Zoxe 101: Airbrushing Stripes

Not these stripes!  No offense to Bill and the gang.

No, were are not talking about Stripes, although I do love a good Bill Murray movie.

We're talking about STRIPES, which can be squadron/unit markings (sci-fi), or other bits of regalia for fantasy, and of course historical (WW2 / Gulf War Chevrons).

When I've showed people my Dropfleet army, the comment I usually get is "Wow, that looks great ... how'd you do the stripes? Did you do that by hand?"  Here are the answer to those questions.

THESE kind of stripes.

Stripes are deceptively easy.  It takes some planning, the right materials, and maybe a little bit of nuance, but overall they're really simple and very effective.


The process I use is a mixture of things I've been doing in "hobby" since the mid 80s.  R/C Cars, R/C boats, model airplanes, and today miniatures/wargaming.  This process will not (not! not!) produce a perfectly crisp line.  It can get you 95%+, but it's not perfection.

This process is, however, a good approximation of real-world military/sci-fi finishes, and it comes together in very little time at the bench.

In real-world military, unit markings are often put on quickly and touched up over time by 18 year old kids that have 8 other things they should be doing. If you look at WW2 markings before D-Day, stripes were put on with haste and with a very large brush.  Faded, imperfect, chipped, worn, markings will help sell a "lived in" look.  You will probably need to do other wear/weathering to finish the job, but that's the topic for a different post.

Supplies:  1) I use Tamiya tape for close in work and primary edges.  2) For larger areas, I'll grab our roll of household blue tape from the utility/paint closet to block additional areas, but Tamiya is always the border.  3) Airbrush and good quality paint.

First, you need good tape.  I've had great luck with Tamiya. This is normally found in the scale modeling section or online (Tower Hobbies, Amazon).  It's available in a variety of widths down to 1 mm.  The narrower tape is vinyl and the wider is normal "masking" tape.  Keep your expensive tape in its container or a Ziploc bag; the sides will attract fuzzies that you do NOT want.

I use my detail airbrush for control.  I have perhaps used my 105 general purpose brush a few times. Choice is yours.

Step 1: Basecoat your model in a color that brings you joy. I normally apply basic highlights and shadows so I can "see" the model, but I know I will make another pass at the end.

Choosing the point in the process to apply the stripe is important.  I tend to put mine on pretty early in the so that I don't have to mask extensively around details that I basecoat in another color. 

For the Remnant Centurions, I've basecoated the upper hull, done some really simple highlights.  For other pieces, it can wait until later in the process; just be careful that you don't accidentally spray over your hard work.

Step 2: Add a piece of tape where you want the stripe. This is your preview mode to get the angles right.  You will be removing this piece, so no need to push it down hard.  For reference, this is Tamiya 10mm tape.

Placement is key, so play around a bit. You want enough contrast between your basecoat and stripe.  You want enough angle to be interesting.  Asymmetry can be a big seller.  You need to dodge around complex geometry (if possible).  If you are doing an entire fleet/army, at least eyeball the models to see what trouble you're getting yourself into if you intend to be consistent.

If you are going to repeat this pattern across multiple models, note where the tape stops and starts so you can key future efforts.  For example, on some of my Dropfleet ships I was able to put the tape through the intersection of two panel lines so I had an exact "coordinate" for the tape.

I like to apply stripes at a sharp angle. I do not want to look like a '90s tuner race car from the Fast and the Furious franchise, i.e. straight down the axis of the ship.  But you be you.

Lastly, note that I'm using 10 mm wide tape, which looks really narrow on the spool, but once applied at an angle, the effective width down the axis of the hull is actually much wider (hooray for Trigonometry!).

Step 3: Add tape on either side of the first.  You'll see here that due to some hull geometry I'm using a narrow piece of tape on the right.  I'll add another piece of tape over it to provide more blocking. Whatever works.

Step 4: Remove the first piece of tape.  For this scheme I added a narrow piece of tape for an accent. Lightly burnish (push down on) the edges of the tape to seal and avoid runs.

Step 5: Airbrush. I mix the paint fairly thick and work slowly in thin layers to build up color. You do NOT want the paint to seep under the tape. Apply some paint, stare at the ceiling and count or think about the deepest mysteries of the universe, then continue.

Notes on applying the paint:

With the Sotar, the picture above shows how much of the model I masked. This was not my first time to the rodeo, as they say - mask off more if you want some safety.  If I were using a different airbrush, I might have blocked more of the hull body.

Secondly, in the shot above and below you can see that I applied thee color more intensely at the leading edge and let more undercoat show towards the trailing edge.  The most opaque spot is at the center-top of the hull then fades aft and on the sides.  There are actually two colors here - Reaper Misty Gray, and a 2nd lighter pass with Liquitex Titanium White Ink on the forward edges to increase the "whiteness."

This is intentional to sell the "lived in" look.  We're actually tricking the eye/brain to show which direction is front - brighter in front, fade darker aft. (Said another way: if I'd done the reverse fade, it would look "wrong." If I'd done 100% opacity throughout it would have looked okay, but perhaps artificial).

Step 6:  Tape removed. I try to do this immediately in case the paint cures to the tape and pulls up jaggedly.  

Step 7: With even minimal detailing, the stripe begins to "settle" into the scheme.  There is about 5 minutes between this picture and the one above it.

A few notes about how the colors will settle.

You may pull the tape off and hate the result.  It may look to bright, too brash, or too gaudy.  Don't panic.  Seriously, just stop.  

First, the paints we use will continue to cure for a day or three.  During this time, they'll meld together and their true translucency will change the effect.  I call this the "fade in" period.  After a day or two, the brashness will fade and the colors will gel together.  Bright colors - especially whites - will fade more than we realize.

Second, as you finish the model, you're going to rub some paint off with simple handling.  Be gentle, but know that it's going to change the tone of the finished product.

Lastly, how you detail the model will also cause the stripe to "settle."  For my Dropfleet army, I continue on with wishes, dry brushing, and airbrush shading and weathering.  Go ahead and pick out the vents and guns and doodads in different colors.  Build your details.  All of this pulls attention away from the stripe and causes it to settle into the background and look like it belongs.

So, seriously. Trust the process, shut up and paint. :)

Carrier in the upper left got a Blue stripe. I hated it initially, then I loved it.

True story, I decided on a whim to give my DFC Seattle-class Fleet Carrier a bright blue stripe so I could find it on the table.  I pulled the tape off and hated it.  Moaned, cussed, sighed, pouted, the whole bit.  I couldn't re-mask and re-stripe it; I was committed to either live with it or start over.  I decided to live with it.  I did the rest of my fleet in boring gray.

Today it's just about my favorite stripe.  As I continued on, the blue settled in so well that it became a distinctive accent and not a liability.  I wish I'd done more like it.

Step 8:  Finished product. I did a separate post on the other parts of this paint scheme.

Another example:  Kingdom Death White Knight.  I wanted the shield to be a focal point without being cartoony and without distracting from other details.

Instead of painting the shield's "face" detail, I added a stripe to mimic heraldry markings. 

Last example:  Dropfleet Beijing.  (WIP at the time, I had just painted the engines).  Here I had a mostly gray hull and added the blue ink highlight to the nacelles before the stripes to make sure I had enough contrast/interest.  Taping over the launchers was difficult and I had gaps in the tape. I shot straight down and worked slowly and had no runs or major blooms.

Most of my pictures are of Dropfleet, and you're seeing a very similar design (it's all part of the same army).  I'd urge you to find your own pattern, and look for ways to include this on your work.

I'm eager to try it on more fantasy models, and hope to use it in combination with some freehand for cloaks, banners, and shields.  I have a large display piece that I'd like to enter into Reapercon this year and intend to expand on this simple approach for a contest-worthy entry.