Thanks guys! Had a busy weekend and am having a busy work week on top of that so I haven't been able to spend much time on the work bench. I've noticed that the proper mindset is important for me in order for good work to happen on the work bench. I haven't had that so the little time that I've spent working on the Dora has not been that fruitful.
I left the last update with a spiral mask cut from a photocopy of the Eagle Editions decal sheet. I tried using the mask but the frisket paper adhesive stuck to the photocopy rendering the mask unusable. Fail.
I took the decal sheet into work and made a couple of new copies using a different type of paper. I had trouble getting a smooth edge on my cuts and the frisket paper didn't stick very well to the prop so I gave up after 2-3 attempts. Fail.
Let's try a different method. I decided to use yellow kabuki tape as it is more adhesive than the frisket paper. I lay down a piece of tape on the cutting mat and then scotch-taped a photocopy of the spiral onto the yellow tape. Using a swivel knife, I hoped to cut through both the photocopy and the yellow tape at the same time.
After a few attempts, I was able to obtain a workable spiral mask. I don't need a complete spiral mask, just the beginning part of the spiral since it is relatively easy to finish off using narrow strips of tape.
Black was slowly misted onto the prop, building the color up slowly. I want a relatively "dry" spray here and avoid any pooling of the paint to minimize leakage under the mask. You can also spray the masked spinner with a clear coat prior to the black as additional insurance but I didn't do that here.
From some angles, the spiral came out very well.
From other angles, you can see some areas that didn't come out so well. The transition between the yellow tape mask and the white tape strips shown here should be fairly simple to touch up so that's no worry.
There is some softer overspray occurring near the spinner tip caused by lifting of the spiral mask. Due to the small size and location of the curvature (inside of a curve is always harder to touch up than the outside of a curve), this is much trickier to repair. See how crisp the rivets are on the white portion of the spinner? That is the sole reason that I'm doing this with paint instead of decal.
The spinner is far from finished but I think I have a good handle on what to do next. I will try to touch up the spiral first. But I think the ultimate solution will be to wipe the paint and start from the beginning. I have identified a valid method to cut out a good mask but I need a peaceful chunk of time this weekend to approach this with the right mindset.