Painting Perfect Bomb Stripes  

by Ed Nirel
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This is actually so simple it pains me to think about all those times I tried to mask and paint bomb stripes before.  I'm still playing around with this technique, but so far I'm very impressed with the results.  It all started with the F-15 group build here on ARC.  I wanted a nice bombed up F-15E with something hanging from every hard point.  Your basic iron bomb was the best bet, so I found a bunch of bombs and went to work.  Well, if you check the F-15 group build, you'll see there are NO WEAPONS on my 15.  I just wasn't satisfied with the masked stripes on my bombs, so I left them off and tried to think of a better way to get 'er done.  Laying awake one night thinking of new modeling techniques (as I often do), I realized that I had something in the garage that might do the trick:  heat shrink tubing.  This is an inexpensive product that you can find in any electronics store or electronics department of most manly stores.  The stuff shrinks when you heat it (hence the name), and as such, it is very pliable. 

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I found a length of tubing in a diameter just smaller than the tip of the bomb that I was about to paint and slipped it over the tip of the bomb, which had already been painted the color of the stripe.  I made sure that the end of the tubing was shaped so that it would produce a straight line.  Sure enough, the tubing not only expanded with the shape of the bomb, it also gripped the bomb, making an excellent handle for painting.  The tubing comes in various diameters and is pliable enough that I used the same tubing on two different sizes of bombs with the same results.  That is all there is to it.  Quick, simple and a beautiful, straight edge. 

Ed  

Photos and text © by Ed Nirel