Here's some detail on how I did this...
1) First off, I found the image/design I wanted to duplicate. Finding something to copy makes things easier than designing from scratch and in this case I was planning on copying anyway. Since I had found the kit, I figured I could either make a copy of the box art and enlarge it to size and use that as a template or...
1A) Find the kit and copy the decals! I was in luck since I had great interest in the kit after finding out it was the same as the one I built as a child and even luckier, I found on on Ebay for a low Buy It Now price (half of what others were charging...quite a steal!). Here's a pic of the decals as it comes from this circa 1979 kit:
2) I then scanned the image, enlarged it to the right size and printed out (showing one of the two sides):
3) I then cut them both out, taped them together and checked it against the nose cone to see how it fits and how it looks.
4) Once I felt it looked good and it was the right size, I cut one of the templates out - all white areas were removed with an X-acto knife (I only needed to do this once since I can later flip that one over to use for the other side).
5) Then I laid the cut template over the nose cone and using a pencil, made reference marks in different places (ex. corner of the eye, tips of the feathers) so that I would have markings to tell me where to lay the masks.
6) This is the trickiest part...you'll have to preplan your colors and what parts need to be separate masks. I had a base of white, so it was a bit easier since I knew I had to have a separate mask for anything left white. I knew I wanted the brows black, so that had to be separate as well. The feathers I wasn't sure about, so I left them as one piece, figuring I could cut them later if I decided I wanted to. Sorry, no pics from here on, but you might be able to see some of the maskings by looking at the earlier pics.
7) Next I laid down strips of blue tape onto a cutting mat with a very slight (1/16") overlap. Once it was enough for the template, I traced the design onto the masking tape and then cut it out using an X-acto knife. I did this once for one side, then flipped the template over and repeated for the other side.
8) Using the reference pencil marks, I laid down the masking tape pattern on the nose cone. This was the time consuming and tricky part, but it just takes patience and making sure you don't go sticky-nuts. I was also mindful of the order and colors I would be painting...generally go from light to dark since in this case I'd be overlapping paint and dark covers light much better than the other way around. I ended up painting these colors in this order: White, Red, Orange (decided to use later on, but ideally would've been before red; however it's close enough to red to not be a big isse), Blue, Black. I also made sure to always second check before continuing/painting since a mistake is very hard to fix if you lay down the wrong color in the wrong place or paint some area you shouldn't have.
9) Made sure to rub down all the edges. This one is very important! An edge that isn't fully down may allow paint spray/drips underneath and extra time spent burnishing down the edges is much better than time spent sanding off extra paint spray and re-spraying color(s).
10) Add additional masks to cover anything not being sprayed the chosen color. You'll have to think again each time for each color to make sure you cover
everything you don't want that color!
11) Paint! I used the paint I had experience with, so I knew how it would flow and what distance to spray it to get even coverage. I also made sure to keep the cans together so I wouldn't end up later grabbing a newer/older can which may not react the same with the other paint (I've heard this does happen and have had some cans of "bad" paint). I also made sure to not spray paint too heavily in the areas where the masking tape edges were...preferring to aim the spray at an angle slightly away from the edge (rather than towards) whenever possible.
11) Remove the masks. I did this as carefully as possible; however there was still some paint peel due to the notorious nose cone (which seems to not allow paint to adhere as well as others and is a bit too flexible) as well as the tape I was using sticking more than I had wanted (it didn't help that I left it on for weeks/months).
12) Fix-ups & touch-ups. It would be too good to be true if you didn't have to do this part! :wink:
Recalling from memory/practice, I think these are all the steps I did, but I'll update/edit if I recall something not listed. Sorry for no pics on the rest, but feel free to let me know if you have any questions.
moments. Well, being sick at home while on vacation, I decided I should try to start up this puppy again...time to face my fears.
