Masking and painting gun barrels and recessed ports.

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Painting and airbrushing
1

I am curious as to how others go about painting the recessed gun ports and protruding gun barrels, found on wings. Specifically in 1/48 and 1/72 scale.

On a recent 1/72 Spitfire Mk I build, I pre-painted both the ports and protruding barrels and then masked them using Blu-Tack. The Blu-Tack failed to remain tightly wrapped around one of the barrels resulting in some discoloration from the final paint; removing the Blu-Tack with a pin was at best tedious.

Paint before or after the final coat? How to mask effectively? As a novice: I am curious to find how the more experienced handle this task.

2

For such things, I would hand-paint them last with the appropriately sized brush and paint. I would not even try to airbrush such things.

Blu-tack is tricky- I’ve never had come off cleanly when used as a mask. I prefer to use either 3-M blue painter’s tape or the yellow Tamiya masking tape.

Hope that helps

3

I hand paint them last or near the end of the build. Exception is when you can put the barrels or blast tubes in after assembly (see P-47 blast tubes on many kits). Those I will airbrush and drop in at the very end.