Ready for the final colour

A nice cleaning was done with a 3000 grit abrasive on the yellow paint to remove the little inclusions. It was time to mask what will be the yellow stripes and markings. The main yellow stripe running from the white spot on the nose to the engine bulkhead was really straightforward. Decals showed that it was 13mm wide, so I made a masking ribbon of the same width and placed it on the body in three steps. The first was on the nose cone. There is a small challenge in making sure that the curved edge near the future white dot will be sharp and graceful. I used the second steel washer bought in that purpose and made a circular cut, the radius of which is 1,5mm larger than the dot itself. It was put into position thanks to its opposite cut out and aligned with the axis of the whole body thanks to two references. My first reference is the line drawn on the mask of the dot. The second one was a mark drawn on a piece of masking tape put near the windscreen area. The longer the distance between those marks is of course the better, and once the nose is placed onto the main body, it is easy to put the first mask into place. I removed the nose cone and wrapped the remaining of the mask on the inside. I used a toothpick to make sure there is no air trapped near the edges of the mask nor around the wrapping area.
The second step is even easier. I put the nose back onto the body and use the new mask as a starting point. Aligning the stripe is done thanks to the rivet shapes on the upper body panel. Again, I made sure that there was no air trapped, especially on the concave-convex area near the windscreen.
The final step was the little stripe behind the driver, easily positioned thanks to the rivets on the body.
















The tip of the nose is entirely wrapped. I had to make the mask totally from scratch. References about the width and shape of the yellow "mouth" contradict a bit. Restored chassis show a thin "lip" and a long-ish straight stripe to the white dot. Photographs from Mr Oliver's book show wider lips and almost no straight stripe, which is what I tried to copy. I used the decal (which is, by the way, a third way of seeing the mouth) as a template. The fillet joining the stripe to the lips is approximately the same as the radius of the white numbering circles, so my beloved steel washer came into action once again. As with the first mask on the nose, I used the second washer to offset the mask a bit. I then tried to wrap the mouth with as even a width as I could.
Each time I feel that the spacing between the new mask and the maks for the white dot is too narrow, I use a toothpick to push back the mask a little. I just hope it will not cause a mess with the new coats of paint.

The "team Lotus" side markings are a bit tricky. The easier way would be to proceed by masking the areas not to be sprayed, however that is not to be the case. I have to mask the exact words, with each letter perfectly aligned and spaced. I do not think there is much choice. First thing is to draw the markings on a piece of tape, then to follow the edges of the letters with the knife. Easier said than done... Despite my efforts, I cannot do something efficient enough to have all the letters perfectly aligned and spaced, so I give up on this. I now have a choice: either there will not be any "Team Lotus" markings or I will try to paint them by hand after I have painted the body in BRG. In any case I cannot use the decal since the yellow tint is not the same as the Tamiya paint and the lettering is a bit offset.