The Thin Red Line...

Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

The Thin Red Line...

Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, July 29, 2004 4:27 PM

Well, my 1/32 GeeBee-Z has it's town main colors (black-on-yellow) laid down. The real-deal had a 1/2 inch red accent line between the black and the yellow.

I'd imagine that this line in 1/32 would be so very small (my conversion math is decidedly lacking) that it may not even be worth putting on. However, the kit would not be complete without it, in my opinion. So, I'm thinking about going with a 1/16th inch thick red line.

Due to the fact that my hand-painting skills are definitely not what would be required to make a uniform 1/16th inch thick red line all around the kit, I'd be interested in hearing of other methods you could suggest.

Does anyone make a decal/adhesive striping that narrow that is able to curve around the complex scallops in the design?

This kit's taken a lot of time thus far, so I'm not really willing to screw it up royally by boogering this accent line. I don't want to proceed until I know exactly how I'm going to be doing it and I get some practice at the techinque.

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dubix88

Member since
March 2003
From: Maine,USA

Posted by dubix88 on Thursday, July 29, 2004 5:35 PM

hey try taping it off with some good masking tape, then painting it. Might work, but it may be hard to keep the line even all the way arund the plane. Sry i couldnt help more.

Randy

THATS MY VOTE "If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there is a man on base." -Dave Barry In the words of the great Larry the Cable Guy, "GIT-R-DONE!!!"

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Foster7155

Member since
July 2003
From: Pensacola, FL

Posted by Foster7155 on Thursday, July 29, 2004 5:45 PM

If you've got access to a good photo-quality printer, you could try making your own stripes. You could use the border function in most word processing programs, or even plain old MS Paint, and play around with the thinkness until you get the width, lengths, and color you want. Then print the lines out on decal paper and go to town.

Enjoy your modeling...

Robert Foster

Pensacola Modeleers

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MusicCity

Member since
January 2004
From: USA

Posted by MusicCity on Thursday, July 29, 2004 5:59 PM

A 1/2" line at 1/32 scale would only be 1/64" wide. A 1/16" stripe would be two inches wide on the readl one. Very tiny, true, but it would be noticeably missing if you left it off since it's a division line between two colors.

Some of the decal companies make sheets of just stripes, but personally there's no way I could get a decal that narrow on straight.

If it were me I'd take a piece of thin masking tape (something like Tamiya) about 1/4" wide and tape around the fuselage. Then take a narrow strip the width of the stripe and lay it down right against the other piece. Finally, put another wide piece against the other side of the thin strip and pull the thin strip up. Takes a bit more effort but helps keep the gap between the two pieces of tape even.

Scott Craig -- Nashville, TN -- My Website -- My Models Page

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Woody

Member since
December 2002
From: Third rock from the sun.

Posted by Woody on Thursday, July 29, 2004 6:06 PM

I would get some red decal stripes, the width doesn't matter but make sure they are long enough. Put a fresh knife blade in the old Exacto, I like scalpels for this kind of work. Take a good steel straight edge and lightly cut through the the film in one long cut. Now move the straight edge so it just covers the cut you made and repeat with a second cut. Cut out around the strip but only a little outside of your two cuts . There will be a little waste. When you cut it out make sure you cut across the ends so when the strip is released from it's backing it is free. This is how I used to make my sealant on jet canopies when I built those. Ofcourse I used tan for that application. You can make very small stripes using this method. I hope this helps some. Wink [;)]

" I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way." --John Paul Jones

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, July 29, 2004 7:24 PM

QUOTE: Originally posted by Foster7155

If you've got access to a good photo-quality printer, you could try making your own stripes. You could use the border function in most word processing programs, or even plain old MS Paint, and play around with the thinkness until you get the width, lengths, and color you want. Then print the lines out on decal paper and go to town.

Enjoy your modeling...

This has me intrigued. You mean you can actually print your own decals on a bubblejet photo-printer??

Hmmmm...if that were the case, what would keep me from scanning in the same templates I used to create the paint masks in the first place and using Illustrator or Photoshop to create a 1/16" thick line around all the paint masks?

Could it work like that?

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, July 29, 2004 7:44 PM

I would take some Tamiya tape, put it on a piece of glass and paint it red. using a steel straight egde cut it the required width and slowly apply it to the model. At that width the tape will have absolutly no problem making those curves. Use joining pieces to make the sharp point at the top of each scallop. use a magnifying glass... (not kidding) to help ya out with this.

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, July 29, 2004 10:22 PM

QUOTE: Originally posted by woodbeck3

I would take some Tamiya tape, put it on a piece of glass and paint it red. using a steel straight egde cut it the required width and slowly apply it to the model. At that width the tape will have absolutly no problem making those curves. Use joining pieces to make the sharp point at the top of each scallop. use a magnifying glass... (not kidding) to help ya out with this.

The only downside to this technique is that each strip will vary ever-so-slightly in width. That is, unless I cut a REALLY long strip!

Perhaps it's worth a try, though.

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, July 30, 2004 12:58 AM

Glenn, if you'd like to avoid cutting strips that thin and there's an R/C hobby shop near you, try looking for Fine Line Tape (Micron and Kyosho are the brands I've used). It has various colors and widths down to 0.4 mm, which according to my calculations is just right for your accent line. The tape is used for detailing R/C models and conforms very well to complex shapes and curves. If you don't find the correct color you can paint it to suit your need. I personally use the 1 mm width for masking while the 0.4 mm type I use for trims and accents such as on certain canopies. Hope this helps.

P.S. Maybe you can also get this type of tape from automotive shops, though I'm not sure of its quality. Good luck!

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