I've used both Rhino3D and Adobe Ilistrator. The later gives you a wider amount of color control.

Now, for agot ya. If you work from a 2D, IE3 view drawing for your base, and say you have acomplex pattern for the wing, you have to take into con
sideration the fact the the actual surface of the wing is bigger than the2D drawing of the wing. If you have thesoftwareto do it, make a 3D drawing of the wing, fuselage, etc and lay out your covering pattern on it. In Rhino3d, there is a function called "smash" that truns the 3d surface into a2D sheet. When you cut to this drawing, the parts will trun out right on theplane. When cut from a 2D layout, they will end upshort at times.

On a surface like a flat slab rudder or elevator, the 2D is usually OK. However, the curvs of the wing and fuselage can drive you nuts. My Ruberts Dad, RIP, was one of those times. The Ilayed it out in Rhino 3D and also imported it into Illistrator for coloring. When I cut the parts and then started the layup, every seam was a compromise. Thank goodness for the 1/8" wide black auto trim tape.

Don