Painting nose tips?

[ljwilley]

How does one successfully paint the very tip of a nose cone a different color than the rest of the rocket? How to get an even paint transition? What is your technique?

 

[neil_w]

(This should be in the Techniques subforum)

I use Tamiya masking tape for curves for this sort of thing. It is not perfect but works decently well. A piece of cardboard or foamboard with an appropriate-sized circular hole can be a good tool for marking the mask line, which you can then track with the tape.

It is true that, in general, this seemingly trivial task is harder than it ought to be.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=tamiya+tape+curves

 

[DigBaddy]

I paint the tip color that I want first, then cover it with the appropriate size paper/cardboard tube to achieve the length of colored tip needed. Then, paint the rest of the cone. Way easier than painting it the other color first then trying to mask it all, except the tip, with tape.

 

[ljwilley]

Thanks!