Airliner wraparound liveries - how to draw for a decal?

[bootneck]

I want to have a go at making a decal which would be a wraparound on an airliner fuselage,  something like this.    Is there a method of working out how to do the shape for a decal?  I did try just a line, like tape, or just a circle which wraps to the top and bottom of the fuselage but the contours of a fuselage makes it mis-shape.  Any ideas?

 

cheers

 

Mike

[Space Ranger]

Wrap a piece of paper around the fuselage. Cut away the portion that overlaps the wing roots so the rest of the paper fits flush to the model. Use tape to attach the paper to the model. Sketch the design on the paper and redraw as necessary until it looks right. Remove the paper, unroll it, and scan your sketch and import it into your drawing program for refinement. Or, if you are just doing it once, tape your drawing to a sheet of colored decal film and cut along the drawn lines.

Edited January 13, 2018 by Space Ranger
Syntax.

[bootneck]

That's so logical it was illogical.... for me to think that.  Thanks for the suggestion  and I'll give that a try.

Mike

[Space Ranger]

You're welcome! It can also be done using some complicated, time-consuming descriptive geometry or sheet metal development drafting, but this way is much easier. :-)

[Dave Swindell]

16 hours ago, Space Ranger said:

Wrap a piece of paper around the fuselage.

This would work, but overlapping strips of masking tape I find more effective and easier to keep in place. You can trace doors, windows and other pertinent reference points onto the masking tape, and also trim round protruberances like your wing root with a sharp scalpel blade so that the masking tape sits exactly where your decal will. Peel the first laid strip off first so that it lifts the next strip as you go, it should all come off as one piece. Smooth onto  a sheet of paper to scan, or decal film to trim to shape, or onto glass to trim and re-apply as a mask. Do one side and flip over physically or in your drawing program to get an exact mirror for the other side.

[bootneck]

Thanks Dave.  I've only built one airliner, in my sixty years of modelling, and that was last week; so why I have decided to have a go at something so complex is a mystery to me!    I am looking forward to the 737 STGB and have been looking around Google for inspiration for a livery, something that isn't too complex but will allow me to practice more at making decals.  This is where the interest in how to get a band or ribbon  shape to flow over the fuselage of an airliner originated.

 

Mike

[Skodadriver]

That's a very attractive scheme which I confess I've never seen before.  Are you planning to use decals for the solid red areas or just for the stylised maple leaf design in the centre?

[bootneck]

I haven't actually planned which livery to do yet, that image was just to explain the idea I had.  It is the wraparound part, the red nose area and the tail areas that I'd like to have a go at.  It may just be a broad band or ribbon type, but when I've tried it, the line doesn't follow the contours of a fuselage very well.  I thought that there might be a magic formula on how to draw a line (band etc.) that incorporated the curve over the top and underneath; however, Michael and Dave's suggestion should be enough for me to get some practice in.   Do you think this one might be a tad ambitious for a first attempt?   Those blue ribbons, with the white stars, are the type of wraparound I alluding to .

 

Mike

[Skodadriver]

Gosh that Southwest 737-7 really is something   It almost makes me sorry I don't model American airliners!

 

Obviously the ribbons and stars would have to be done as decals but coming back to the Air Canada scheme, I can't help wondering if it might be just as easy to mask and paint the red bits or similar solid areas on whatever scheme you eventually decide?  If I try to wrap decals round a fuselage I usually end up failing the Eric and Ernie test (you can see the join) a problem which affects liveries like Iberia as well.

[bootneck]

I agree, masking and airbrushing large areas like the Air Canada scheme; it is just that I wanted to know how airliner modellers went about making decals that had that type of shape.

 

[Space Ranger]

8 hours ago, Dave Swindell said:

This would work, but overlapping strips of masking tape I find more effective and easier to keep in place.

I've tried masking tape as Dave suggests, but had trouble with the tape stretching and/or the separate pieces coming apart. A combination of the two should work; masking tape along the wing roots and trimmed to fit per Dave's suggestion, and the tape(s) holding a piece of paper tightly encircling the fuselage. Landmarks such as doors, windows, panel lines, etc., can also be marked on the paper. A good grade of draftsman's tracing paper will allow you see some of these landmarks.