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What do you use to mask for camos?


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I am the cheapest camo masking dude!! :thumbsup: I use old newspaper as mask. Just cut it into shape, attach it with some cheap masking tape or regular scotch tape and the real trick is on how to spary the paint, very light coats, let it dry for a few seconds and shoot again. Flats work great since dry fast but a bit more time and practice is needed for gloss coats. Check some of my work

http://www.freewebs.com/qsscalemodels/

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:wave: It just depends on what I am trying to accomplish on a particular build. I've used Silly Putty rolled super thin, masking tape, construction paper, Post-It notes, etc. Obviously, if you're looking for a soft edge, the paper needs to be slighty up from the surface. I've even done camo patterns freehand with just the airbrush. It can be time consuming, but the outcome is usually worth it. HTH, Ivan :thumbsup:
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Very simple Grasshopper...I buy the low tack 3M painters tape...about 2" wide...draw out the area to be covered on the tape which I then cut out then lay in some thread on the tacky side about 1/8" in from the edge.

I spray the model with the lighter colour and when dry start adding the masks.

When the model is completely masked, I spray the open areas with the final colour.

i.e.: Spitfire/Hurricane...underside medium sea grey then mask hard edge. Then spray Dark Green...lay on the masks...spray Ocean Grey or Dark Earth as required.

The thread raises the edge very spightly and when spraying the final colour, I keep the airbrush perpendicular to the masked area. This gives me a nice clean line...no bleed under and no paint build-up along the tape edges.

Using Polly Scale, and having the masks pre-made, I can shoot the entire model ready for the gloss coat in 1.5 hours.....

Barney

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I usually Airbrush Freehand... but it depends of the subject, you're not going to do a Luftwaffe 70/71 Camo with Freehand, you need Hard mask...

And you're not going to hard mask a winter Camo for an Me-110 either :rofl:

Depends of the situation

Take Care

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The original factory applied camoflage patterns were hard edged but the infield were soft edged. By using thread under the edge of the tape, you can regulate the height of the tape edge by pressing the tape down from the centre of the mask to the thread edge...and by spraying at 15 psi you get a very smooth transition between colours.

Give it a try you'll love the effect

Barney

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Oh I've used all of the above! The last camo job I did (my 1/32 Hunter), I used Tamiya tape placed lightly on the model with a pencil used to mark the demarcation line, take the tape off & cut with sharp blade & reapply to the model. Quite time consuming but effective. In order to save tape & money, Maskol was used to fill in the areas between - this was a BIG kit!

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I used to paint-brush my camo by hand, but when I get my airbrush, I'm planning on using cardboard cut out to shape taped on, or try my hand at freehand airbrushing. Masochistic, aren't I?

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...I buy the low tack 3M painters tape...about 2" wide... which  I then cut out then lay in some thread on the tacky side about 1/8" in from the edge.

Barney,

Very good idea for soft-edge cammo: ... The thread.

I will try it on my next cammo scheme.

:rolleyes: :lol: B)

Cheers,

Flores

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Flores...The good thing about this method is that you can get a sharp edge by raising the tape edge just the height of the thread and shooting at 15 psi.

I'm working on a 1/48 scale Hurricane MkXIIB and I'll post some pics of the paint sequence when I get to that stage.

Barney

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Mostly printer quality white paper, varying the height off model surface with blu-tac blobs. Sometimes, i photocopy the instructions diagram (blown up to the same size as model) and cut it out. It is critical to point the airbrush at right-angles to the masked surface, else you tend to get overspray going under the mask which requires frustrating touch-ups.

BTW, I tried the wet newspaper option but could not get it to work - the airbrush blast kept drying it out and it would blow off the model at the critical moment.

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I use silly putty for nice tight demarcation lines and for more soft demarcation lines, I copy the painting instructions on heavy paper to cut out for raised masks.

For sharp lines I copy the instructions onto full-sheet label paper, so it's cut, peel and stick!

Take Care,

Thomas

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