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Help w/ Masking on A/C

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  • Member since
    February 2005
  • From: Cincinnati, OH
Help w/ Masking on A/C
Posted by MA Cooke on Monday, March 28, 2005 12:02 PM
I am building a 1/48 F-14D for the F-14 Group Build, and am doing a VF-31 CAG bird, which has black vertical stabs, black ventral fins, and the area around the canopy (upper forward fuselage) is black, too. This last area is what is giving me fits.

I am trying to mask this using 3M masking tape, carefully cut into 1/8" strips; I'm thinking that the narrower width will allow the tape to conform to compound curves. However, upon inspection of the "lines" I see that they are not quite symmetrical.

How would you recommend I go about getting the pattern symmetrical?

Thanks for your help.
On Bench: AM P-51B, Tamiya 1/48 F4U-1A On Deck: Hasegawa F-14's (too many); Tamiya P-47D; Academy P-47N;
  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: Medina, Ohio
Posted by wayne baker on Monday, March 28, 2005 3:44 PM
Find what you think is center, measure equidistant from there on both sides, and at several points. Connect the dots with tape.

 I may get so drunk, I have to crawl home. But dammit, I'll crawl like a Marine.

  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Friday, April 1, 2005 8:09 AM
I assume you are painting the black areas last as they are the darkest colour. If I was attempting this I think I would lay overlapping pieces of thin tape (Tamiya 6mm) across the nose (i.e at 90' to the longitudinal axis) and mark the tape on one side only with the colour division line you hope to achieve. I would then remove the tape to my cutting mat and duplicate the pattern for the second side either by measuring or using tracing paper. You then have two choices - either cut the central black area, reapply to the model and use as a quide for the thin tape that you have already tried or remove the black area and apply the hopefully symmetrical outer masks. This sounds more complicated than I had hoped for but I am sure with patience would work. I have used this technique myself with good success just not for this exact application. Because the mask is not a single piece it pays to burnish well and paint from "behind the edge" rather than towards the mask edge. Let us know how you get on. My 2 cents [2c]
  • Member since
    February 2005
  • From: Cincinnati, OH
Posted by MA Cooke on Monday, April 4, 2005 4:36 AM
Thanks for the tips. I'll post images shortly.

On Bench: AM P-51B, Tamiya 1/48 F4U-1A On Deck: Hasegawa F-14's (too many); Tamiya P-47D; Academy P-47N;
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