Irregular Edges for Invasion Stripes in 1/48?

[Curt B]

Hi All,

 

I'm beginning to plan my builds, and the details, for my upcoming Normandy Invasion aircraft, and I am interested in knowing if anyone has a particularly good method to create irregular looking edges on the stripes, as if they were hand painted, in 1/48 scale.  I believe I have a method that will work, but I've not verified how well it works with an airbrush.  I plan to mask the edges, but prior to laying down the tape, I will sort of 'rough up' the edges by doing a less than perfect straight cut with a hobby knife, and then sort of pushing the edges in and out with the tip of the knife, then laying down the edge, and spraying.  I'm planning on having a patch of white, and laying down the stripes in black, but the white will be an off-white, and the black with probably be a rubber black color, or off-black, so as not to be so stark in 1/48.

Anyone have any better thoughts for creating what would look like a hand painted straight edge in 1/48 scale?  Thanks for any thoughts.  I just don't want a perfect looking straightedge, even in that scale.  On the Eduard paint scheme pages, you can see, just barely, some irregularity in their stripe edges, but, of course, they don't provide any ideas for how to achieve the look.

[JesusNut]

Have you given any thought to brush painting them?  It is my understanding that they were hand painted in theater, so I am sure brush marks were evident, and this would allow you to kill two birds, so to speak.  And get the advantage of no overspray to deal with too.

[Ratte]

I would suggest a combination of brush painting and airbrushing: mask the stripes with regular tape and spray them. Then go over the edges with a rather fine brush, keeping in mind how long an armstroke of a 1/48 bloke would realistically be. Another Idea would be to mask the stripes using some masking fluid slightly thinned with water. Or go completely for a small brush and then sand with some fine sanding sponges afterward to get rid of too much texture from brush painting.

[thegoodsgt]

Ratte is right.

 

Mask the stripes, but the tape you cut for the masking doesn't need to be cut perfectly sharp and straight. You can score your tape partially through and then carefully pull the tape to create a mask with a slightly ragged edge. The degree of raggedness depends on the scale — the larger the scale, the more ragged it can be.

 

More on the challenges of representing D-Day stripes.  LINK

[Curt B]

You guys are great!!!  Thanks so much for the ideas.  I realize that in 1/48 scale, the non-perfect edges will be tough to discern, but I want to make the stripes as true to reality as possible.

Edited May 25, 2021 by Curt B

[eraucubsfan]

I brush painted mine on my C-47