Masking a Checkerboard Pattern

[rv969wf]

Heres a picture of my -6 that has airbrushed checkers. It took 2 cases of masking tape and several months. The guy that painted my RV primed the entire airplane, base coated solid red, wet sanded the red, masked, shot the white checkers then the black, wet sanded, buffed and clear coated, with sanding and buffing again. Ugh....

[tinman]

Thanks for all of the great ideas. I like the way that Randy L did his with the Fineline tape...really sharp and logical. You guys rock!
Don

[tinman]

I hadn't considered a waving pattern...that would look sharp, too.

[L.Adamson]

Prefer around 6" squares myself; and there are lot's of RV's, Harmon Rockets, and F1's with larger squares of this type that look great!

My checkerboard rudder is black on white, as half of the plane is yellow. I painted all white first, and then masked off the squares.

I use 3M "green" tape, as it's much better than the cheaper blue masking tape.

I mask off the squares, then fill the centers with two sheets of computer paper. Then shoot the complete rudder with black. Pull the tape as soon as possible when paint is still semi wet, to minimize ridge lines.

You should also pull the tape towards the newly painted surface, so the paint coming off the tape, lays back onto the just painted surface.

And, the squares on both sides of my rudder line up with each other. Still trying to figure the scheme on the cowl, though...

L.Adamson -- RV6A

http://img462.imageshack.us/img462/9...reducedke3.jpg

[gmcjetpilot]

(be patient, its 155kb 8.5x11 pic and the server can be slow)

Looking at examples above I see 5 to 20 squares vertically on the rudder at the hinge-line. About 8-14 squares looks good to me, to each his own. Waving flags look is cool. Sorry I have no references or credits, just a few RVpictures with CB's I saved. Cheers to all the builders, nice paint jobs.

[L.Adamson]

[quote=gmcjetpilot
Looking at examples above I see 5 to 20 squares vertically on the rudder at the hinge-line. About 8-14 squares looks good to me, to each his own. Waving flags look is cool. Sorry I have no references or credits, just a few RVpictures with CB's I saved. Cheers to all the builders, nice paint jobs.[/QUOTE]

This is the paint job I liked, and "borrowed" a few of the ideas. Don't know who it belongs to, either.


http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/7...nell204iz1.jpg

[John]

Using a lazer line in a neat way to mark your first lines. whether vertical, horizontal, or on a bias, the line will be straight thru curves in the fusalage. You can then either measure from that line or even change the angle of the lines by leaving the lazer instrument stationary and moving the airplane.
Nothing is new or original with me. I read this method somewhere.
We did the checker job on nose of my friends -8. This is how it went. Darkened the hanger enough to see the lazer line. Leveled the airplane. Measured forward of the axles and marked a line on the floor for a reference line to palce the tripod. You will need this line when you mark the other side of the cowl. Position the lazer level on a tripod and adjust the verticle lazer line plumb. Now adjust the lazer tripod (tripod should be adjustable) up or down to align the horizontal line (use the crosshair mode) with the center of the spinner. There you are, you now have the reference points to do what ever you want. We then used blue thin line 1/4 inch tape and just placed on the lazer line. It was sraight. The other side of the plane is done be placing the plumbob (?) over the floor line and adjusting the lazer line so that the top and bottom of the line meet the line on the other side. We then measured form the base line an the result was a square job. Sort of hard to explain !
I hope you get the idea. John

[SHORTRV7]

I chose to polish and paint a checkerboard rudder using 1/16 fine line tape. After polishing the entire rudder we taped off the polish squares and painted the blue squares. Then pulled all tapes and clear coated the whole rudder,,, No more polishing took three tries to get it right... All of the polish on airplane has clear coat with Blue Ice put in clear. An excruciating 13 step process.

[kjlpdx]

I spent a whole winter hand cutting my vinyl checkerboards for the wings and tail. my theme was to have the leading edge of the checkerboards to start pealing back, a little along the leading edge to a lot by the trailing edge. I discovered that purposely cutting the checkers out of square looked better and was certainly easier. I ended up going back and removing many fine, skinny triangles. I don't know if this applies to you, but wanted to suggest it. sometimes what you take for granted isn't true.

[bird]

Contact flyboy accessories and ask them to make you a PAINT MASK for the size checkers and overall size and then follow the directions he gives you, very easy. You can contact me if you need some help figuring it out.

BIRD