Smoothing paint

See /forums/p/12406/111923.aspx#111923 for some suggestions.

I've had some success with using a Q-Tip moistened with Goo Gone to smooth out lines like this as long as they weren't too pronounced and the paint not fully cured, although I've only tried this with acrylic paints. Otherwise, wet-sanding with a fine grit sanding stick is probably the most commonly suggested technique.

I use those swizzlestick-type sanding sticks a lot since I can sand very small areas without too much overlap onto the adjacent areas I don't want sanded, and they come in a variety of grits with a finer and rougher grit on either side of the stick. They don't hold up too long for wet-sanding though...the sanding surface tends to detach from the stick, although this is easily fixed with some super glue.

Best thing is to heed the advice about painting in light coats and removing the masking as soon as the paint is dry (but not cured) to avoid paint lines in the first place. Also, you'd find you have a lot more control over the paint if you used an airbrush versus rattlecans.

There are lots of threads for how to achieve a soft demarcation line when painting camo schemes too. Try a search based on "soft camo lines" in this forum.

Welcome to the insanity, Jeremy!

Don't get overly frustrated with the paint job!  Head to the hobby shop (tough task, I know) and get a hold of some fine polishing cloths.  They kind of look like the squares of sandpaper you might already have but these come in grits like 3200 all the way to 12,000.  They're great when you wet sand with them.

Start with the 3200 and work your way all the way up to the 12,000.  Actually, that'll give you a good shine since that's basically their job.  So maybe stop at around the 8,000 grit.  That'll even out the paint and especially those raised tape lines in the paint.

I hope that helps!

Eric 

Well thanks for the advice. I went with my finest sand paper I had (super fine but I don't know grit) the camo looks a lot better but in some area I sanded the paint away too

I don't feel like decanting spray paint so I think I will leave it like it is. It will give the model an interesting weathering look .

Now I have a reason for my wife to get me an airbrush for my birthday/christmas because camo with spay can is not the easiest job. It would be fine with one color airplane though.

Thanks again.

Jeremy

Not sure if it been addressed.

Always use a freshly cut edge of the tape as tape frays/thickens/gets dirty if left untouched, and always burnish down the edges with a burnishing tool.

Take tiny balls of clay or the like and place them on the edges of the mask you used to slightly raise the mask.  When painted the mask creates a soft edge.  On youtube the "testors model work shop" shows how to perform this camo spray.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy4s2xM5lF8