OK I'm having a issues trying to mask off checkerboard patterns on the engine cowls of one of the 1:64 b-17's I'm building. Any tips on how to achieve the checkering without going mad?

This is a partial solution, still alot of careful planning and cutting required...
http://www.microscale.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=CHECK

Thanks for the link but I think I want paint not decals but we'll see how it turns out.

Just joined a month ago and still going thru various posts. As to painting a cowling, been there, done that with Monograms 1/48th T-6. Wanted yellow/black squares and figured how many squares length/width I'd need, then started cutting tape to the width I needed. Painted the cowling yellow, then started laying strips of tape next to each other horizontally, then removed every other piece of tape. More cutting of tape and laying them vertically again side by side, then removing every other piece. Once that was done, painted the cowling back.

Did the same with their F-84 for a blue/white checkboard
tail & stabilizers. But that took more work/effort to make sure the tape lined up on the top/bottom of the stabilizers. [img]http://put.url.here/image.file