Canopy Masking Help needed!!

You leave the canopy masking on until you have everything else painted, decaled, weathered and sealed.

Using a canopy mask allows you to apply them to the clear parts before they are even removed from the sprues. Then you can fit the canopy to the fuselage, filling and sanding as needed without damaging the clear part.

If I haven't finished the cockpit prior to windscreen installation, I mask the inside with a piece of tape. This can be easily removed at any time with a tweezers.

Pre-cut masks from Eduard and others are pretty sweet, but they do have drawbacks. First, they aren't available for every kit, so if you've got a newer/older/more obscure kit, you're SOL. Counting the two on the bench, I've built 8 kits since I started up again this summer. Of those, I've only been able to get masks for 2. 

Amazingly, I couldn't get an Eduard mask for the Eduard Yak-3...

The second drawback is that they don't always line up exactly with the canopy frames. Sometimes the masks are a hair too big or too small in some direction. I imagine the slight variances in injection molding make this inevitable.

If I don't have a mask, I've found bare metal foil works very well as a mask. It's a PITA to remove when all's said and done, but it's a lot easier to trim to the canopy frames than tape.

I've used regular masking tape, but found it difficult to work with, when I tried applying pieces to a styrene canopy and then cutting out the frames.  it's a little too thick.

I tried using Parafilm on a vacuform canopy and found it difficult to work with, but I think that was because I had cut the canopy from its carrier before applying the Parafilm and trying to cut it.  Removed from the carrier, the canopy was so flimsy as to make it impossible to cut the framework away.  I eventually stuffed Silly Putty into the canopy to make it rigid enough that I could cut, but it stil was too "bendy"--think of holding a chicken *** in your hand and slicing it with a chef's knife, instead of placing it on a cutting board.  Same idea.

On my latest project, I used 3M Blue painter's tape on a styrene canopy.  I found it thin enough to work easily onto the raised detail and cut away the framing.  It worked well on the canopy's curves, and I got nice, crisp frame lines.  It did leave a little of its adhesive behind in one spot, which I cleaned up with some diluted Windex on a cotton swab, and a toothpick.  I will use it again, though I may removing some of the tackiness by lightly pressing it to my cutting mat first.  I've read that the 3M Blue tape is equivalent to Tamiya's tape, in terms of its composition, but I have not yet tried Tamiya tape, to see if that is true.

Regarding Eduard masks--avoid their older, black vinyl masks.  I found that they were prone to curling at the edges, leading to paint creep under the mask.

I have not tried any liquid masking, so I can't speak to it.

Hope that helps!

Brad

B52: I have tried everyyhing under the sun to make my own canopy masks to no avail I buy pre cut masks eduard has the best slection. That way I get the best results I do mine off the model gives me a little more room to work on canopy. I don't put the canopy on until model is complete because if I want to finish model with a flat finish the Testors Dull Coat will frost the canopy can't see inside cockpit.   ACESES5

Make it even easier...order a set of precut masks for it!

I am masking canopies on a bomber.  I wanted really fine lines.  Doing each line at a time, and using a combination of Tamiya and Testors (1/16") tape, wait for that line to dry before doing others. Well, actually, maybe a couple at a time for lines that are parallel but do not intersect.  Since this is a thirties bomber it uses a gloss finish, so this is taking forever, but the line widths are working great- results look great. If the method just did not take so long!

Another excellent idea I will try for masking thank you.

Missiles - no airbrushing, paintbrush.

B52CrewDog

Any advice on painting modern missiles?  I have used both acrylic and enamel but with both, when using while, it seems to thin out on surfaces and pool on the edges and it looks gross.  I can shake and shake and paint immediately but still the same effect.

On the assumption that you are airbrushing(?), slightly less thinner may help as will building up multiple fine coats.

On the subject of masking, another method would be to take a paper & pencil rubbing of the canopy (you may have to do it in a few parts), then lay down some overlapping masking tape on a plate or sheet of glass, fix your rubbing over this & used the traced outline on the rubbing  as a guide to cut against.

Thanks for the tips, I will try this.  Funny thing is, this will also help with a Dauntless dive bomber I have been working on.  Many little panes of glass.  

Any advice on painting modern missiles?  I have used both acrylic and enamel but with both, when using while, it seems to thin out on surfaces and pool on the edges and it looks gross.  I can shake and shake and paint immediately but still the same effect.

http://www.swannysmodels.com/Canopies.html

Go here.
I basically do as Matt does.

If the kit comes with masks (and I remember I have them) I'll use the mask. Masks are generally now made from the same tape you'll see as Tamiya tape. They are die cut for a specific kit and are self adhesive, very light tack. They can be applied and removed without leaving any residue. highly recomended.
Normally, masks only mask the lines of the frames and the user has to use tape from another source to fill in the larger areas. Smaller canopy masks usually mask the entire pane.

About whether to attach the canopy before or after, I mask mine before it's installed then depending on certain things, I'll attach it and paint it with the rest of the kit or leave it off and paint it off of the kit. There's a whole list of circumstances that determine which of the two I do but regardless, I always mask the canopy before attaching it. Much easier to handle that way.

Future is a wonderful product and a blessing to clear styrene. What I like about it most is clear parts dipped in it won't fog if one uses CA to attach the canopy. It also will hide minor scratches and very minor fogging if it's applied to a part that's been rolling around in the spares bin for a while.

Something you may want to get familiar with is a tri grit sanding stick. This is an emery board style of polishing tool that has three different media used in order to polish out scratches. It comes in very handy when things get mishandled or there are mold lines right through the clear portion. There are three colors on a single stick, peach, white and gray. Peach is the most coarse and is used to sand out scratches and imperfections, white is the next finer grit used to polish out the sanding scratches left from the peach colored portion. Gray is the final polishing grit and is about as rough as a good piece of denim. This is where that glass shine comes from. With one of these sticks and a container of Future one can correct nearly any fault with a clear part.

Something is see tossed around every now and then you'll already have, toothpaste. You can use a soft cloth and a dab of toothpaste to polish scratches out of clear parts too. That's all I used to use years ago until Tamiya came out with their many polishing compounds, which I now use while leaving the toothpaste for the teeth.