By Matt Colan • Originally published in Stunt News, Summer 2026
Editor’s note: This article was originally published in Stunt News and has been reformatted for digital readability. Original terminology, measurements, and technical details have been preserved where possible.
I’ve always wanted to do checkerboard on an airplane, but it is a hassle to try and mask out for those that don’t have access to a vinyl cutter in their home (like myself). Then one day, I saw a YouTube video from a professional painter doing checkerboard, and the light bulb finally went off! It was far easier than I thought it would be. On the paint scheme of my new plane, I designed, not only checkerboard, but a droopy “psychedelic” checkerboard to make my life harder. The result was worth the 90 minutes of taping and cutting it took and was mostly headache free.
To start with, I made a paper pattern of the shape of the checkerboard I wanted and colored in the checkerboard so I could visualize what I was looking at.
After cutting out the pattern, I taped it on the stab and elevator. I used 1/8” fine line tape to make the outline of the pattern.
Next, I taped off the inside of the pattern. I use purple 3M delicate tape. It’s thin, low tac and I have had very good luck with it.
I cut my template up along the east/west lines and taped each section to the stab. I used 1/8” fine line tape to follow the curve. A couple tries to make it even made it satisfactory. I then used a fresh #11 blade and sliced along the fine line tape. Then, remove the fine line tape.
Then I repeated the same procedure with the north/south lines and put the tape on the inside of the reference marks. Cut with a new #11 blade. At this point you will have cut the checkerboard pattern out.
After that, take another fresh #11 blade and start picking out the pieces you want painted.
When all is said and done, you will have a perfectly masked checkerboard pattern. It took me 4 blades to make sure I had crisp enough lines and not cut into the finish.
After that, paint and mask the rest of the piece as you would want to do.
The end result was something I was extremely excited to see and resulted in minimal touch ups (only from overspray from other colors). This entire technique took about two hours from template making to fully taped, ready for masking and painting. If you don’t have access to a vinyl cutter, this technique will work very well. Of course, a standard checkerboard with no curves in your pattern will make this even easier!
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This article first appeared in the Summer 2026 issue of Stunt News and has been preserved as part of the PAMPA digital archive project.
