Painting Checker Board

Dear Builder Buds, I'm about finished painting my RV-8a in pieces. All I really have left is the rudder. I want to checker board it with blue and white squares. I have white epoxy primer on the rudder now. Paint is single stage PPG. QUESTION: Is it best to paint the white top coat, let dry, mask off checkers, paint blue then pull the tape? Or should I only paint the checkers. Let me know what's best all you smart guys with checkerboard rudders and cowls. Best regards, Bill of Georgia RV-8a About ready for final assembly

Checker board

Bill,
You will get better coverage if you paint the blue over the white. Checker boards can be a lot of work if you are trying to do the layout using tape. I would recomend you purchase sheet vinyl mask with the checkers cut on a vinyl cutter, a lot easier and will give perfect results. Any aero graphics supplier with a vinyl cutter can provide the mask.
Dick

whith/blue

Paint all of the rudder in white, Then tape off all the squares that are to be white, then paint the remaining squares blue!.

I'd second the suggestion to get a graphics shop to cut you some vinyl checkerboard mask... especially for a big flat surface like the rudder.

The pre-cut mask is some help, but not all that great for curvy surfaces like a cowling, but it would be fantastic for the flat surface of the rudder. It'd take you less than 30 minutes to be ready for paint, I would think.

For all the checkerboard on my plane, we painted white and then taped off the areas we wanted to remain white. We cleared over everything, but I don't think clear is a necessity.

FWIW...

I have painted LOTS of checkers.. 90 degree squares, waving flags, shreaded, on fire, wrapped around stuff.. you name it.

If you are using fineline to make your pattern, paint the dark color first. Even with 1/8th or 1/16th inch tape, your corners will not touch on one color of the checker pattern.. using dark first means the eye doesnt notice that they do not touch. Look close youll see the white is on top of the black on this motorcycle i painted about 10 years ago.


If you are using vinyl masks for your squares, i would still go with the dark color first.. Metallics tend to want to pile up against tape edges and coloring can get a little wierd when spraying over the texture of the vinyl that is covering your first color.
Look close youll see these checkers touch corner to corner.. there is a fade and stuff, but that doesnt matter for this example.

Painter John,
You are a true artist!!!

I like to do my checkers by hand. A vinyl mask can help a little but it's hard to get both sides of a rudder to line up exactly. I also lay out my squares one at a time so all the corners touch. Takes me about 4 hrs to checker a rudder.

Thank you for your excellent input. I too will hand mask with fine line tape each square. Best to all you fine folks, Bill of Georgia

Yes Ditto the lay out by hand.. Having them cut and trying to install an entire sheet of vinyl checker board is a big pain!! You can place them just how they need to be, much more easily!!