Painting curves

[Defiant911]

It’s not the first time I have come across having to mask curved shapes for painting but this one is quite a tight curve.
I am interested to know what methods of masking you would use to create such tihhht curves on your model.
I have shown the curve in the pink circle
On the picture below.

[Jim R]

Hi Carl
I think I would try using wide masking tape and cutting the curve. Stick the tape to a clean, smooth surface - glass is ideal. If you don't have masking tape wide enough just use two or more lengths overlapped. Mark the curve and cut with a sharp, new blade. That will give you two pieces of tape with the curve both ways. Carefully remove the tape and stick to the model.
It might not work and someone may come up with a better solution. Tamiya do make some masking tape specially made for curves. That works well. HERE
Jim

[KarlW]

Tamiya white tape, or cut a mask from wider tape as Jim has suggested. (You can also get Tamiya masking sheets or frisk film.)
Or a putty type material, there are putties specifically marketed as a mask though blu-tak gets used by some.
Or if your brush hand is steady enough a liquid mask.

[Defiant911]

Thanks guys, I do have some of the white mask about 2mm wide and it works quite well although Ive not tried it on a curve this tight before. I like the idea of the wide masking tape cut. I may need to give that a go first .
Carl

[Gern]

Or if your brush hand is steady enough a liquid mask.

Have I missed summat? If your hand is steady enough to paint the liquid mask to create the curve, wouldn't it be steady enough to paint the curve with the paint colour? And therefore no need for any masking at all.

[BarryW]

Flowing curved camo like that is best done using one of two methods, white tac snakes or Panzer Putty or similar brands. The latter is best if you are airbrushing, the former is good for either but if airbrushing you ‘fill in’ with masking tape.

[KarlW]

Have I missed summat? If your hand is steady enough to paint the liquid mask to create the curve, wouldn't it be steady enough to paint the curve with the paint colour? And therefore no need for any masking at all.

I was assuming the masking off was for airbrushing, so maybe I should if said and avoided confusion.......

[Defiant911]

I was assuming the masking off was for airbrushing, so maybe I should if said and avoided confusion.......

Yes. I should of said, it was masking off before air brushing. Either way my hand is just not steady enough for good curves.
carl

[Gern]

I was assuming the masking off was for airbrushing, so maybe I should if said and avoided confusion.......

Aaah! Now I'm with you!

[Guest]

In that situation I would paint the camo and then place a cut mask over the top to paint the sky (assumed).
If you have the facility you could scale up the image to match your model and use as a template.

[KarlW]

You could look at what Dave Ward done on his defiant too.

[Mr Bowcat]

A technique I used on some Finnish armour with complicated camo patterns was to scan the instruction, scale them 1:1 with the model, print them on paper, then cut out the shapes. These are then placed over masking tape, and cut around to give a perfect mask.

[Guest]

Agree entirely with BarryW.

White Tack rolled into snakes. You can obtain that way a slight hazy lines rather than an unrealistic hard edge.

Depending on the scale the snakes can be larger in the round. Place them on the plastic & put pressure on to flatten the snake but enough that there is an area not in touch under with the plastic.

When airbrushing keep the airbrush at 90 degrees to the plastic surface. The area not in touch with the plastic will be free of paint & you will have a slightly ghots line.

Depending on the size of the sausages how much you have prssured them down will give the result you want.

Best to experiment & see the results. Just gives a softer result to the line rather than a hard unrealistic line.

If you look at a camouflage in the real say a gray & a green they seems to carefully merge as they meet.
Probably find this method on Ytube soemwhere.

[KarlW]

Though it is worth researching how camo was applied as well, a lot of the time it was rubber masks in the factory so a hard edge would be there.
If it was free sprayed in the field then a soft edge is desirable, though not too soft because of the scale.

[Guest]

Though it is worth researching how camo was applied as well, a lot of the time it was rubber masks in the factory so a hard edge would be there.
If it was free sprayed in the field then a soft edge is desirable, though not too soft because of the scale.

Actually the aircraft manufacturing after the heavy bombing of the factories was spread far & wide over the UK. They were running out of paint as aircraft were being manufactured at an incredible rate. They were having to freehand spray in some not having the masks for the camouflage. Some were even delivered to squadrons without camouflage to be applied by the squadron engineers.

Also a fact that the human eye does not have an abundance of receptors & therefore see a stark straight line, as viewed in the pictures below, being slightly faded. Now if you were a sparrow it has twice the number of receptors as a human eye & those receptors are in a very small surface. That sparrow will actually see a rabbit at 2 miles distance in a field. It would see the edge of camouflage as sharp as sharp & all the imperfections.

This gives an indication of a soft edge (for humans) which I refer to above rather than a sharp edge.. Like all things it is in the eyes of the beholder. There is a certain artistic nature in building models for me.

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