Lots of people talk up the benefits of silly putty, blue tac, or tamiya tape…but it is very seldom that I read about liquid mask…why is that? Is it not as effective or just as simple as personnal choice. Anyone here swear by, and only use liquid mask…if so please tell me/us why you prefer it over other methods.
I personally like Silly Putty for the same reasons others do, it’s quick and easy with no mess or fuss… I’ve seen some spectacular work done with masking fluid though. I think you nailed it with it boiling down to personal choice…
I’d also love to hear from someone who uses masking fluid…
KC
I’ve tried liquid mask, and I’ve found it hard to remove, and hard to control. I also don’t ike that I have to wait for it to dry.
Silly Putty can be slapped on in 15 minutes, painted, and removed with no residue whatsoever in minutes. I’ve had wrestling matches with Micromask (That blue stuff) that left me exhausted from trying to remove it all, especially in grooves or complex curves.
Karl is being very kind…IMHO the liquid mask is a PIA to get off. Hard to work with. Never goes exactly where you want. It was a waste of money!!! It found the round file a long time ago.
Silly putty forever [oX)]
Rounds Complete!!
With Silly Putty, can you get a sharp demarkation line between painted surfaces or masked colors or is it more of a blend/fade?
Can you use it on Aircraft canopies(forgive me for asking this in the Armor forum) ?
I think if you applied silly putty carefully enough you could do canopies, but I’ve never tried to use it like that. Normally when applied, you get hard line definition between colors. Although, theoretically you could experiment and get soft line definitions as well-but that would be difficult and hard, and defeat the purpose.
These may be stupid questions, but… How do you shape the silly putty? How much do you normally need on hand for a typical model? How long can you leave it on after painting?
I’ve only used it on several models; but it worked well. What you do is buy some silly putty-I recommend looking at some cheap knockoffs-same stuff, but cheaper without the name brand. On your model, paint the base color and let dry. Next, you mask the areas that you want to remain the base color-just take small blobs of silly putty and stretch them over those sections. Just use your fingers and press it down lightly to ensure a seal, shove it into cracks etc. Then paint the next color. I would recommend waiting until the coat of paint is dry to the touch at least until you remove it. Your silly putty will come off, leaving a hard line color difference between the two colors; with no residue. Just repeat until you’ve got all your colors on! My silly putty has turned a shade of german gray-it was once greenish/glow in the dark…
The only thing here that is stupid is the question not asked!!
Shape by rolling, flatten then drap onto the model. I use a dental tool to get the edge exactly where I want but any small tool would do.
On hand…one egg is good for a 1/35 model. Don’t worry, you can use it over and over. It seems to suck up the paint with no problem…But keep a spare egg in the drawer
I use acrylic so about 15 -20 minutes after it dries I remover the putty. You can leave it on longer. If the putty becomes too soft to remove, a quick dip in the freezer for 5 min will make it stiff enought to remove.
Hope that helps
Rounds Complete!!
Thanks beav and redleg…those were exactally the kinds of answers I was looking for![tup]
Here’s my Silly Putty tutorial:
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You know I actually went shopping for silly putty today. Was quite the task as I was shocked to see three different types. There was original, brightly colored, and glow in the dark types all labeled Silly putty!
For the record if you read doog’s signature you will find I fall into a third category of person. ( Those that shouldn’t think)
I used Liquid Mask for the first time on The vision blocks of my Leo 2A5. In the past I put the vision blocks in last and at times it was tedious. Now this time, with the blocks masked before paiting, it worked well for me. I think I will use liquid mask for vision blocks in the future. And I had no problem removing it.
Hmmmm actually the mask I choose depends on the job I need done. Blue tak and silly putty work well for hard lines or even softer ones if you roll them into a snake shape along the edge. Liquid mask is ok for some stuff but can be tricky to get loose. Certainly have to outline it with a hobby knife to get a good clean edge but is good for irregular shapes. Using silly putty on smaller things like periscopes and canopies can be tricky as a smaller amount can be prone to shrinkage or distortion after a short time. Can be troublesome if more than 1 coat is needed. Just gotta go with what works for you!
Darn there I go thinking again… ouch!
Got another use for Sillyputty, used it as a jig to align a couple of PE parts for soldering, small parts so they didn’t heat up to badly. Yes the putty did melt a bit but I left it in place long enough to solidify again and it came off just fine. I wouldn’t think of using it in this matter on large thick PE parts, the heat would be too great.