Painting - A Review of Masking Techniques
Sorry for the essay @Toimi_Tom, but I figure I’ll take you for a tour on the complete thought process if only to imply that there was actually a thought process…
Most folks will use a putty mask which is probably fine to achieve a notional pattern, but I feel like you need to be an Auguste Rodin level of sculptor to achieve a specific pattern. Many putties will leave a residue behind that can either stain the model or cause debonding of following paint layers. The low-residue options like AK Camouflage Elastic Putty have a tendency to mobilise and droop after a few hours, which can render those Rodin-level sculpting skills practically irrelevant. You’ll also tend to get a harder edge with a direct-to-surface mask, and will need to rely on colour filters, super-gentle brushwork or a low-pressure airbrush pass to eliminate the starkness particularly on something like the three-tone German camo we’re going for.
When I put the same scheme down on my Panther, I initially tried to freehand it from the airbrush but I felt that the patterns weren’t tight enough and I was running on too high a pressure (even at 12psi)
I then went through a very convoluted process of upscaling and printing the painting guide from the instructions and then physically cutting out masks either directly from the printout or tracings of the printout on baking paper. This process included digitally stretching elements of the orthogonal instructions to account for slope of the armour relative to the point of view. While this method help create a softer and more diffused edge than a hard mask, it was very fiddly and yielded inconsistent results due to inconsistent relief of the mask from the model. It was also time-sensitive because I didn’t want masks sitting on underlying paint for too long.
What I found when doing the touchup rounds was that if I kept the airbrush pressure low, like around 8psi, I had a lot of control with the edge pattern. To that end, I figure I just needed more direction on the model rather than free-handing directly with an airbrush/
In their simple but effective approach to the same 1:48 Tamiya Panther, ARS TV Plastic Model had freehand brush-painted their camouflage pattern outline and then filled in by airbrushing:
To be on the safe side and minimise brushwork touchups of edges, I’ll lightly pencil the pattern onto the model. The brush-painted pattern edge might be a bit redundant, but it will ensure coverage of the pencil marks before the pattern gets airbrushed to completion