To me it sounds as if you have or are thinking how you are going to paint it very well. You are going to have to use lots of masking tape and some other material such as saran wrap, plastic bags or sheets of paper to reduce the amount of tape actually stuck to surfaces you don't want covered in the colour you are using.
Long smooth and steady movement of the spray can from one side to the other will be the best way to spray large areas. A similar method for the markings on the deck should work as well.
I hope that helps as I am no expert, I just have a little experience and knowledge.

Gondor

Would it be easier to paint the white and yellow first, then mask off the stripes and then paint the grey? It might be six in one hand and half a dozen in the other.

Quote from: kerick on March 11, 2025, 06:17:23 AMWould it be easier to paint the white and yellow first, then mask off the stripes and then paint the grey? It might be six in one hand and half a dozen in the other.

I'm not sure how I'm going to paint the flight deck.
I was thinking of spray painting the entire deck gray, then masking the white and yellow line areas.
Is the gray spray paint I selected too dark? I'm not sure.
There's a model contest this coming weekend in Madison. Maybe I can ask some modelers there for some advice on what to do.
I may also take my carrier in to my local model club meeting in April and see what members have to say.

Paint the deck white, run strips of tape for the stripes, spray the grey and then remove the tape. Presto white stripes, go back and tape off for the yellow areas and use a brush to apply the yellow.
Seal the edges of the tape used for the stripes with a little bit of brushed on clear varnish, acrylic or other - it doesn't matter, to limit, or hopefully prevent, paint creeping under the tape.

BTW the Vallejo spray cans are identical to MTN Montana spray cans meaning that it's likely that MTN produces the paint for Vallejo.
The Montana 94 series cans also cost less, especially through their direct outlet Spray Planet.
MTN Spray Planet

Just thinking about it and it would be far easier to get a perfect stripe by painting the white or yellow first. Then you mask the stripe with one strip of masking tape and no worries about parallel lines on the stripes. If you paint the white first the yellow will come out better with probably just one coat.

Quote from: seadude on March 11, 2025, 09:10:56 AMThere's a model contest this coming weekend in Madison. Maybe I can ask some modelers there for some advice on what to do.
I may also take my carrier in to my local model club meeting in April and see what members have to say.

Good ideas 

Quote from: jcf on March 11, 2025, 05:11:42 PMSeal the edges of the tape used for the stripes with a little bit of brushed on clear varnish, acrylic or other - it doesn't matter, to limit, or hopefully prevent, paint creeping under the tape.

You've got to be careful that you don't overdo the amount of varnish to seal the edges, but I use this method a lot.

Well, whatever I decide, it's going to be several weeks before I paint the flight deck. So I've got plenty of time to think about it.
Until then, I'll probably start working on painting all the aircraft. I've got about almost 70 right now built.
How many I actually put on the carrier deck depends on how badly I screw up painting the deck.
All the planes will come in handy for covering up bad spots and errors on the deck.     
I still need to buy a few more F/A-18F and MQ-25 aircraft, but those will have to wait till I get my tax refund.
As I may have said in the past, I'm not going to detail the aircraft that much, especially with squadron markings.

Quote from: seadude on March 12, 2025, 12:11:34 PMHow many I actually put on the carrier deck depends on how badly I screw up painting the deck.
All the planes will come in handy for covering up bad spots and errors on the deck.     

 

"Always look on the bright side of life"     

Quote from: seadude on March 12, 2025, 12:11:34 PMHow many I actually put on the carrier deck depends on how badly I screw up painting the deck.

Depending on the "screw up" you can always write what happens into the back story. For example, spots of colour on the deck can be down to paint spillage when painting markings on an aircraft as the flight deck gave easier access to what needed painted and the ventilation was better than in the hanger.

Gondor

QuotePaint the deck white, run strips of tape for the stripes, spray the grey and then remove the tape. Presto white stripes, go back and tape off for the yellow areas and use a brush to apply the yellow.

After thinking about it, that probably sounds like what I may end up doing as that seems to be the best option.
I went to a model contest today to ask and get more opinions on painting my flight deck. Sadly, I never got much of a chance to talk to people as everybody was busy talking about their own models at the contest. I did talk to my modeling friend that I went with to the contest and he pretty much agreed about doing the flight deck as I quoted above.

Below are some sample pics I took of items painted with the dark grey I'll be using for the flight deck. The flight deck will be mainly spray can painted, then I'll use a small bottle of Vallejo paint for touchups and missed spots, etc.
The first two pics below are at different angles and slightly different lighting conditions. Do both paints look the same to you guys, or does the elevator pieces look like they may be just a tad "slightly" darker than the larger sheet styrene piece? Sometimes, smaller bottles of Vallejo paint don't exactly match up to larger spray cans and vice versa.

In the top picture the elevator parts look slightly darker but in the second picture it doesn't look that way. I'd chalk it up to the lighting. That said, a slight difference might actually show off the elevator parts to an advantage. I'd say go for it!

Quote from: kerick on March 15, 2025, 11:03:48 PMIn the top picture the elevator parts look slightly darker but in the second picture it doesn't look that way. I'd chalk it up to the lighting. That said, a slight difference might actually show off the elevator parts to an advantage. I'd say go for it!

I 2^nd that!

Quote from: Pellson on March 16, 2025, 12:24:21 AM

Quote from: kerick on March 15, 2025, 11:03:48 PMIn the top picture the elevator parts look slightly darker but in the second picture it doesn't look that way. I'd chalk it up to the lighting. That said, a slight difference might actually show off the elevator parts to an advantage. I'd say go for it!

I 2^nd that!

Yup, thirded here 

Quote from: NARSES2 on March 16, 2025, 01:53:09 AM

Quote from: Pellson on March 16, 2025, 12:24:21 AM

Quote from: kerick on March 15, 2025, 11:03:48 PMIn the top picture the elevator parts look slightly darker but in the second picture it doesn't look that way. I'd chalk it up to the lighting. That said, a slight difference might actually show off the elevator parts to an advantage. I'd say go for it!

I 2^nd that!

Yup, thirded here 

Fourthed!

I agree as well. Rember that the paint shade may not be exactly the same all over, the deck will take more than one tin of paint to cover in real life and it will weather as well so some variation will happen.

Gondor