I love painting D-day stripes with hairy stick! far better then decals, I have a load of D-day themed builds! I also masked the wheeldoors during the painting under the tape, that makes the same lines with the wheeldoors.
An old neighbour of mine, god rest his soul, was a former aircraft mechanic for several different fighter squadrons during the war. He told me on one occasion about the identification stripes. He stated that the order came through at such short notice, that they had to paint the stripes with anything they could lay their hands on. He said there was no time for proper measuring . Each stripe was three spread hands wide (tip of little finger to tip of thumb when fingers spread) and eyeballed for straightness. He said the panel work lines obviously helped. They were painted with spray guns, paint brushes, floor mops, rags tied to sticks or anything else an inventive crewman could come up with. He also said what you see in film and photos were clearly specifically selected aircraft, that is, having reasonably straight and even stripes. He was laughing when he described the state of some of them, stating some looked like they had been painted by a blind man. Apparently the worst were slowly repainted when they had time.
certainly an interesting investigation - I tend to go with the kit decal stripes if they are included, but have painted them on when they arent (but that also depends on the quality of the decals)
I've only done stripes twice First one was the Airfix PR Mosquito with stripes on the fuselage. I masked and airbrushed them on that model. The second one I literally did today. I chose to try a different method. Kit is a 1/48 Spitfire from ICM. I chose to fully paint the camouflage before painting the stripes over the top of that. I didn't even bother with any masking and eyeballed it based on the panel lines on the instructions. Completely different experience but feel more genuine than the airbrushed stripes. I used Citadel Coral White which brushes and covers really well and is a muted white which looks great.
I have seen a picture in wich they were painting Invasion stripes on a plane... they did it by hand and no masking... and the result was not neat at all.
I love painting D-day stripes with hairy stick! far better then decals, I have a load of D-day themed builds!
I also masked the wheeldoors during the painting under the tape, that makes the same lines with the wheeldoors.
An old neighbour of mine, god rest his soul, was a former aircraft mechanic for several different fighter squadrons during the war. He told me on one occasion about the identification stripes. He stated that the order came through at such short notice, that they had to paint the stripes with anything they could lay their hands on. He said there was no time for proper measuring . Each stripe was three spread hands wide (tip of little finger to tip of thumb when fingers spread) and eyeballed for straightness. He said the panel work lines obviously helped. They were painted with spray guns, paint brushes, floor mops, rags tied to sticks or anything else an inventive crewman could come up with. He also said what you see in film and photos were clearly specifically selected aircraft, that is, having reasonably straight and even stripes. He was laughing when he described the state of some of them, stating some looked like they had been painted by a blind man. Apparently the worst were slowly repainted when they had time.
Painted invasion stripes, always! 😊
I paint them
certainly an interesting investigation - I tend to go with the kit decal stripes if they are included, but have painted them on when they arent (but that also depends on the quality of the decals)
I've only done stripes twice
First one was the Airfix PR Mosquito with stripes on the fuselage. I masked and airbrushed them on that model.
The second one I literally did today. I chose to try a different method.
Kit is a 1/48 Spitfire from ICM. I chose to fully paint the camouflage before painting the stripes over the top of that. I didn't even bother with any masking and eyeballed it based on the panel lines on the instructions. Completely different experience but feel more genuine than the airbrushed stripes.
I used Citadel Coral White which brushes and covers really well and is a muted white which looks great.
I have seen a picture in wich they were painting Invasion stripes on a plane... they did it by hand and no masking... and the result was not neat at all.