I get paid for doing what I like; my wife and son still talk to me and I spend almost half the year in Minnesota. Life is sweet. But the dark side of life intrudes - even into modeling. Since returning to the hobby about eight months back I have yet to make an airplane with a cockpit I consider well masked. I dislike masking more than I dislike the Oakland Raiders - that’s a lot. At present I have some EZ masks, Gunze masking solution, masking paper, some kind of odd photo paper and a sheet of aluminum paper. I will try them all. (Masking for standard painting seems to work pretty well, it’s just the cursed cockpits. It’s enough to drive a guy to biplanes or tanks.)
However, the other day, when I was looking at YouTube videos on stretching sprue (kind of fun actually - I’ve heard ship guru Jim Baumann recommends using hair from a metal brush for rigging: can’t be that simple, can it?). There was an editor of Military Modelling showing how to paint cockpits. He recommended against masking unless the circumstances were very unusual. His technique was to get a good fine brush, get the cockpit well anchored, and paint the frame. After an hour of drying, go back with a sharpened toothpick with some windex or thinner and tidy up. That’s it. He also recommended attaching the cockpit with Klear instead of white cement. I suppose that would mean getting some acrylic paints that were trumps for brushing: Vallejo maybe? Any opinions?
Agreed there is nothing worse than spending time masking only to lift it after paint to discover it was all for nothing![bnghead]
Sense canopies are coated in AcrylicFuture before paint I would recommend using Enamel paint for the frames. They cover better and the touch-ups for small mistakes can be done with a toothpick dipped in enamel thinner without effecting the coat of Future.
Here is my experience after having used masks of all types and none.
Masks are great if they are cut & applied correctly, I apply my masks a bit bigger then necessary and use a scrap-book knife to adjust/remove the excess.
If I use a high-textile strength paint like enamel or acrylics I will recut the edge of the masked area ONCE it is dried, on average I will remove the masks soon after painting.
Mask will always be rolled from the edge towards the center of the masked area, NEVER pulled off and NEVER towards the painted edge.
New sharp blade will lift the edge of the mask.
If over-spray/seeping happened I tend to clean it with the point of tooth-pick as it will scrap the paint but nor scar the plastic.
Just the way I do it and there are many times I won’t use a mask but free-hand it.
Y’all are braver than I am. I’ve tried hand painting canopies in the past and it’s always looked like, well, someone tried to hand paint the canopy. No matter how hard I try, I doubt I’ll ever be able to make my brushpainting indistinguishable from my airbrushing.
I’ve personally kind of gotten frustrated with pre-cut masks. The one’s I’ve used are usually just a little off, and they’re kind of a pain to put on all at once, when you have to focus on all lines and corners rather than just one.
I read an article yesterday about using bare metal foil to mask. I tried a bit on a spare canopy last night. Went down great, cut great, but getting it back up is frustrating. Still, I really liked how well it masked. I’m going to give Parafilm-M a shot, too, and maybe end up using a hybrid of the two.
Funny I should come across this. I have been looking for new solutions in this area too. Before reading this I just masked an F-18 canopy as an experiment. The back half is coated in Micro Scale’s white glue product and the front section in regular old Elmers. Not sure what the outcome will be but I wanted to give it a try. I’m really into 1/144 and those canopy frames are small. I guess I should try freehand as well. I’m about to paint Revell’s 1/144th Puma in the tiger meet colors and that canopy has got me running scared1. The front of a helo has so many small windows. I’ll let you all know how my experiment goes. My guess is that since these products are glues it might be hard to get them off. As a side note I was looking at picking up some of the Gunze neo product. Anyone know the difference between this and the Sol R version?
I just picked up some Vallejo liquid mask, and am going to try that out, hopefully this weekend. Anyone ever use that stuff? I the past, when I have masked a canopy (like twice) I have just cut many small-ish pieces of 3M blue painter’s tape and dealt with a bit of bleed wherever I goofed.
I can give a tip, not about masking, but about paint types and such. I did this a few times working on a car kit, trying to give the top of the windshield a clear blue tint.
I used acrylic paints and when I made a mistake I droped it right into a tub of diluted simple green, it only took a short soak before the paint would wipe right off and the part was like new again.
Repeat after me…TAMIYA TAPE! A brand new # 11 blade and a steady hand are also a must. I apply the tape to the canopy, burnish it down with a toothpick or q-tip and carefully cut out the frame work. Its sheer enough that when held in front of a light source you can see the frame through the tape. Ive tried alot of the above mentioned techniques and found I liked this way the best. Give it a try!
I agree with you Trouble maker. I have been using this wonderful tape as soon as it came out in the market. It has good adhesion and no bleeding and does not lift paints. Painting cockpits is really a bane to all modellers. We all have our own style of masking. Each different but works. Personally, what I do is cut very small strips and fill the clear areas with the strips. Rounded corners will comprise several tiny strips to make a curve. Tedious but it works. One thing thought, I keep the tapes in its original plastic sachet to prevent fibers and dust from sticking to the sides.This helps in keeping the outside line sharp.
Yes any contamination of the tape edge will effect the results.
For regular tape stick it to a piece of clean glass and cut off the edge. This way you have a clean, contaminate free, fresh edge to work with each session.
Another vote on what troublemaker66 said and constructor.
When I got back into the hobby I tried all of the above and they all produced sub par results in some manner and a lot of frustration. Tamiya tape, patience and practice will produce positive results.
Here are my steps to perfect canopies:
Patience, Patience, Patience
Coat canopy with future
Tamiya tape using a #11 SHARP blade cut into small strips
Burnish all the edges. Let me repeat…Burnishing is critical.
Don’t remove in the event that you need to use dull / gloss coat.
Remove mask with sharp #11 blade.
I have left Tamiya tape on a canopy for up to 3 weeks and never had a problem when I removed it.
smeagol
Simple green is AWESOME [Y][Y] for acrylic cleaning. I have been using it for years to clean my brushes and airbrush
I had some good results with liquid masking, granted some of the stuff made by some model kit companies is pure rubbish.
Tend to use acrylic gel from the Arts supply store.
For liquid masking I tend to apply liberal and 2~3 coats(one might not give a full cover, than cut edges(to size) using a sharp #11 (same as with masking tape).
After painting I recut the edges to prevent the paint from peeling. when I pull the mask off. pretty much same as using tape.
Parafilm is also good for masking canopies and complex surfaces.
In addition to all this,I remove the maskings a little after the paint is dry to touch. I have experienced that when the paint is very dry the canopy lines is left with the uneven lines. But then that is my personal experience. The tape is really the answer to my masking need.
Unless you can get your hands on an Eduards pre-cut mask kit, the best solution is regular, old fashioned scotch tape. It’s cheap, readily available and simple to use.
Tamiya tape is great - if you can see the frames underneath. If not, you’re just cutting blind. Scotch tape allows to see the frames and trim precisely. In 1/48, finding the frames isn’t so bad. But in 1/72 and smaller, the frames are barely visible. Put masking tape over them and you have no idea where you’re going.
Dip the canopy in Future and let cure a few days. Mask with scotch tape as you would with any other tape (trim, burnish, etc). Dip again in Future and let cure a few more days (this is why the canopy should be the first thing you work on when you open a kit). Paint and then remove the mask. Sometimes, scotch tape will leave a little residue. Dip a q-tip in windex and wipe it off. Re-apply the Future with a brush. Since it’s self-leveling, it won’t leave brush strokes.
Tamiya tape is tooooo expensive. There are two perfect alternatives which work just a good but are much cheaper. The first is Sherwin Williams rice tape. It was on clearance at the Sherwin Williams stores and is the exact same material and adhesive just in a normal masking tape roll size. They were in the process of discontinuing it so go fast. (The scotch brand tape for delicate surfaces is almost as good an alternative.) My second equally good but much cheaper alternative is to use chrome or gold Monokote adhesive trim sheets. The come in 4" wide by 36" long pieces for about $3 and you can slice and dice them to fit all needs.
I have to add for completeness that the best cockpit mask is to use the canopy to fill the hole. I think the author meant for this thread to be the best canopy mask and since everyone else answered along those lines so did I. However, to clarify I always attach my masked canopy over the cockpit with Testor’s glue for clear parts during painting of the model. That way I get good matching between the canopy frames and the fuselage color. If you want it open after painting you just pop it off with a #11 under the sill and reattach where you want it. Don’t forget to spray the interior color before you spray the exterior color. Also don’t forget to paint the edge that attaches to the fuselage to avoid that nasty refraction effect.
I’m curious about this, constructor. One the one hand, I can totally see the logic in it, but on the other I can’t at all. When I paint canopies, I’m putting down at least three coats - interior, exterior, and clear - and sometimes more if there’s weathering involved. This process usually unfolds over a few days as I paint the rest of the aircraft…so wouldn’t removing the maskings a little compromise the mask for the next coats?
Also, a solution I found that worked for removing masks. It’s not as elegant as prying up a corner and peeling gently with tweezers, but I’m always scared of scratching the canopy with the blade as I pry (and when I tried BMF, it tore as often as peeled):
Trace the edge of the mask with a sharp blade
With a toothpick, start at the corner and push the mask toward the center
Do this for all four corners and remove
This will usually leave some pretty nasty adhesive residue, so use Goo Gone (I’ve read that WD40 works, too) to remove the adhesive. It won’t damage the Future or paint.
I just keep all my various rolls of tape in a big ziplock freezer bag. It’s pretty effective for keeping all my tape free of the nasties.
I just got my first set of Eduard masks, but I got it before I decided to go with a Squadron vacform canopy for my current aircraft build…dunno if they’ll fit the vacform canopy the same as the stock Tamiya canopy or not. The vacform one appears to have some detail not present on the stock canopy. Guess I’ll find out soon enough.
I use Goo Gone for this, and it’s also great applied to a toothpick for cleaning up any bleed-through and straightening out my apparently not-so-well masked lines, especially for acrylics…I’ve found that it works best if the paint is dry but not fully cured although with a little more effort I’ve found it works well even on fully cured acrylic paint. Wrap a little bit of cotton from a cotton ball around the tip and you have a mini-cuetip that you can apply more pressure with without worrying about scratching. Goo Gone is a must-have on my modest bench.
What do you think is too expensive? The last time I bought Tamiya tape I paid $4.25 for the 18mm with the dispenser and $2.29 for both the 10 and 6mm refills. They last for quite a while…I use it for canopy masking and paint demarcation lines. Large areas get masked with anything that’ll work like paper towels, notebook paper and wide painters tape. For masking off a cockpit theres nothing like a roll of toilet paper. It`s a little stiffer than facial tissue and can be manipulated a little more to get into tight spots. I pull off a shett at atime and fill the entire cockpit untill everything is covered. I usually install canopies last.