Need a painting hack.

See image below. I'm painting a Pokemon themed rocket. Where I am is the image on the left. Where I want to be is the image on the right (only with a centered white dot). My general go-to method for creating templates is to put masking tape on a window, draw them on the tape (or tape on a printout), cut them out of the tape, then use that as a template.

That got me close, but I need to get that centered white dot. Trying to cut a circle AND get it centered perfectly is... challenging.

So I had a new idea.
1. Print exactly the circle I need on a piece of paper.
2. On the other side of the paper, paint with the same primer and lacquer I used for the white part of the rocket.
3. Cut the circle out (using an x-acto or sharp scissors)
4. Carefully, using a thin glue with a forgiving setup time, glue the paper to the rocket
5. Cover everything with clearcoat.

Would it work?

Is there a much simpler idea?

Put masking tape on the glass, use a compass or circle cutter and draw two circles. Large circle is the same diameter as the black circle. Smaller circle is the same dia. as the white circle. Cut out the masking tape "ring" template and apply to the black circle. Spray or brush white paint to make your white circle.

Preferably do the black last, as it will be harder to cover the dark pigment with white paint

Use Monokote trim for the white.

mikec said:

Use Monokote trim for the white.

Click to expand...

Can you put clear over monokote?

I would use a piece of white waterslide decal paper. Cut out and apply, easy-peasy.

You can paint over monokote, need to scuff first. I use maroon scotch brite pads. For the circle get some frisket paper, a swivel exacto knife (great to cut curves and circles with) and a circle template with centering lines. Center black circle with template mark lines on tape. Draw and cut out circle for white dot on frisket on oversize piece with centering lines drawn on. Line up centering lines on rocket with the already cut frisket. Spary and admire your work.

Okay, inelegant but easiest.

Prep and prime the rocket as usual.

Paint the whole thing white.

Mask off the mid portion of the black band and downward, paint the front red. Don’t worry about a sharp transition between red and white, you’re gonna cover it anyway.

Place a black Monokote band .

Place a black Monokote circle.

Put @neil_w ‘S white decal paper dot in place.

Clear coat over everything if needed.

A circle cut from peel & stick vinyl would work too. Craft stores like Michaels usually have it. The Cricut brands are overpriced but they usually have Oracal in 1'x1' squares for a dollar and change. Hard to beat that.

https://www.michaels.com/cutting-materials/oracal-vinyls/998324457

I would have done that by masking the white circle before spraying the black.

(approach biased by having a small Cricut type vinyl cutter);
Paint the rocket white and red. Boundary line doesn't have to be perfect because we're gonna cover it with vinyl.
Make a black stripe and circle in vinyl. This will guarantee the circle is centered on the stripe. Don't apply it yet!
Make a white circle in vinyl and register it onto the black circle by hinging it with masking tape and adjusting until it looks right.
Peel the backing from the white circle and stick it to the black circle/stripe decal (use a roller)
Finally apply the completed 2-layer decal over the white/red paint boundary.

Sounds a bit complicated but the decal work can be done in maybe half an hour.

I am pretty sure the OP has painted the rocket as stated in the left pics. Now he just needs to add the white circle in the center. Many ways to do it from scratch. Light colors always first, spray past masking lines, use frisket and peel as you go. A lot less masking that way.

Obviously, there are many ways to skin this cat. I would do this:
Oops, I left something out. My first version won't center left it to right.

• On the computer, draw the white circle and black band together, along with a vertical centerline. If you send the dimensions I can do that part and send it to you in PDF.
• Print the figure on good paper.
• Cut out the hole for the white circle to make a stencil.
• Trim the paper on either side of the circle through the band and centerline.
• Find the center of the black circle and draw a vertical pencil line through it.
• Apply glue stick or similar adhesive to the back of the stencil.
• Use the printed band and centerline to line the stencil up to the painted band and the pencil line on the rocket, pressing the stencil firmly against the body.
• Apply the white paint.
• Remove the stencil and carefully, thoroughly clean off any glue residue, and erase the pencil line.

It's simpler than it sounds, I just went into excruciating detail.

Call Mark at Stickershock and have him make you some white dots. Problem solved!

Hey @ActingLikeAKid, any of the above suggestions sound good? I'm partial to my own of course, but as you can see there are lots of possible approaches.

I think that in general, applying a white piece of something there is by far easiest, whether it be a piece of adhesive vinyl, a white decal, or whatever.

Yup, sticker easy, but his problem is getting it perfectly in the center.

David Schwantz said:

Yup, sticker easy, but his problem is getting it perfectly in the center.

Click to expand...

Centering is pretty easy. I'd center a circle in a circle by eye in a heartbeat, but the more rigorous approach would just be to put 3 or 4 pieces of masking tape in a circle (measured for precise placement) outside where the white goes, and then apply the white circle inside the tape. Remove tape and done.

A waterslide would be easy to slide around into the correct position, but adhesive vinyl would also be adjustable if the surface is wetted down first.

Thank you everyone for your responses!! I ended up doing ...well, a bit of several suggestions. I put down three layers of masking tape and cutting the template, which eliminated the original problem (trying to peel it off the window and/or apply it, it bunched up and stuck to itself). I essentially just cut out an "o" slightly smaller than the OD of the big black circle, then made sure it lined up just inside. It worked well... the only issue is that the cut wasn't as clean as I would have liked.

It looks good from 5+ feet away though.

Irony is that I rushed it to make the launch this weekend....that got scrubbed.

ActingLikeAKid said:

Irony is that I rushed it to make the launch this weekend....that got scrubbed.

Click to expand...

That is incredibly..... believable.

Do we get a pic of the finished product?