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Painting those pesky stripes on the arrestor hooks

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  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: SETX. USA
Painting those pesky stripes on the arrestor hooks
Posted by tho9900 on Sunday, September 5, 2004 7:19 PM
Anyone have a good suggestion for painting the stripes on a US carrier based aircrafts' arrestor hook? It's 1/48 scale and the smallest tape I have is 1/8 so that would be out of scale, or uneven stripes no matter which way I do it... tried it by hand but it's not satisfactory...

Any ideas would be appreciated...
---Tom--- O' brave new world, That has such people in it!
  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: A Spartan in the Wolverine State
Posted by rjkplasticmod on Sunday, September 5, 2004 7:37 PM
I use short strips of black decal stripes rather than painting. Works well & is pretty easy to do.

Regards, Rick
RICK At My Age, I've Seen It All, Done It All, But I Don't Remember It All...
  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: SETX. USA
Posted by tho9900 on Sunday, September 5, 2004 7:47 PM
QUOTE: Originally posted by rjkplasticmod

I use short strips of black decal stripes rather than painting. Works well & is pretty easy to do.

Regards, Rick


cool, I'm hoping my LHS is open tomorrow... I know they have them there, black, red etc... next weekend the wife is out of town so trying to get everything to the final painting stage. I've had to lay off the airbrush last couple of days as she has been sick.. don't want to aggravate it...

I've seen them on so many models done so nicely... this is the first one I have done that I actually am going to stripe, others were WWII and I have found enough examples of hooks unstriped to leave them plain, but doing this one for the naval aviation build and it is VietNam era... definitely had the stripes in all the pics...

Thanks! Tom
---Tom--- O' brave new world, That has such people in it!
  • Member since
    January 2004
  • From: USA
Posted by MusicCity on Sunday, September 5, 2004 8:32 PM
Kinda like the stripes on this ejection seat (although it's 1/32 scale)?


For the face shield pull handles I painted the whole thing yellow, then used a steel straight edge and Xacto knife to cut thin strips of tape (a little under 1/32"). Wrapped them around the face shield pull handle, and shot it black.
Scott Craig -- Nashville, TN -- My Website -- My Models Page
  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: SETX. USA
Posted by tho9900 on Sunday, September 5, 2004 8:36 PM
QUOTE: Originally posted by MusicCity

Kinda like the stripes on this ejection seat (although it's 1/32 scale)?


exactly... guess I will look this over and figure out which way I will go... the tape thing has some promise though. Thats what I thought about but basically was feeling kinda lazy/wasn't thinking about it a lot... but I think that might be the way to go...

Gonna try it tomorrow and if I mess up no biggie I just repaint...
---Tom--- O' brave new world, That has such people in it!
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Monday, September 6, 2004 4:20 AM
I concur with Music City. What I use is chart tape, available in art/craft stores, which comes in various widths and is low tack. The old adage of painting the lighter color first applies here also.
Dick McC
  • Member since
    January 2003
  • From: The Hoosier State
Posted by plasticmod992 on Monday, September 6, 2004 9:26 AM
I don't recommend tape, it will eventually lift off and it looks less realistic on the model. Try the following technique; it works great for my aircraft models, especially a recent 1/48th scale black and white F-14B arrestor hook.

First I airbrushed the arrestor hook rod overall white, following the rule of thumb, light colors first, as my arrestor hook was supposed to be black and white. The next task was to create the stripe pattern and airbrush the flat black color.

1. Lay a 2inch long piece of 3M Blue Painters masking tape on a piece of glass. Using a straight edge and hobby knife, measure and cut the masking tape into thin stripes in the width you need for the scale your building.
2. Next, after the white paint has fully dried, apply the thin stripes of masking tape over the white on the arrestor hook and establish the pattern. The tape masks the white creating the stripe pattern.
3. Now, just load your airbrush with your flat black paint, and spray the next color, in my case, it was the flat black.
4. After allowing the black to dry, I removed the masking tape stripes and bingo, I now have the black and white stipe pattern for the arrestor hook rod. To finish things off, I brush painted crome silver for the the actual "hook" that catches the arrestor line.

It sounds like a bit of work, but it produces far better, realistic results than just applying a tape. The result is a realistic, painted on appearance...like he real thing!
Greg Williams Owner/ Manager Modern Hobbies LLC Indianapolis, IN. IPMS #44084
  • Member since
    July 2003
  • From: Perth, Western Australia
Posted by madmike on Monday, September 6, 2004 10:07 AM
I use decal strip, beats masking anyday!

cheers

Mike
"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use." - Galileo Galilei
  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: Hayward, CA
Posted by MikeV on Monday, September 6, 2004 11:28 AM
QUOTE: Originally posted by plasticmod992

I don't recommend tape, it will eventually lift off and it looks less realistic on the model.


Greg,

I think the suggestions for using tape were the same as yours and they did not mean that they left the tape on the model. I think they meant they used it as a mask as you do.
Unless I misinterpreted what they said.

Mike

Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom. " Charles Spurgeon
  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: SETX. USA
Posted by tho9900 on Monday, September 6, 2004 2:44 PM
Thanks! for a first try at it, it went decent... a few slight abberations but I can fix those with a 3/0 brush and my magnifying visor... here it is:



I appreciate the cool tip!!!!!
---Tom--- O' brave new world, That has such people in it!
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