I’m at that stage with a kit where I’ve built and painted the interior of my hughes 500D and fit the 2 fueselage halves together. Now I’m kind of scared to progress further…I want to airbrush the fueselage but I’m worried that I’ll get colour on the inside. I’ve tried packing loads of masking tape inside but it wasn’t much good and still would have got paint inside if I had progressed. So my question is this…how do you mask off the painted areas of your models (be it canopies, wheelwells, doorways or cockpits). I need help finding a technique that won’t spoil what I have already done and repainting the inside is not an option at this point. Many thanks.
I usually stuff it with tissues, wetting them will give you a tighter pack (wet, but not dripping), after it dries I wrap the thing up with masking tape just to be on the safe side and to create a clean edge. The most you usually have to do is clean up the edge at bit afterwards. Just take the time to make sure the tissue is covering everything. I just picked up a hint on this forum with using makeup sponges for other areas like jet intakes, seems to work well.
You can also glue the canopy clear parts on with a little white glue and properly masked of course! This way you don your canopy frames at the same time, and if theres any gap between the canopy and the fueselage, you can use some filler before painting to get a really nice finish.
[#ditto] the above comment as it relates to using damp tissue paper. You may also want to consider using Blue Tac which conforms to areas like wheel wells and canopies. If your painted surface is cured, Blue Tac will not harm it when removed.
At first I started using tissues, but I have found that cotton balls work even better. I tear apart the cotton ball to fit into the canopy, exhaust, wheel wells, etc… and it works really well. I have also found that liquid mask is another great way of doing it. At first I was scared to try it on uneven surfaces, but if you spread it on thick with a small paint brush and let it dry for a few hours before painting it will work great. I then let my paint dry for at least 24 hours and then peel off the liquid mask. This stuff is the best invention to modlers I have found yet. It does not leave a residue and will not peel off your paint. I recently built the 1/48 scale B-58 Hustler with the bare metal paint scheme, and for those of you that know, masking tape will peel your aluminim paint right off the plastic[banghead]! Through many trial and errors, with the liquid mask I have become a master masker!?![(-D]
FWIW, blue tac is pretty good for masking but it will leave a mark on flat paint. Go to Menards, if you have one in your area. Same as blue and does not leave any marks.