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Masking Symmetrically?


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Hey All,

 

Here's a question I have wrestled with for years, and have searched for answers and failed to find any (not that there aren't plenty of answers out there).  How do you symmetrically mask your models?  Let me give an example.  I am working on an 1/48 Eduard P-51D, and I'm at the point of masking  to paint the olive drab panel in front of the canopy, as well as the red nose part of the 'Ridge Runner III' paint scheme.  For all the years I've been making models, I have always masked 'by eye', to try to make opposite sides of features or markings on airplanes to be exactly the same on both sides of a fuselage, and most of the time, it turns out reasonably okay, but sometimes, after I'm done, I realize I've failed miserably in getting opposite sides to be symmetrically masked and painted.  I know that one answer is simply to re-mark one side and paint it again once the 'error' has been identified, but that's more work, and sometimes causes real problems.  I'm just wondering if anyone has any good/simple ideas about how to measure and mask, the FIRST TIME, so that markings end up being exactly the same on both sides of a fuselage. I realize that this should be a very basic skill, but it's one I've never mastered, and I'm looking for any thoughts you bright folks may have and use.  For those of you who are WWII German armor builders as well, like me, a similar problem exists for how to properly position and glue mounting hooks for spare track links on opposite sides of symmetrical turrets.  Thanks in advance! 🙂

Edited by Curt B
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Thanks, Bob.  Your answer is, of course, a super-straightforward method.  I've honestly not gone to that degree (which also explains why so many of my painted markings don't look very symmetrical), and my hope for an alternate, as yet unthought of (by me) method was/is probably only a pipe dream.  I'm just lazy, I guess, but I want to improve my skills, so off to divider world I go...  😋

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You could also use just a narrow strip of paper. For argument's sake, place it across the top of the fuselage and place a tick mark at the center of the fuselage top and another where the masking tape should go. I did that on a car model to locate the roof top antennas. One piece told me how far in from the roof edge and the other how far back from the front edge. No unintentional damage to the model was well.

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  • 3 months later...

Use tinfoil (or other suitable strata) that will form over your model. Use an indelible marker to note your demarcation points. Cut it to size and use it as a master to cut your tapes.

I usually cut on a sheet of clean glass and don't use the edge of the tape as it's usually fuzzy. When doing 'scallops' or other bilateral designs you can flip your foil or make a cardstock duplicate and then just flip it to produce your masks.

HTH

Keeper

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I foresaw exactly the problem that you describe, for the blue & black stripe on the Revell 1/72 YF-16 / FSD F-16. I used CorelDraw to define the mask, and it took a few tries to get it right, as shown below. Then a club member used his Silhouette cutter to cut vinyl masks. It's a laborious route, but it should work well.

 

f16-10.jpg

 

Rob

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