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Dear All,
one thing that was driving me crazy and I had no solution for so far was taping exact color demarcation lines. Last days I got an idea how to solve that problem and I wanted to share it with you. Maybe you will find it useful to get high precision demarcations without getting a headache and wasting rolls of Tamiya tape.Say you want to tape the white / grey demarcation line of the last Lufthansa livery or any livery that requires an exact border between colors. As long as you run along the straight fuselage everything is easy.
But once you need to tape a complex curve under the nose, tail or the wing box things can easily become a nightmare because a straight line turns into a complex curve.My idea was to identify how this is done when real planes are taped that way and to replicate that technique.
I was so far using panel lines and relative measures to orient myself where to mask the lines.
This way it got overly complicated under the nose, tail and the wing box.
With real planes they use the waterline technique, that is, they use lasers sitting on the ground that project a straight line onto the plane. This line they tape along and its always straight no matter how complex curves the plane may feature.Replicating this technique onto the model turned out to be easier than I thought.
Step 1:
Put your model onto a flat surface and make sure it sits straight on its wing box.
Get a very fine and thin lead pencil, I used 0.5 mm, with a clickable lead mine in it.Identify the water line height to draw your line on the model.
Do this by making one or two pencil marks on your model.Bring your pen to this exact height by using a lego brick or anything else and adding as much paper below it until you have the exact height.
Fix the pen into this position so it cant move up and down while drawing the line.
This is roughly how this looks like:
Step 2:
Leave the pen in place, so do not move it.
What you move is the plane. Pull it gently along the pen.
Start at the wing box and proceed all the way to the nose and under it.Next repeat it for the tail section, turn around the model and repeat for the other side.
Experimenting with this I was drawing 3 parallel lines at differing heights, note how parallel the are!
Please also note how nicely level and exact the line runs below the nose, tail and wing box.It should now look like this:
The next two images are close ups of this procedure.
I did it quick and dirty for testing.
With a bit of patience it gets really precise, better than you can ever estimate the demarcation free hand.The three lines indicate three different livery style demarcations.
Important: It may occur, that the pen is unable to reach the important last parts under the nose and tail if the demarcation line is very low, e.g. the Air India example.
In this case the solution is to top over the plane, level the pen again and redraw the line.
This way I found out that about every line can be drawn.To visualize that I show one last example for the potential Northwest bowling shoe scheme.
Taping the color demarcation can now be done using yellow Tamiya Kabuki for the straight lines and white Tamiya Flex tape for the curved areas.
For most wing box lines it turned out this way that a straight waterline ends up as a kinked line on the model.
I am curious if this technique was discussed before and look forward to your experience when trying it.
For my part, I think that taping has become a lot easier since using this technigue.
Happy modelling,
Cheers,
Christian
Christian Klepp
Lightyears Landscape Photography
Where Geoscience Meets Art
www.christianklepp.comMy hat is off to you Christian. This is a very difficult area to do in a smooth curved manner. The sides not so much, the nose a little harder, but the under tail return to far side needs a very acute ellipse. I have a few problems . One, how do you rid the the unwanted lines drawn even on white surfaces the pencil is hard to remove. Two, why don’t you have the pencil line mark a blank tape then remove it to a flat surface and with a French curve blend it and then cut tape with it also having a mark at the reflection point. These water lines are so much easier to do as a 2D line than a 3D surface. Do you always do this with unattached wings and tails? These lines are so much easier to do on a full size aircraft as they can develop the mask from the solid math generated body real surface curves.
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Christian, thanks for posting this up!
Ahmed, could we get this added as an article to the site?
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“I am curious if this technique was discussed before and look forward to your experience when trying it.”
I’ve been using this method for most of the years I’ve been modelling airliners, it’s a classic ship modelling waterline defining technique.
Personally, I use a sharp pencil and find it easy to move it around the model rather moving the model around it. Just tape the model down ensuring that it’s upright and the resulting line will be at the same height both sides. Use whatever support is needed to set the pencil at the right height. Most times, the pencil will fit under the nose and tail. The pencil marks simply rub off a gloss surface.
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Maybe I’m just stupid but how does this work if the wings are attached, particularly if the aircraft in question has wings with broad chords at the roots? A good example would be the Boeing 707 in British Airways “Negus” livery.
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The problem is getting 2-dimensional tape to follow a 3-dimensional line, that in reality curves to give the illusion of a straight line on a compound curve. Tape will curve in one direction, but usually not two.
Where I really messed this up was when I designed my Worldways L.1011 decal many years ago. The “Worldways” titles are applied on a section of fuselage that is starting to taper towards the nose, and rather than laying out the letters in a straight line, they needed to be on a curve. Oops.
When wanting to mask a demarcation line, I always use 3M’s 1/16″ Fine Line tape (you can probably find it at an automotive paint store) as the first pass. It is rubber backed, so somewhat flexible, though easy to over-stretch. I unroll a length longer than needed, and lightly touch it into place somewhere along the straight, untapered part of the fuselage. Once I think I have this right, the harder work begins. Making sure the straight sections are reasonably pressed down, I would then work the nose. Gently pull the tape lengthwise to slightly stretch the tape (don’t over stretch, it will permanently deform) then work it along the “waterline” desired. As it curves over or under the nose, that slight stretch allows the tape to follow a compound curve. Repeat at the tail. Now, look at it carefully…. is it “straight”? If not, try again. Once you have it right, overlay the side to be protected with strips of 3M Invisible tape, trimmed to follow the Fine line tape.
I found it on Amazon… https://www.amazon.com/06306-Light-Green-Scotch-Paint/dp/B01I30AGWK/ref=sr_1_18?dchild=1&keywords=3m+6306+fineline+tape&qid=1627024791&sr=8-18
As suggested, it can probably be purchased at an Automotive paint store for a cheaper price. Unfortunately I cannot find a distributor for it, so I no longer offer it on my site as I cannot do so at a competitive price.
As with all things modelling…. practice does make perfect. Well… better…. Perfect is waaay off in the distance.
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A variety of waterline marking tools are available from shipbuilding hobby specialists.
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Many thanks for your replies
and as it seems I was re-inventing the wheel. I should have asked Google for waterline marking instead.Michael, could you give us some links regarding the waterline marking tools you mentioned.
That sounds very interesting.Dave, it is indeed my habit to assemble the wings last.
This way I can circumvent your BA color problem and painting, sanding, weathering and decaling is much easier this way.
That is probably a philosophy as complicated as the never-ending window vs decal debate.
I personally think, that working on the fuselage requires access at all times, thus I mount wings last.
However, their fit needs to be perfectly aligned beforehand of course. I do this before painting.
In case of remaining gaps I hide them with painted decals and/or arylic putty.Many thanks,
it was pretty obvious that waterline marking is no new topic and I am happy to learn about your techniques.Cheers,
Christian
Christian Klepp
Lightyears Landscape Photography
Where Geoscience Meets Art
www.christianklepp.comI agree with dave6376, how do you do a model with attached wings? I have no trust in mounting wings after and not having an unwanted occurrence happening.
And as LH707 suggests this method should be added as an article to the site and views of what a waterline marking tool set look like. Older planes usually had just one side band paint division. Now they have 2 or 3 matching bands to running out evenly at the rear
Modern ships for the most part have just simple endings sharp at the front and abrupt at the rear, the front is just making the water line run into each other at the same point. The rear just runs off at the same height and add a third piece of tape as a simple connection between the two even side waterline marks. With the exception of military confiscated sailing ships there is rarely a need for a smooth a radial contour that’s similar to an aircraft’s fore and aft curvatures .
I’ve tried the thin tape method. I’ve never seen how the 1/400 plane makers do it (maybe using a formed rubber masks applique), but in 1/144th scale it’s usually doing a one time only tape mask ending that ends with a pointed rear under surface intersection needing a smooth ellipse connection at the end added.
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LH707 :
Christian, thanks for posting this up!Ahmed, could we get this added as an article to the site?
Yes, definitely. This and a couple of other thorough forum threads. Will have to wait until new site is up and running though…
Thanks,
ahmed
KSFOelectraglider :
I agree with dave6376, how do you do a model with attached wings? I have no trust in mounting wings after and not having an unwanted occurrence happening.And as LH707 suggests this method should be added as an article to the site and views of what a waterline marking tool set look like. Older planes usually had just one side band paint division. Now they have 2 or 3 matching bands to running out evenly at the rear
Modern ships for the most part have just simple endings sharp at the front and abrupt at the rear, the front is just making the water line run into each other at the same point. The rear just runs off at the same height and add a third piece of tape as a simple connection between the two even side waterline marks. With the exception of military confiscated sailing ships there is rarely a need for a smooth a radial contour that’s similar to an aircraft’s fore and aft curvatures .
I’ve tried the thin tape method. I’ve never seen how the 1/400 plane makers do it (maybe using a formed rubber masks applique), but in 1/144th scale it’s usually doing a one time only tape mask ending that ends with a pointed rear under surface intersection needing a smooth ellipse connection at the end added.
For the pre-attached wing scenario, you could either leave the fin off and flip it, then use a short pencil underneath and inside the wing dihedral. If that’s too tight, maybe try mounting a pencil in a vise or a clamp that will clear the outside wingtip on the edge of your workbench. You may need to stiffen it with a ruler to minimize flex-induced errors.
For ships, I think that older battleship models would pose the same issue as airliners. Looking at the sterns of Iowa, Bismarck, or Scharnhorst-class battleships would definitely make it a challenge, as would the hollowing taper of the RN Town Class Cruisers with the canoe sterns. I’ve dabbled with the idea of doing some ship models, but that’s a whole lot more effort than an airliner, it’d take me half a decade to finish it….
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That’s a great method, and basically what decal artists use to create wrap around decals.
But don’t get the idea that real airliners always have perfectly straight, even, level stripes wrapping around compound curved parts of the fuselage or engines. A trip to any airport will put that belief to rest pretty quickly
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^ Very true. I’ve noticed that on the rear ends of BA planes at LHR when taxiing past them.
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lichtjahre :
Michael, could you give us some links regarding the waterline marking tools you mentioned.
You can spend a lot or a little:
https://www.modelerscentral.com/tools-paints-glue/hand-tools/marking-measuring/waterline-marker/
https://www.amazon.com/Toolmakers-Surface-Gauge-Waterline-Marker/dp/B06XH2L8Y8
https://modelexpo-online.com/Model-Shipways-Waterline-Marker_p_622.html
These may give you ideas on how you can make your own from materials on hand. In a pinch I’ve even stacked up books and taped a pencil on top to make a temporary one.
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Jennings :
That’s a great method, and basically what decal artists use to create wrap around decals.But don’t get the idea that real airliners always have perfectly straight, even, level stripes wrapping around compound curved parts of the fuselage or engines. A trip to any airport will put that belief to rest pretty quickly
Yeah, it’s funny when you see the swapped radomes and there’s a 10-cm offset on the color….
It also looks like there are a few LH A330 and A340 where the front waterline starts out parallel to the fuselage but then swoops up near the nose to become more level. Maybe it’s just an illusion though…
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I was going to ask how you can do a Delta white-blue color division, but today I’ve gotta ask how do you do a “Fly GlobeSpan.Com” wave with the white-orange color split. The tighter the wave the less it is a waterline division line. What about these kinds curvatures? The major one is a curvature/s pattern needed as it isn’t given with the decal sheet. a piece of paper having the scale sized curved body scallops printed on the decal application paper or a secondary paper sheet that I can use to copy the paper line form or shape onto a strip of masking tape to use to make as painting mask. It can then be used to cut the opposite copy by flipping it over and cut a opposite side pattern,
Second , could the decal vendors add a reference as to what model was used to pattern their decal? I’d like to know what the kit was, not just the scales that are available. If my kit is the same as he used as a pattern surface, great. Some model kits were only available an one odd scale, but are now in existence as two more scaled model kits. What I want is just the words “Decal was mastered using the Revell DC-7 1/122 scale model”. Expanding or diminishing text is easy to do. Real airplane companies don’t even make their own presentation scale planes any more exact than model companies do.
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I’m late to the party (as usual), but some thoughts:
First, one of the most useful things in my workshop is a box of Lego blocks. Many years ago I bought one of the Lego sets that’s just a bunch of 100 or 200 different-sized blocks that you can create whatever you want with (or expand existing sets), and I have used them for all manner of things: building boxes for making RTV molds, using them to make sure models sit level and true while the glue sets on landing gear struts, and – in keeping with the topic – using them to help me draw straight lines on compound shapes. Do yourself a favor and get a box of Lego blocks, and you’ll find at least a dozen ways they will come in handy.
Another tool I use a lot is one of those triangular drafting rulers, with different scale measurements on each facet. On long, flat cylindrical surfaces it helps out a lot.
Another tactic I use on just about anything is to make a few photocopies of whatever decal I’m using. This lets me do some test-fitting and anticipate where I’ll need to spend extra time with masks or touch-ups. Several years ago I built a Zvezda 737-800 and used the 8a sheet for the new Alaska Airlines scheme, and some test-fitting showed me where I needed to make some adjustments to make the blue wrap correctly (which I think I finally solved by just masking and painting the dark blue, and having those copies was a massive help in getting things correct).
One more thing I have done if the area I need to mask is tricky or intricate: sometimes I will lay the initial mask down on the side I want to paint, get that line where I want it, and then use the edge of that mask to lay down the mask to cover the area I don’t want to paint. I then remove the guide mask, which exposes the area to be painted. This comes in handy on schemes like the 1997 Delta colors, where on many aircraft the edge of the blue on the tail aligns with the top line of the fuselage. The initial guide mask helps you keep that in alignment with the fuselage, instead of trying to figure out how to work around the fuselage taper.
Whatever method or system you use, it’s most important to always test, re-test and double-check before committing paint or decals to it. I’ve lost track of the times I have wished my workbench had an “undo” button, so always check your work.
Jodie Peeler
"In any dispute the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the issues at stake." - Sayre's Law
I agree with NX28388. Have at least a medium set of LEGO blocks always nearby. Either for positioning or RTV mold making. No worries about mold shapes or depths for male-female mold making. Odder style shapes, sizes are available by mail if needed.
If you want truly thin tape make or buy a draftsman’s “slip stick”. It’s a 2″ x 12″ x 1/4″ thk, semi clear or tinted plastic stick having a 10 degree angle on one of the long sides. On that 10 degree side is a 1/2 ” perpendicular scribe mark, fore and aft of that first scribe are ten or twenty shorter 1/10 marks. Take a triangle & scribe a perpendicular line at mid point of the triangle. Shift the long scribes of the two to be inline with one another. Scribe an Xacto blade along the unmarked side then slide the stick. Movement of the stick will either increase or decrease thickness of tape wanted by 0.1 progressions. do a second Xacto slit as done the first time and you get a custom tape widths. This also works by doing the same with a metric marked scribed stick (it’s sold that way also). Filling the scribe marks with a light colored crayon or paint makes it easier to read.
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This picture of a pair of LH A340-600s looks like they got the waterline wrong:
https://www.airliners.net/photo/Lufthansa/Airbus-A340-642/1210800/L
I wonder if someone put the first tape down parallel to a panel and then they used a laser for the nose, which resulted in the upswoop because of the slight nose-down ground attitude of the A340.
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Well that’s neat. Wonder what they look like with a side view.
Thanks for sharing!
Cheers
Andrew
CYYZYeah, they definitely swerve up.
https://www.airliners.net/photo/Lufthansa/Airbus-A340-642/2025756/L
Thanks,
ahmed
KSFOBut as you can see in the first picture, both A340-600 have it the same way.
So if it is a mistake, the mistake could be in the template-drawing.
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Yeah, or it was designed that way for some reason. It’s possible that someone did a render of the scheme on one of them and thought it looked better with a slight swoop to it, maybe the optics of the nose taper make it look “better” in someone’s opinion. Bit like how the Parthenon has a bunch of curved surfaces to compensate for optical illusions and make it look more right.
Looks like the 300s have it too:
https://www.airliners.net/photo/Lufthansa/Airbus-A340-313/6165247/L
https://www.airliners.net/photo/Lufthansa/Airbus-A340-313/6396095/LI went completely down the rabbit hole and looked at the A300, which has less nose-down stance, a much higher-mounted wing, and thus a higher waterline. The swoop is much subtler:
https://www.airliners.net/photo/Lufthansa/Airbus-A300B4-603/6443243/L
I wonder if they kept the same nose template from the 300 or 310 on the 340, and then the lower waterline somehow had to meet up, hence the swoop.
One difference I just noticed is that some of the early A340-600s, and all the 300s I found, have the front gray waterline continue over the wing root:
https://www.airliners.net/photo/Lufthansa/Airbus-A340-642/6309777/L
Then some of the later 600s have a jump at the wing root where the gray/white demarcation is:
https://www.airliners.net/photo/Lufthansa/Airbus-A340-642/6485599/L
https://www.airliners.net/photo/Lufthansa/Airbus-A340-642/6339215/L
https://www.airliners.net/photo/Lufthansa/Airbus-A340-642/4395199/LHow that made it past QA is anybody’s guess….
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