Canopy Masking Paper

Its good for a lot more than canopies, Tom8321, so you may end up using it a lot more than you think you will.  

For masking canopies with it, I use the sheets that have the 1mm grid printed on them, and just cut small, rectangular chunks from it that depend on the contour of the part of the canopy I'm masking.  Its flexible enough to run along the edge of gentle curves if you cut it narrow enough.  Being as thin as it is, you can actually overlap pieces of it without worrying about paint creeping under the overlapped parts.  I use it just to get a sharp, well-defined edge along the canopy frame and then fill in the rest of the voids with Bob Dively's Liquid Mask.  I don't like using liquid maskers along edges because it just isn't good for clean edges.  If anybody ends up using the Bob Dively's stuff, just be aware that it is not compatible with Future if you have dipped your canopy in that prior to masking and painting.  After learning that, I just started using my Novus kit to polish canopies prior to painting...which I think looks better than Future-dipped canopies.  You get fantastic clarity, without having an extra layer of stuff on the canopy that can react badly to certain things.

Used the above method on this 1/72 scale F-16B canopy.

I also used the masking sheets recently to mask around the access doors under the engines of the Tamiya F-4B I'm currently building.  It was a fairly complex masking job with areas on the sides of certain parts of the opening that needed to be masked as well.  The stuff settled down nicely into those areas with just a gentle push of a toothpick and stayed in place so well I had absolutely zero paint creep.

Thanks... I just got a package of sticker sheets.  There are 5 sheets, enough to last me 20 years 

I like playing around with different techniques so I'll see how the sheets work.

I have a very offbeat suggestion.  I've never had good luck with precisely cutting tape.  For my 1:72 B-29 nose/canopy I used a product called liquid frisket.  It's a liquid latex that you can apply with a brush.  It dries rubbery and then you can paint over it and peel it off later.  It's intended for watercolor painting but I gave it a try and it worked great for me.

I've tried the precut masks but honestly find it just as easy, and perhaps more accurate, to tape.

I start with very narrow Tamiya or washi tape along the edges so it curves easily.  Another round or two of wider that doesn't need to be as accurately placed and then (sometimes) liquid mask over the middle of large canopies.  

Maybe this is dumb,but I'm not clear how you make a canopy mask off the plane like your explaining.

I usually use scotch tape,put it on the canopy,and use a new #11 to cut it out while on the window,it's a little harrowing,but it works for me.

Be interested in Eaglecash's and others methods.

I use Tamiya masking sticker sheets for pretty much everything now.  They're made of rice paper and can be lifted and repositioned over and over.  I have found them much easier to work with than any of the tape I used to use.  Its pretty much the same material that pre-cut canopy masks are made of, so its perfect for that.  Just get a little steel ruler, and you can cut what you need with a #11 blade.

Another vote for Tamiya tape. Nice and low-tack, comes up cleanly without leaving any goo behind. 

I use Tamiya tape when I can't find precut masks.  Are you looking to do something on a stencil cutter or just looking for a good material to mask canopys?  The type of tape is called Kabuke tape