Creating white water lines on Soviet subs

[fred tannenbaum]

Good morning, all!

Since the topic of building Soviet submarine kits came up, I wonder what some of you experienced hands do to create the white water lines featured on most of those boats? Mask and paint? Decal stripes? Perhaps white graphic tape? Thank you ahead of time for any pointers!

[Ralph --- SSBN 598]

This is a topic that has may answer.

I have taped and painted.
I have used white graphic tape.
I will never try to hand paint a waterline again.

My last waterline project was on my Engel's Akula II.

The boat assembly was complete.
It had a waterline on it from the factory.
When I clear coated the hull, the black paint bubbled up and was a mess.


The fix was to sand the entire hull and repaint.
The factory waterline was not painted on or tape.
It is the natural hull.
It was apparently taped off before the black was applied.

So I taped covering the white line and did one half the hull at a time.
Lower hull completed here.
Doing upper hull.


Here the hull has been repainted and the white waterline came out nice.
I do not do well when painting but this time I applied the paint slowly letting each pass dry so it would not go under the tape edge.
Used spray can paint.


Now I have also used tape to make waterlines.
Same boat.
At the pnd there are 3 of these boats so I wanted to be able to tell my boat from the others.
I decided to put the sonar array locations on the hull.
On the real boat these marks show the NO push locations for tugboats.


I used 1/64" graphic tape and hand applied every last piece.




Finished look.


Now after a couple of years running the boat, the tape pieces are starting to come off. (the clear coat degrades from being out in the sun)
I thought about fixing it but it looks more and more like the real boats that loose tile and the paint is worn off.
Sorry, I do not have a photo of this but I like the look.
-----------------
As for painting a waterline, I find taping off and paint the waterline difficult.
Requires two lines of tape and getting them straight for me is impossible.

So, I learned to paint a large strip for the waterline.
Then using tape the width of the waterline I want putting that on the hull over the white.
Then paint the hull color on over the tape slowly so the paint does not get under the tape.

You use the waterline tape mask off for bottom paint and hull paint.
The tape comes off after the hull is finish being painted.
Others may do it differently.
But I hate painting so I had to come up with something that works for me. (besides all one color boats)

[fred tannenbaum]

First, beautiful work!

Second, you raised the possibility of another technique: On a primed or bare model, spraying a thin line of white at the water line, using graphic tape to cover where the water line will be, paint the hull the colors needed, (black and/or red), allowing the coats to cure, then pull up the graphic tape.

[Ralph --- SSBN 598]

You should test that first.
Cured paint tends to pull up with tape after full cure.

But if you let it cure then run a razor along the tape edge before pulling, it is less likely to pull the surrounding paint with it.

Did I mention, I hate painting. (bad experience in the mid 60's)