F-14A Early - Tan radome info request

[rotaliscia]

Hi all.

Is there someone that has info on how long exactly was the tan part from the tip of the radome?  Or tricks on how to mask it properly?  I don't know if at that time there were relevant Navy standard rules for radomes paint..

My Cat will be a block-80 early VF-1, then I need to know exactly where the tan begins, because of the red VF-1 stripe point.

Any help appreciated!

[scotthldr]

Paint the radome after the decaling has been done?  Once decals have been put down, apply a gloss coat over them to give some protection and using low tack masking tape cut into 1mm strips and care mask off the radome.  

[rotaliscia]

It was the solution I was thinking of, scotthldr. Thanks.

But I'm not too confident that the decal will accept a mask, even if well protected, without cracking.  Or, at least, I'm serching for a solution to not run that risk. Since I have just one decal sheet and generally, I'm not that lucky in modelling! :-)

To ruin the small wolf head in the nose would be a nightmare to recover.   Yours will be my B plan. Still looking for something less at heart attack risk!

[twong]

Photocopy the decal and use the photocopy as a guide on the model where they would go and then mask off and paint.

[scotthldr]

The problem with using masking tape over decals is the surface tension between the tape and the painted surface. The breaking of that tension is what results in the decal being damaged. By using the thinnest possible strips of tape greatly reduces the tension due to less area being in contact with the painted surface. 

[Jay Chladek]

You can put a little wedge of paper between the decal and the tape as an extra layer of protection to the decal. The tape on the painted surface on either side of the paper should be enough and as long as you have no air gaps for paint to sneak under. Also, just make sure you don't try to spray right towards the gaps.

[Bob Beary]

Copy the decal sheet as TWONG suggested to find the demarcation line.  It should be pretty easy to locate the wolf's head section based on the gun port. There should already be a line there, either a raised or engraves line in the plastic. Mask it off and paint it BEFORE decaling!!!

 

To mask...cut a long strip of masking tape about 1mm wide. Start at the middle on the bottom and just wind the tape around the radome demarcation line adjusting as you go. Then use wider strips to increase the masked off area. It's not hard to do. I just did the same thing on an F-4 Phantom.

Edited December 21, 2016 by Bob Beary
wrong word

[murad]

i recently built a wichita 100 and ran into the same situation.

 

i bit the bullet and decalled first, did all the usual stuff following decals and the final bit was the radome painting for tan.

 

remember, when looking at it from head on, the nose is NOT a complete circle but a compound curve, so simply put using straight edged tape might cause trouble to do proper a demarcation.

 

to make things easier i utilized an erasing shield which illustrators use, looking very much like this one: http://www.alfaplanhold.com/Erasing_Shield_Stainless_Steel_p/2047610.htm

 

using the curved line in the shield i cut the masking tape. now there are 2 parts to the tape, 1 male and 1 female fashion. since the section i am going to be painting is on the downward slope i did not want any wrinkles on the tape looking towards the area where the paint is gonna go which might cause leaks or stupid hard and soft edges, hence female section had to be used (hard to describe in text but if you get to do it like this you'll see what i mean when you conforming the curved tape to the surface)

 

alternatively you could buy curved tape of course. iirc tamiya has a wide range of thickness' with their curvy tapes. 

[DonSS3]

The tan on the radome wasn't paint as we think of it. It was actually a rubberized coating, when you pushed on it, you could actually feel it give a tiny bit. You could see some difference in tonal qualities from aircraft to aircraft, but there was a standard color. Modelmaster makes/made a pretty good Radome Tan (FS 33613 IIRC).

[rotaliscia]

Thanks a lot you all for the very interesting replies and suggestions! :-)

[Fiddler]

I also would paint before decaling, and paint the tan first, then proceed with the photocopy idea. Afterwards paint White and light gull grey over it.