I’ve tried a bunch of things like scotch and normal ace hardware tape but the paint somewhat leaks through[V] any tape you know of?
I’m a big believer in Future and Tamiya Tape.
First I dip the canopies in Future and let drip dry. I dip them twice.
Then I mask and spray a very light coat of Future over the masked canopy. This stops the bleed under you’ve experienced. Paint the interior cockpit color (except on NMF!), let dry fully, then spray on the exterior color. CAREFULLY and with a new #11 or fresh scalpel blade trace along the tape and remove.
You should now have a perfect canopy!
[#ditto] Bgrigg’s comment. I had always used Tamiya tape and didn’t have bleed through however by soaking in Future, letting it dry my canopies come out so much clearer. Soaking twice sounds even better. There is also a blue colored tape at some hardware stores and this is used by painters, low adhesion. Main thing is get something that is made for masking paint.
Ed
[#ditto]…yeah…the blue ‘painters’ masking tape has been a boon over the old thicker yellow masking tape and certainly handles better than any transparent tape.
With the advent of the use of Future things seem to have gotten less problematic.
I would suggest though…when laying your tape down…go very slowly and try to avoid ‘folds’ or ‘overlaps’ when masking a compound curve. If you go slowly enough you can avoid these wrinkles at the tape edge. And, as mentioned above, a dip in Future afterward helps seal those edges.
I have been away from modeling for many years and have been experimenting with the techniques I’ve learned here. I practice on clear plastic from like Sharpie packages…and any junk that has compound curves…it doesn’t have to be ‘clear’
[2c]
Nam
[#ditto] the Future and Tamiya tape combo is hard to beat.
Tamiya and the stuff that Cammett Ltd sells get my votes. This what I use:
OK thanks everyone its appearant that I have to get some Tamiya Tape already got future. Once again thanks.
Tamiya here also. [;)]
What about liquid masks? I have some that I got at hobby lobby that seems to work OK. Does any one use something like this?
Grizz
I’ve tried a couple of different liquid masks, and always end up getting better results with good old fashioned tape.
Bgrigg, interesting approach, I think I am going to give that a try.
I myself use bare metal foil approach. Cut out sections from the BMF lay them on the canopy and rub with a finger then get in there with a q-tip, old brush anything soft enough that won’t rip the foil but at the same time will allow you to put some good pressure on it and get into the small reassesses. Cut out the areas you want to paint with a #11 knife and then run the q-tip again to make sure everything is flat.
The BMF may cost a bit more but one sheet will last many canopies and probably less time consuming than other masking, liquid or not. But I can get a bit lazy lol.