Masking

HEY,
Great question. In my experience it doesnt matter what type you except that the thinner it is the better. If it is too thick, paint is more likely to sneak under it. When it comes to already painted parts, it depends what you are painting. If it is a straight line on the body or other large piece of a plane, car, armor,or ship, use masking tape but put it on something and rip it off a couple of times to get some of the sticckiness off. Still, be prepared to do a few touchups. If it is a curved line, i am going to refer to an article in FSM. Use silly putty. Stretch it out thin and use a very sharp knife to cut the design. It peels nicely and it is reusable to a certain extent. After using it make sure you keep it in the egg it came in. Hope this helps.

Randy

I've used painter's masking tape, Scotch magic, plastic electrician's and drafting tape. You can mask over painted parts, but you don't want the tape to be too tacky. It can pull the paint off. If you are brushing, the paint can sometimes bleed under the edge, and you'll have to touch up. The narrower the tape, the easier it is to go around curves. Sometimes you want to use little pieces to fill in larger areas. Practice on some scrap parts to see what will happen.

Hi,
I've used almost every type of tape there is, still keep coming back to Tamiya. I really find it the best there is. Its very low tac, paper like so easily cut/shaped. Have found that it can be used more than once, fold or cut used pieces for seat belts. It comes in various sizes with dispensers. It can be more expensive than others, but is easy to push into ridges etc with a toothpick. I have found it excellant to use on canopies.
Cheers
P.

Here's a little tip to use if you don't want the paint to bleed under the tape. After you mask off the model and before you put the second color on, spray a coat or two of clear on. That will seal the tape and the paint won't bleed under the tape.

Ray

When you're planning how to mask what you're working on, try to leave yourself a corner or whatever that you can hold on to when you're done painting to remove the mask. Not always possible I know but...The reason I suggest that is you want to remove the mask/tape as soon as you can after painting. Once the paint dries it will tear or lift when you try to pull the tape off. Try to remove it when the paint gets tacky. When you're pulling off the tape, peel it back at a low angle and slightly away from the edge of your painted surface.

Some folks also use Bare Metal Foil for masking and say that it works very well but for anything other than small areas, it would get expensive in a hurry.

I don't like the blue painters tape because it doesn't want to stick to itself so overlapping pieces of it doesn't work well. At least not for me.

Something that may help with the edges is to lay out a strip of tape on a mirror or piece of glass and trim it with a sharp hobby blade or razor blade and a straight edge. It's also an easy way to make thinner strips for small areas or parts out of a wider tape. And it removes some of the tackiness also.

I recently got some of the Tamiya tape but haven't tried it yet. Also, got some liquid masking agent for the tight spots it's hard to get tape into but haven't gotten to try it yet either. I keep my tape in a clean sealed baggie when I'm not using it to help keep the fuzz and lint off the edges.

Here's another tip to try . After you mask off the
first color, spray the edge of the masking tape with the
first color to seal it . Let it dry then spray the second color.
fuzzy