Dai Phan

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Hello Fellow RCers,

I am in the process of painting my Proctor Nieuport 11 in French colors. I have a question that I am sure scale builders can help me...

Q: How to properly paint on WW1 Roundel?

Thanks!!! DP

Tall Paul

I use a wide brush.
No masking, just carefully going around the edges of each ring.

TLH101

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Checkout this guy. he has really good prices on stencils so you can paint them perfectly:
http://www.getstencils.com/

feep

I believe if you are doing 1/4 scale or bigger you should probably hand paint your markings, If they were hand painted in full scale. Quality control was very good in those days so brush marks would generally not show on factory finishes. I saw a picture of someone applying dope or paint to a wing and it appeared they were useing a 2'' or 2 1/2 '' brush. This would translate to a 1/2'' brush in 1/4 scale. I use a 1/4'' brush with pretty good results.

I pencil the outlines. This might mean you have to do the white first and then do your other lines after the white has dried. In other words do a base of the whole circle in white and then apply the other colors over the white.

Hand painting models is no different than painting bedrooms. The techniques are the same only smaller. I used to paint houses for a living so I will give you some hints that you may want to practice on scrap first. Or maybe paint that room your wife has been nagging you about for the last 5 years. Just don' tell her your motive. Painting along lines such as the curve of a roundel is just like cutting in a room. Thats when you use a brush near the ceiling or around woodwork. It not that hard when you know the technique. First you dip your brush and clear one side so that it has a set amount of paint. I like to dip my brush a little more than 1/2 way. with the paint down apply the paint and move towards the line as you apply pressure. The paint will sort of squeeze out and you will start to go along the line as the paint appears to flow from the brush. As the paint begins to run out( or stop flowing) note the distance you have traveled. Redip your brush the same as before and apply this paintbrush load only skip forward that distance you went before and paint back towards the wet paint. Youy just continue around dipping your brush and applying the same amount of paint leapfrogging back towards the wet paint.
I can go pretty fast but I cut in about 1/4 o f the circle and fill the color in before I continue. The reason for this is that if the paint begins to dry and you go over it you will feel it dragging and you will have brush marks. On my german crosses I cut in one arm of the cross and fill it in rather than do the whole outline and than fill it in.

Some of this may sound like a no brainer but its amazing how people will say they hate to paint while they really have no idea how to do it. They think its just a matter of dipping and slopping it on.

Finally, keep you brush clean and the bristles as straight as possible. Clean the brush off completly every so often. and when you're done don't just drop the brush in the thinner or water and let it set on the botton of the container. Any questions?

feep

I believe if you are doing 1/4 scale or bigger you should probably hand paint your markings, If they were hand painted in full scale. Quality control was very good in those days so brush marks would generally not show on factory finishes. I saw a picture of someone applying dope or paint to a wing and it appeared they were useing a 2'' or 2 1/2 '' brush. This would translate to a 1/2'' brush in 1/4 scale. I use a 1/4'' brush with pretty good results.

I pencil the outlines. This might mean you have to do the white first and then do your other lines after the white has dried. In other words do a base of the whole circle in white and then apply the other colors over the white.

Hand painting models is no different than painting bedrooms. The techniques are the same only smaller. I used to paint houses for a living so I will give you some hints that you may want to practice on scrap first. Or maybe paint that room your wife has been nagging you about for the last 5 years. Just don' tell her your motive. Painting along lines such as the curve of a roundel is just like cutting in a room. Thats when you use a brush near the ceiling or around woodwork. It not that hard when you know the technique. First you dip your brush and clear one side so that it has a set amount of paint. I like to dip my brush a little more than 1/2 way. with the paint down apply the paint and move towards the line as you apply pressure. The paint will sort of squeeze out and you will start to go along the line as the paint appears to flow from the brush. As the paint begins to run out( or stop flowing) note the distance you have traveled. Redip your brush the same as before and apply this paintbrush load only skip forward that distance you went before and paint back towards the wet paint. Youy just continue around dipping your brush and applying the same amount of paint leapfrogging back towards the wet paint.
I can go pretty fast but I cut in about 1/4 o f the circle and fill the color in before I continue. The reason for this is that if the paint begins to dry and you go over it you will feel it dragging and you will have brush marks. On my german crosses I cut in one arm of the cross and fill it in rather than do the whole outline and than fill it in.

Some of this may sound like a no brainer but its amazing how people will say they hate to paint while they really have no idea how to do it. They think its just a matter of dipping and slopping it on.

Finally, keep you brush clean and the bristles as straight as possible. Clean the brush off completly every so often. and when you're done don't just drop the brush in the thinner or water and let it set on the botton of the container. Any questions?

Dai Phan

My Feedback: (2)

Hello,

Thanks for all the help. The Proctor N11 is 1/5-6 scale so hand painting would look pretty ugly. I am looking for a masking technique and how to produce the masks themselves. DP

flipstart

Check out the web site posted above-get stencils-Gary is very professinal and is currently building a Proctor Nieuport 28-the build is posted on RCSB site. I am ordering a set for my Nieuport and one for a SE5A. The roundel stencils will be in sets so you can paint each color individually. I hand painted a 1/5 scale albatros, and wish now I had used stencils. True the real ones were hand painted, but I am beyond hand painting, just getting too old, I guess.

vogel605

I agree, Gary has great stuff at a reasonable price, (just go out and price frisket paper) Just rec. mine for a New. 28 and they look great.

Tall Paul

I did a Nieuport 27 in 1/5th scale with hand-painted roundels...

Jim Thomerson

It is not hard to lay out a circle down to about 2 in diameter with the 1/8 green, blue, or red plastic thinline masking tape. Then brush. If you want to spray, you can use contact shelf paper for masking. Just be careful not to get too much wet dope on it as it will crinkle.

Hurri

The way i have used for many moons is ---- Get a set of inking pens , mine are made by Staedtler a german co; can get them in a art supply store . So use the compass , in the center of the circle put a thin piece of ply 1/2" sq; held with masking tape . make the point stick in to make a good reusable mark , So get the paint you are using , thin it a little bit experiment on scrap 1st with the opening of the pen knib & paint viscosity & draw a part circle . Easy thing to do ! If you are doing a british roundel then brush on the white 1st , when dry do the rings of the other red& blue . You will find that you will get about 2-3" with each scroll of the pen , so join them up as you go .fill in after with a brush , i use about a 1-1/2 " NOT a house paint type brush , but from art supply . I have some roundels on my 1/3rd Pup , made up an extension on the compass to get the big size needed , this idea has been around in model books for a long time .

BWooster

I just did roundels on a WWII RAF Mosquito.

Using frisket from a graphic arts supply house, I cut circles by putting an exacto blade in place of a pencil in my shop compass. With a little practice, I could cut a perfect circle Then I airbrushed the outside ring first. I would lay the next. smaller ring, and spray the next colour, on top of the outside colour.

It worked surprisingly well. The only hitch is that frisket is quite tacky, and can pull prior coats off. So when you remove the backing paper, touch the adhesive with the palm of your hand until the tackiness is reduced to a safer level.

This worked for me. I a not saying it is the best way.

feep: I never knew how to cut a proper line. Thanks for taking the time to explain.

feep

Snitch, You're welcome. I find that hand painting becomes a matter of brush maintenance. Keeping the brush clean and your bristles straight as you paint. That involves dipping and scrapeing. On a flat brush , I will work out of the container but on smaller round brushes I often work off a pallet, that way I can turn or twist the brush in the paint to keep a nice straight point. I won't say I have never used masks but sometimes masking tape and frisket paper open up a whole other can of worms. Often, after you mask off an area you have a tendancy to rely on the mask to keep your edges neat and you get a little careless or you take the tape off in the wrong mannner and mess up the edge. Sometimes the prep, masking and removing take more time than a carefully applied hand painted job.

Dai Phan

My Feedback: (2)

Hello all,

Thank you for your inputs. I am waiting to get a set from Gary and I will post results here to see how well it works (for me that is...) Dai

avionette

Hello can you show picture?

foodstick

Here is what you do ...
Tape down a small piece of lite ply on the wing right where you determine the center of the roundel to be located.

Take a compass, put the sharp point in the wood and draw your rings out on the covering with the pencil on your compass.

I use water base acrylics to paint the rings using usually a small foam brush. It is also feasible to use a very stiff rectangle tipped artist brush for the edges, and then fill in with the foam brush. I always paint light colors, followed by the medium and typically finish with blue.

Since my WW1 are gasoline powered I finish with a couple light dustings of Rustoleum clear.

I most sincerely hope you haven't waited 8 years for more info !!

avionette

look my work................question........during ww1 were used without spray paynt and masking tape?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyIThHSanXA

foodstick

Man Do I feel sort of stupid after seeing that... Thats a killer and obvious thing I never even considered.. nice work...


By the way I subscribed to your youtube channel as I just love finding WW1 guys around the world.. A lot of you guys are flying in our winter and I like seeing the new videos during the BLUE COLD SEASON of snow...

avionette

I painting an hangar9 sopwith camel just with brush