Painting narrow bands on model plane prop hubs-techniques?

If you can make a tube out of masking tape to the correct size--sort of roll a piece of the tape up to form a tube, sticky-side-in--then you can push it on the end of the hub, and adjust it so that everything is squared up and even.

Managed to make this technique work years ago, but haven't had the need to do this lately.

Now that is a great idea. I will try that in the future on two color hubs.

Unfortunately the hub I now need to paint a band  on is a tri-color job. I need a white band separating a  RML 70  base from the Insignia red tip.

I'm thinking of trying to use a fine razor saw to remove the slice of hub that needs the band, painting it and reassembling the 3 parts. Seems kind of drastic but I might be able to pull it off.

Anyway many thanks for the reply.

You can also try the opposite approach and paint the stripe first.  Cover the whole nose with the stripe colour, and then apply a thin strip of tape to mask the stripe - less masking this way.  Then apply the proper nose colour over this.

regards,

Jack

Jack's way will give you another benefit,,,,,,,,,it will help the Red cover better if it is painted over a White background

Take a look at 3M "Fine Line" tape, and Norton makes a version as well.  We use it in the automotive paint shop and it works well.  Can be had in several widths, from 1/16 up IIRC, but maybe 1/8 is as far down as it goes.  have not had need of any below 1/4 in what I do at work.  Usually won't pull our paint when doing two-tones.

The Norton blue can be stretched around slight curves, the 3M can as well, but not as tight a corner as the Norton.

Spray the whole spinner white, then coat it with Micromask. Measure how far up the spinner the red starts, and get a piece of wood that size, lay a new, sharp blade on it, and, while holding it down, push the spinner against it, and rotate it.

This should give you a sharp line, and you can remove the Micromask from the tip, using your thumb. Spray the red, and recoat the area with Micromask.

Repeat the process, with a thinner piece of wood, and the sharp blade, thereby marking the line at the rear of the white stripe, and this time remove the rear section of the Micromask. Paint the RLM 70, peel off all the Micromask when it's dried, and you should have what you need.

I got to thinking about Checkmateking02's suggestion to use a cone of masking tape.

I imagined a better way. I simply inserted the hub in the appropriate diameter  hole in my circle template,fixed it in place with Blu-Tack and painted the entire tip white.

After drying, I moved the hub  to the appropriate smaller diameter hole, fixed hub  in place with Blu-Tack and painted the tip red.

Result= a perfect narrow white band that separates the dark green base from the red tip!

Again-thank for all the suggestions. This forum is great. Sometimes you just need a jump start to get your brain going when your a stumped.

That's a novel innovation I hadn't considered.  I may have to get a circle template and try this.  It sounds a whole lot easier than trying to get a cylinder of tape measured to the right length.

Flexible tubing can come in handy here, as well as for bands on ordinance.

I've used heat shrink tubing in the past will pretty good results, working the colours up from the tip - the thinner varieties are generally more flexible & easier to work with, they come in quite a large variety of sizes & can be stretched to suite the exact size required. 

some great ideas here, pictures please?

These are great ideas!  I agree with Jon...pics please!  If you guys have some pics of these techniques, please post!  I did like Brush did using the template.  But I didn't "tack" it down, tried by hand...not great, but not bad.  So Brush, if you could post a pic of how you tacked it down then painted that would be awesome!  Awesome tips everyone!

Eagle90

I would like to post an image, but photography has never been an interest of mine. I have tried before and  all my shots of small item closeups aren't worth posting.

As for the template-use a fair size chunk of Blu-Tack and really pack the hub into the hole very tightly and make sure it is even and centered. The Blu- tack seals the hub into place so there is no bleed through. Also tape off all the surrounding holes in the template or you might get overspray through one of them. I also lowered my air pressure and sprayed a thicker mixture of paint vs thinner than I normally use.

Hope this helps.

Lucky for me I happened to have a circle template on hand. I use one  for painting wheels on armour models.

It is so simple an idea  I wonder why I didn't think of it sooner. Took your suggestion to get me thinking in that direction,

Circle templates are very cheap. I got mine for less than 2 bucks from a craft shop. They come in handy for many tasks.

I'm not visualizing a three-color hub.  Usually the hub is a natural metal casting and there is a steel cover on the pitch governer.  That is only two colors.  What would the third color be for?

Don Stauffer

I'm not visualizing a three-color hub.  Usually the hub is a natural metal casting and there is a steel cover on the pitch governer.  That is only two colors.  What would the third color be for?

As I said, there is a green base and a red tip separated by narrow white band.

What is it for?

I suppose the original's owners thought it looked good.

In the 8th AAF, the 357th Fighter Group used a three-band scheme on the nose.

I have been confused too, Don. Just sorted out today that in his OP,  the OP (Ragged Brush) said "hub" whilst meaning "spinner".

Do I have it right, gents?

Edit: Oops, disregard. I posted without looking at page 2. Sorry!

Checkmateking 02-This is a perfect  example of what I had to deal with displayed. on those 3 Mustangs.

Someone posted an image of a spiral pattern above,painted on the prop hub. Actually those spirals are a piece of cake to paint. I have a couple of FW 190s in my collection from a JG  using that pattern. No problems there just cut a tape mask and spiral it on.

One runs into problems painting an even band when they have to have different diameters on the leading and trailing edges. It is difficult to mask off the band because of the  curve differentials . One runs into  the same problem painting fuselage bands, but there is an easy way to deal  to deal with those.

The circle template has solved the 3 band prop  painting problems for me.

What made your issue familiar, RB, is that I built a P-51 years ago (15 or more) from the 357th, and had to solve the problem of the striped nose.  It's packed away now in a rubber-maid storage bin, so I couldn't access it to check--but I remember the "how-to" gave me fits.

Your solution is well worth using.  Great adaptation.

Now, about those fuselage bands, what is the easy way to deal with them?

Thanks!

Ah!  Those are spinners, not the prop hub.  The hub is under the spinner.

LOL Checkmateking02-the easy way is to buy only kits with decal fuselage bands.

Alas! Unfortunately not always possible or desirable for aesthetic reasons. Painted bands simply look more convincing, I just built a 48 scale He-111 that took all summer and most of the fall and I'm still doing detail and touch-ups. I had to paint on the white fuselage  band.

Here is how I do it:

Prime coat  the model. When dried and cured  freehand paint on the final color needed for the band just a tad wider than the final band needs to be.. Let that coat  fully dry and cure. Since the masking tapes  will be in place for a while as you paint the final finish, I hand brush a thin coat of gloss coat over the banded area and let that dry before I mask off  the band.

For masking the leading and trailing edges I use Artist's Curve tape from 3M (got mine from Amazon-never saw it in any store). It is a thin, narrow and fairly thick stripe tape that easily bends and conforms to irregular curves as in a fuselage. I measure this tape's width and double that measurement to allow for the leading and trailing edge that it will be used to mask.

I take the total width that the fuselage band will be and from that I subtract the double width measurement of the curve tape. This gives me the width  measurement of the masking tape to use on the middle part  of the band. I measure and cut out  two masks-one for each side of the fuselage but short enough to leave the top and bottom exposed. When these are in place, butt up the curve tape against the edge of these masks and slowly and carefully  mask off the leading edge of the band ,completely around the fuselage, keeping the curve tape butted against the middle masks and bending the tape to conform to the fuselage curve. Once that is done, repeat  for the trailing edge. All that is left is to fill in the bare areas top and bottom with masking tape  and you are ready to paint on the finish coat(s).

BTW- If anyone has a better/easier method for painting fuselage bands then I would dearly love to learn it. I am always open for learning about how to do things an easier way.

Thanks for the info and the procedure, RB.  As a matter of fact, the last time I faced a fuselage band, for a B-17, the kit did come with decals.  Pretty easy.

Never heard of Artist's Curve tape before.  Sounds like it might make the job a lot easier.  

Thanks again.

I'll attempt a link-hope it works.

www.amazon.com/.../ref=sr_1_1

If it doesn't give a direct link you can cut and paste to take a look.

I'm not promoting Amazon but I live way out in the high desert so there are no  local sources for me.

I said it was a 3M product but the tape is Scotch brand. Not sure but I think 3M and Scotch are the same company-not that it matters much.

I have found this tape very useful in many situations where a modeler needs to twist and bend around details and surface features. I wish they made a thin variety- that would be most  useful in canopy masking. That He-111 I mentioned was a bear in masking off  the clear parts!

Automotive PCV PVC fineline tape is the stuff you are looking for, as made by 3M (471) & other manufacturers. 2 or 3mm is best as it will give more of a curve before starting to wrinkle / lift on the outside edge of the curve (use cheap stuff to fill the remainder in).

I've used it over un-primed Tamiya acrylic & have had no issues with it - it's pretty hand stuff!

Sounds much the same as the Scotch product. If the chance avails I'll give your recommendation a try in future. Thanks for the heads up.

Norton makes a "fine line" stripe masking tape as well.  in various widths.  stretches more than the 3M stuff.  Blue in color.  Both are available at most any auto paint supply store.  A roll will last forever for the amount we go through.  Also would work for boots and anti-fouling lines on ships.

My Scotch tape stretches pretty well. As much as I have ever needed it to.

How thin is the Norton tape?  Is it thin enough to mask canopies with? As thin as Tamiya's 6mm and 10mm width  tapes?

I've never been fully satisfied with Tamiya tapes for masking or even the precut commercial masks available.

Only thing I have yet to try is Bare metal foil. I just ordered some of that. Looks promising.

Thanks for the recommendation. My son-in-laws works at an auto shop. I think I'll get him to bring me a sample and I'll check it out.

My only problem with Bare Metal Foil was that it seemed to leave more adhesive on surface after removal. I found that iso alcolhol will remove it okay from enamel.  Not sure how iso affects dried acrylics.