how to use liquid canopy masking

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Techniques
1

Hello All,

After hacking away at my first 3 models, I decided it was time to attempt a canopy. So far the results are not great. I bought some of the Tamiya yellow masking tape, and did kind of OK, but I am afraid I will go completey insane spending hours trying to tape up an intricate canopy frame.

Went out a bought some Mold Builder, and have had no success. What I tried to do with the Mold Builder is cover the entire canopy, let it dry, and cut out the frame. It has not worked. I use a new knife blade, but I always have a spot somewhere that does not get cut through, and it pulls the mask up.

Am I going about this the correct way?

If I have to tape all the canopies for the P-61 in progress, I am afraid my wife will walk in and find me sobbing on the floor.

Thanks for any advice.

2

it’s not unusual at all to have some paint bleed under any mask, although I’ve had better luck with the liquid masks. although i’ve been using the Tamiya tape lately.

when using the Tamiya tape make sure to burnish it down really well along the canopy frame using a burnishing tool, q-tip, etc.

one of the factors that can be causing the paint to bleed can be how you are going about painting the frame itself. my best results have been using an airbrush, but you could paint using a paintbrush. if using a paintbrush, try painting along the canopy frame and avoid painting in a perpendicular manner to the tape.

while the paint is drying, not wet and not completely cured, is the best time to remove the tape. remember to pull the tape off at about a 45 degree angle back over itself.

dipping the canopy in future floor polish before painting the frame can aid in removing any paint that bleed under the tape.

hope this will help keep you off the floor!

3

Sorry, I did not explain myself very well. I do not get to the point of painting, as I try to remove the part of the mask for the frame, I always end up pulling up part of the mask that needs to stay put. So I try to cut through the mask so I can remove that part of the mask, but always ruin the rest of the mask when I try to remove the part I have cut.

I will definitely try your idea on the Future before painting.

Thanks for the help.

4

Personally, I only use the liquid mask for things like windows. If a canopy has a support or something through it I go with the tamiya tape and a sharp #11 blade. It is slow, and a little tedious, but that is true of most things in this hobby.

5

I have some Abteilung liquid mask but have thus far only used it for wavy camo patterns. I do use Tamiya tape for canopies and as someone else mentioned burnishing it is certainly a necessity. I also find it’s easier to cut narrow strips of the approximate length as opposed to wider ones that require more trimming. Meaning; i don’t cover all the “glass” just the stuff adjacent to the framing. I always hand paint with a very fine brush running parallel to the framework. Also as previously mentioned future helps with cleanups of spots. Good luck!

6

I have tried canopies a few times with liquid mask & have never been completely happy with it, I find that I just can’t get as clean and edge as I do with tape & in the same way as you are finding, it sometimes doesn’t trim perfectly. Although I have used it to fill in the area inside the tape to speed things up, where it works very well

You could try using a soft pencil & paper to make a relief of the canopy or canopy panels & then place this down on Tamiya tape & cut your own mask, it works very well, but again it will take time - especially on something like the P-61.

7

I am still trying to use liquid masks. It is about the hardest task in model building. I have over sixty years of modeling experience but have not mastered that stuff yet. I gave up on parafilm, but have not given up on liquid mask yet. I mostly use the tamiya tape and just take the time. But then, I build ship models among my modeling genre, so I have learned patience.

8

I have tried louqid mask no good gave I do real good with eduard pre cut masks when ever possible if there is no eduard for my model. Then I don’t do the canopy frame because i’ll mess it up so I just have to leave it undone. ACESES5[2cnts]

9

I don’t have any luck with liquid masks. I do the tape routine, and if it’s big enough, silly putty.

10

Here’s another tip- if using paper masks like Tamiya tape or Eduard mask sets, after applying and burnishing the edges down good, I seal all around the edges of each mask using Future and a small brush. Let it cure ovenight, then paint the frame color. This nicely prevents the paint from bleeding under the masks.

11

In my opinion, ditch the liquid masks and follow Swanny’s guide here: http://www.swannysmodels.com/Canopies.html

I learnt how to mask canopies soley from that link, and I’ve never had dramas with paint bleeds, lifting of masks etc. As everyone above has said, the trick with masking tape is to cut in very small strips and then burnish well.

I’ve tried two types of liquid masks, one was maskol (purple colour) and another was the “Mr…” range - blue colour.

The blue “Mr Mask” (or whatever it’s called) was completely useless and it ended up fogging some of my canopies (despite using a Future equivalent first).

The Maskol is ok, but i framed the canopy outlines first with thin strips of tape, then painted it on the large areas of exposed canopy.

However, I can’t find anything that removes Maskol from my paintbrushes and I ended up ruining a brush every time I used it. So now, (when i do use it) I only use it for wheel wells and pour it in.

Anyhow, I digress.

Read the above link, get a good metal rule, a sharp blade and a good cutting surface - like a piece of glass or porcelain and then give it a go.

FYI, i airbrush, but if you hand brush, you might have some issues with bleeding.

It takes time, but it’s worth it. My nightmare was masking all the canopies on a 1/72 TBF Avenger. I took two nights to do, but it looked amazing when done.

One downside to using tape though - I haven’t figured out how to mask circular frames - such as on the Avenger, the rear gunner has a small oval frame. I ended up hand painting that.

Chris.

12

I have not found a liquid masking medium of any description which could be trimmed (when dry) with a knife blade without it pulling away from the edge/surface. For the canopies I have done, I have used the (1) tiny strips of masking tape and backfill with liquid mask method (2) apply clear tape overall and use a sharp blade to remove tape from frame lines.

Further, I have found the more common liquid masking mediums like Humbrol Maskol and Gunze’s Mr Masking Sol Neo to be unfriendly to acrylic paints, especially when applied too heavily.

Chris: If you used the same Gunze masking solution that I mentioned, it may in fact have been the Future on your canopy which fogged, rather than the canopy itself. I find that the Gunze product will eat acrylic paints and Future having an acrylic base, well… I also tend to apply this and Maskol using a toothpick rather than a paintbrush

13

Thanks for all the help. The guide was a very good one. I have read 3 or 4 articles on masking canopies also; trouble is, I have a heck of a hard time getting a nice square fit of tape in a square corner! Ah well, practice makes perfect…or practice makes better [:D]

This (my first) canopy I ended up taping, and filled in the center areas with the liquid mask. I got a little paint creep under the mask, but not bad. Most of the flaws were from the flaws in the masking job. Also, on this one the frame was not well defined, so there was some guess work involved to boot.

I guess it is time to suck it up, and begin the P-61 canopies!

Thanks again for the help, it is much appreciated.

14

Phil_H: it was that Gunze Mr Masking Sol I used. Interesting about it’s attack on acrylics. Sounds like it was that reaction which caused the fogging.

Also, what clear tape do you use? Any normal sticky tape, or is there a special type? I would have thought the adhesive on most tapes would leave some residue - so i’ve been too scared to ever try.

Chris.

15

MGH: to remove that paint creep, I think most people recommend just scratching off with a toothpick. Hopefully somebody else here might be able to confirm that as the best method?

Look forward to seeing some of your builds.

Chris.

16

I am trying to work up the courage to post some picks of an AD-6 Skyraider, but for every one thing I think looked OK, there are 2 things that look bad!

17

Hehe, I think most of us feel like that. [;)]

18

Been using FASMASK by Parma International. It cleans up with soap and water so the brushes keep clean. It also covers well and I will use it by it self some times but most of the time I tape the edges and liquid mask the center. when using the tape I cut the ends on an angle and overlap the ends in the corners.

I picked it up at an RC shop.