Bell X-4 'Bantam'

Dave Burgess Autor
I decided to do the prototype version of the X-4 early in the program, when it was painted International Orange with black stripes and still sported US Air Force markings (before NACA). A much more interesting paint scheme than the boring white, but I couldn't find any pics of it painted this way on the internet. I relied on the reference drawings and description provided by Airmodel.

Dave Burgess Autor
Given the complexity of the stripe pattern, I chose to mask and paint it in 7 stages: wing stripes; upper body stripes; lower body stripes; vertical stab stripes; intake stripe; nose scallop; and anti-glare panel. That allowed me to do a minimum of finicky masking, and just cover the rest of the a/c with a quick paper mask. Photo album details the progress. For the nose scallop, I taped some yellow Tamiya tape on a piece of thin styrene sheet, and ran it through a 3-hole punch a few times. I took the tape off 4 of the punched out circles and formed the mask for the scallop.

Nathan Dempsey
Interesting subject. I like the choice of the orange coloring.