, and is heated using bleed air. On our fleet the nacelles are not polished, the RR RB211,PW4000 series and the PW2040's and the GE CF6. You will see the leading slats polished. Don't forget the accoustical panels in the inlet will be a different shade of color than the inlets.Sometimes they delaminate and we cut away the panel and seal the edges with sealant.
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