What's the best way to mask for painting?

Jridge: thanks for the tips. One tip I read that I'm going to try is painting the nose cone of my F-4 by sticking it out the end of a bag that covers the whole rest of the model.

Wayne: I just found that thread you mentioned and read through it. Flat white it will be.

Regards,

-Drew

Use a flat white on the bottom also. There is another thread about hard to dry insignia white, where he was using a gloss. You have to gloss the top to apply decals. Do the bottom at the same time.

Use Tamiya masking tape. It's low tack - won't pull paint off. Cut paper templates or use sticky notes so you don't have to mummify the model with tape. You can also use Saran Wrap or the plastic bags from the cleaners to protect large areas from overspray.

Thanks guys.

You're right, I should be painting the white first. But, it's a gloss paint, and I don't want to paint the flat paint over top of it if I can avoid that. At least, I thought paint flat over gloss could cause some problems. Will it?

Regards,

-Drew

Deakon's right. Turning the model upside down will prevent or minimize overspray. But shouldnt you be spraying the white undersides first? You can then use the technique as laid down by Deakon on the top side.

You may not always avoid overspray altogether. Even with masks (by the way, try getting low-tack masking tape or theres a danger the mask will peel paint off the surface). You might have to re-paint areas with overspray using a fine nozzle.

Hope this helps.

if you place the model upside down so that the wings are supported and the top of the tailfin rests flat on the table.. you will be able to airbrush the bottom colour with little or no overspray..if you keep the nozzle of the airbrush directly overhead...when its dry turn it over and repeat with the darker colour.. this works well especially if you need softer demarcation between the colours.. if you need hard edges go for a masking tape... another tip to avoid overspray is to make yourself a little cardboard shield.. the card in the bottoms of biscuit packets [wagonwheels penguins etc] are good for this... and use it to block the overspray as you go along....

Wow, doesn't anyone mask when painting?

One thing I thought of doing was to cut paper in the size and shape of the top wing (for example) and just use masking tape on the edges. Has anyone done something like this?

Regards,

-Drew