Masking camo patterns with Maskol and Blutak?

[Guest]

I'm nearly ready to start the camo spraying on my 1/48th Spitfire and after some practice this week I'm going with the Blutak (or Whitetak) route. The thing is when you use the Blutak sausage method what do you use to fill in and mask the area you don't want sprayed?

I've tried using Tamiya tape a few weeks back on top of acrylic paint, which had been giving a few days to set before hand, and on careful removal of the tape it managed to peel some of the masked paint off!! So don't really want to use it again.

I was thinking of getting some Maskol to fill in between the Blutak but was wondering if it would react with the Blutak or acrylic paint?

Also if Maskol is OK do I have to give the paint a clean before coating with Kleer, as I've read the two don't mix well due to being ammonia based? Or is peeling the Maskol off just enough?

Any other tips to mask between the Blutack?

Thanks Colin.

[colin m]

Hello Colin,

I like using blu tak sausages but don't bother to mask in between the blu tak, just spray on a low pressure very carefully.

Colin M.......

[Vaughan]

Hi Colin

I use the blutac method. What I tend to do is cut paper to the rough shape of the blutac outline and then tape the paper to the blutac sausage thus not touching the paint underneath. This seems to work for me. Hope this helps.

Vaughan

[Guest]

Colin, not sure if I trust myself yet spraying without a paint mask, maybe when I get a better technique.

Vaughan, I did think about this option and looked at cutting out the plans in the kit as Tamiya have supplied a 1:1 scale camo plan. I just wondered if it may be a little easier with Maskol or turn into a mess?

I did find this link on another forum (hope it's OK to post it here) where a guy used this method and seemed to be successful............

Hasegawa F16A Top Gun Viper - ARC Discussion Forums

[Guest]

I've been reading that Copydex is a pretty good mask too. Anyone used this before with success?

[Guest]

Hi Colin! I use something close to what Vaughan suggested. Only instead of paper I found that regular household alu-foil abides more to my will and sticks better to the tack-sausage. Anything protruding into the area that is to be painted can, easily be bend and folded back over the masked area.

I've also used Maskol but the cost, cleaning and drying time discouraged me from using it further.

/Daniel

[stona]

I do a Blu-Tac sausage and fill in with tape behind. This is when I'm looking for a hard demarcation.

For a softer demarcation I spray free hand but you can cut masks and stick them to the model with blobs of Blu-Tac so that they are slightly raised.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

The camouflage part of the paint scheme on aircraft I have found very frustrating. On my sixth model now & on the third, fourth & fifth devised a method, using some of the techniques garnered in my fifty years of architecture (I knew the training would come in useful at some point).

Really it is for those who use blue tack (actually I have found white tack better). So just my thoughts using White Tack. Seems White tack is used to provide that very haze line. Some like the line hard which I find unreal on a model as it brings attention to the hard line. A slightly ghosting of the line to me is more realistic & pleasing. But those are, using that horrible word, subjective.

However found with this medium, with experiment, that depending on the thickness of the roll, the way you apply bluetack & the method you go about spraying you can get very fine lines or a fading line which would satisfy all except the very hard liners, no pun.

So my suggested method eliminates trying to manipulate whitetack by eye, putting pencil lines on the model paintwork & all the grease from fingers. Sticking tape all over the model surface. Knocking the model about as you manipulate it into position & pulling whitetack off the model where the pattern has gone astray. Also much quicker I would say about half the time. You also get absolute accuracy with the camouflage pattern.

First a summary of the method. This is after the base or main coat of the camouflage has been applied.

1. Scan the plan & elevations from the instructions & resize graphic to the exact size of the model & print.
   
2. Example to start for a wing. On tracing paper trace the wing & lines of the camouflage from the resized plan. Do not cut tracing paper
   
3. Turn upside down & apply very lightly blue tack to the lines of the camouflage.
   
4. Lay tracing paper over the wing with white tack under.
   
5. Carefully press white tack to the plastic wing.
   
6. Gently peel the tracing paper back.
   
7. Manipulate white tack as required for haze of line.
   
8. To mask the base colour. Cut out from the tracing paper the parts of the wing to be masked undercutting from the edge by half the width of the white tack.
   
9. Place the cut templates on the white tack & gently press to attach.
   
10. For double protection tape over the joint between blue tack & tracing paper.
    
11. Air brush.
    

Result no tape on the plastic of the model

I have honed the method over a couple of models & give below a more detailed piece. If you do try this method & find improved ways please let me know.

In detail.

A. So first of all scan your plans & elevations of the aircraft. Measure the length of the model & stretch the plans to give that proportion. Print the plans to that scale. Any desk top programme has the facilities for scaling up. Watch the plans as some manufacturers have different scales for plan & elevations.

B. Using thin tracing paper 80gm or 60gm if you can get it. Most art shops, W H Smiths etc do A4 packets. Trace as a start a wing with say an HB pencil which gives a good distinct line. Cut tracing neatly along the wing root to give a guide to lining up. No need to cut any other part of the tracing paper. Shade a border on the side of the line where the bluetack is to be attached makes it easier to distinguish.

c. Turn the tracing upside down & temporarily fix down on your desk. No need to cut out the wing shape. Apply the white tack rolls very gently just enough to catch hold of the tracing paper. Allow an over hang of 10mm of the whitetack roll at the edges to give sufficient turn under the wing.

d. Lay & line up the tracing over the wing, whitetack underneath. Turn the overhanging edges of the whitetack under the wing. Gently press whitetack directly onto the wing & carefully roll the tracing paper from the whitetack along the general length of the whitetack not across. Then manipulate the whitetack as required.

e. Cut out from the tracing the templates of the areas to be masked. Cut these slightly smaller than the actual full size. Lay the template on the whitetack & press to form a bond. For peace of mind to ensure there is no paint creep I then tape the joint between the blue tack & tracing paper. Tape tracing paper to the masking tape on the underside of the wing.

Fusalage. Bit more intricate. May have to carry this out in two or three stages to make it easier & more practical due to receding size of the fusalage. Front first then rear part.

1. Draw a centre line on the tracing paper.

2. Fold over the fuselage with centre line on the top centre of the fuselage. Trace on the line between the underside paint & top side

• Back to the plan & trace on the camouflage.
  
• Now the elevations (sometimes called sections but they are not) Place the line drawn in 2 above at the bottom of the elevation & then trace on the lines of the camouflage.
  

The plan & elevation overlap. The reason for lining up for the elevations on the border line as mentioned in two above.

• Proceed in the same way as the wings.
  

Found that some of the camouflage lines on the elevation & top are not well defined by the manufacturers & do not meet correctly but it is easy to amend on the tracing before getting near the tracing paper or model with whitetack.

Apologies if it sounds complicated in words but works well in practice & keeps your model ‘s paintwork pristine & you get accurate camouflage patterns.

Laurie

[Guest]

Some good "Top Tips" there, thanks very much.

I'll give them all a try and see what suits me best.

Thanks Laurie for the comprehensive description of your method. With the Tamiya kit it comes with a 1:1 plan of the camo pattern so should be straight forward to trace. I was going to cut it about but your method sounds a lot easier. Sometimes you can't see the wood for the trees so thanks for that tip.

Also like the tin foil idea Daniel, should be easy to manipulate.

Now to bin the Blutak and find some Whitetak!

[stona]

That 's a very informative post from Laurie. Some kits do come with a 1:1 plan as Colin describes above. If they don't it is usually possible to create one with most office type copiers. It needs either a bit of calculation or a bit of trial and error.

Whether demarcations should be hard or soft on your model is,as Laurie says, a subjective and artistic decision. How they were on the real thing is not. It's yet another case of check your references.

My current project,Bader's Hurricane,will have a hard demarcation like the original. There is good evidence that British aircraft were painted using masking "mats". Some people don't agree but I have seen schemes which I don't believe could have been sprayed without some kind of masking.Could you spray this free hand?

Cheers

Steve

[AlanG]

Colin... Have a look in the 2010 'Cross of Iron' group build section for my Kanonen vogel build. You'll see that i used quite lot of blu-tak to mask my Stuka and in my opinion it came out nicely.

[Guest]

Blimey Al that's a lot of Blu-tak mate.

I see you had the same problem as me with the Tamiya tape, I cleaned the plastic really well too! I spoke to a couple of experienced modellers who bothe reckon it's a bit of a problem with soft acrylic paint. Really annoying isn't it when your nearly there and take 10 steps backwards.

The Stuka came out great though in the end. Wouldn't mind doing one myself.

[AlanG]

To be honest i may have not let the acrylic paint dry enough. Should have left 24 hrs before masking up. Also the tape i used was quite alot more sticky than normal. But it turned out ok in the end.

I'm defo going to use blu-tak again to mask things but this time i might protect the decals better with more coats of klear.

I'd say go for it and use either cling-film, tin-foil, baking paper or even old newspaper to mask inbetween the blu-tak. No point in using valuable tamiya tape

[Dave W]

I use the white tack sausage and Tamiya tape method.I mostly use enamels and havent had a problem withe the tape pulling off the paint.I recently painted a Typhoon with acrylics and used the same masking method with no problems.I always wash the model with washing up liquid solution before painting.If you havent done this maybe greasey finger prints etc stopped your paint sticking to the model properly.As a consequence the tape then pulled the paint off.An alternative if you dont have a printer is to do what i used to do.That is place a sheet of paper under a wing and draw around it to get the right shape and size.Then draw the camo patern free hand on the paper.Finally,Cut out the shapes and fix to model with white tak.I did the Halifax in my Gallery like this.But i now find the white tak and tape method easier and less time consuming.