Yeah I'm definitely going to be doing that painting tip, local garrison members have also been quite sure to remind me of that lol
As for the stencils I made sure to only slightly curve them and keep the stripes in-line with the helmet while also actually being able to press it flat, before with my first version the paper around the stripe cut-outs was totally straight so it didn't want to conform to the helmet's shape and wouldn't do it's job correctly, second version was too curved but this one is just slightly so that the stripes are still straight and that it actually fits.