Taping Off Nosecones

[RomCat]

Hi All,
It almost sounds silly, but what's the best technique for taping off parts of the nosecone in preparation for painting them? The tape always wants to veer off the nice straight line I've made because of the curvature of the surface. Forcing it along the line causes the tape to "bunch" leaving plenty of room for the paint to leak beneath it. How do you do it? The only thing I have come up with to solve this is to tear the tape into extremely small lengths and put them on one-at-a-time. There has to be an easier way.

Thanks.

 

[dhbarr]

Flexible tape, as used in automotive pinstriping. Tamiya is a familiar modeler's tape, though pricey.

If using wider tape, let the not-edge float until after the sharp side is down.

 

[RomCat]

Flexible tape, as used in automotive pinstriping. Tamiya is a familiar modeler's tape, though pricey.

If using wider tape, let the not-edge float until after the sharp side is down.

Wonderful. I just checked it out and it seems pretty reasonable actually. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Zeus-cat]

You can use a heat gun or a hair dryer to soften the tape and help it conform if needed.

 

[lcorinth]

If you're talking about masking off the tip of the nose cone to paint it a different color, Apogee had a newsletter article on the subject. You can find it here.

I haven't tried it - probably takes a bit of fuss to get it just right, but seems like it should work if you're careful to cut properly.

 

[Steve Shannon]

I wonder if you couldn't just punch a hole in a piece of latex and stretch it over the tip…

 

[Micromeister]

Taping compound curves has been a problem for many trades forever

Using flexible tapes has been the direct answer for Sign Painters, Automotive painting and others. 3m fine line tapes, and several other brands available from your local Auto paint store or Sign supply house fit the bill very well at much lower cost then most of the Hobby flexible tapes such as Tamiya.
Pics below of several tapes I've used with great success on some very tight radii cones.