Hello!
Lately I’ve been keeping myself busy with the Hobby Boss CV9040. However, i was wondering if anyone has any ideas on how i could mask the rather complicated splinter camouflage pattern, especially around particularly annoying details like the boarding ladder on the rear panel, while still maintaining a hard edge:
Also, is there a preferred order to paint the colours or do i just go with the usual lightest to darkest, also in relation to area coverage and reference images?
TIA
I would probably go with lightest to darkest myself. Getting a hard line behind that ladder on the back will be tough. I would think about removing it prior to paint, reattach after and do any touchups after. There was an article in FSM September 1990 Issue: titled “Painting the formidable Viggen splinter camouflage” by Chip Jean, might be useful to you. Obviously a bit different on armour, but a good starting point.
Also this may be useful.
Thank you for your reply! The ladder is held on by hopes and dreams as of now, it’s very, and i mean VERY fiddly and fragile, if i remove it it’s never gonna go back on. If push comes to shove, i might just paint the whole thing OD green and call it done.
A little while ago I did a tank from Border Models- it was a tank from the Command & Conquer Red Alert 2 video game. The Swedish hard edged vehicle camo was one of my inspirations for the camo scheme.
Light to dark colors is how I went about it. For masking I used Tamiya Masking Tape For Curves- this is a white tape that will conform over and around details and complex shapes- exactly what is required for your project.
Here is a pic of how my tank looked prior to spraying the final color.
As you can see it requires quite a bit of masking but the hard edges were mostly mapped out with the white tape before using regular masking tape for the in between areas. Ensuring the white tape was snugged down over the details prior to airbrushing was probably the most important thing.
This is how it turned out.
Also, here is a couple of good shots of the rear of the CV-90 with the splinter camo.
Best of luck with your project!
A very nice job on the camouflage. I struggle with masking. You are clearly a master!
Hello!
Here’s how mine turned out:
More about how I did it here:
Hope it helps - have a nice day!
Paweł
Ha- I’m no expert on that front- my aircraft canopies will attest to that! But having a good set of masking tapes plus a plan of how to go about it makes things go smoothly (usually!).
Looks quite neat, any advice on what to do with that ladder? Do you think it could work if i mask underneath it?
TIA
Thanks! I believe in this case I would remove the ladder, paint it separately and add before weathering. Same thing with the shovels. Good luck with your build and have a nice day!
Paweł
Yeah if it is already glued your best bet would be to mask underneath it and then simply brush paint it to match the pattern.
Painting is basically done, thank you so much to everyone that has helped me with this challenging pattern! 
This is how i painted around the ladder:
That is superb looking- you totally nailed it!
Lookin’ good! Your work has paid off!
Excellent work, particularly around the troublesome ladder. Very convincing!
Definitely looks the part, well done.
