Miracle Paint Masks

Well don't hold back?

Looking good, you are just missing camouflage masks

Have fun with the paint masks but a word of caution. De-tack the masks before applying as NMF/silver can cause issues: it is more about masking over paint applied on top of the NMF/silver as the adhesion of that paint is limited by it. De-tack by pressing the masks on your hand a few times. Do this carefully after applying the transfer tape. Your build is looking very good but I do need to mention one thing: Yep I heard this many times but I found out recently that red crowbars were used, from a man who should know, Geoffrey Wellum, the youngest pilot to fly Spitfires during the Battle of Britain. He lives here in Mullion and I was chatting to him in the Mounts Bay Inn about the 1/32 scale Spitfire MkI that I am building in his markings (K9998). I asked what the colour of the crowbar was and he said "red". I queried it and said that Spitfire experts recon that it was any colour but red. He said "what colour do these experts recon that it was?" I said, "natural steel or black". He said, "man-vegetables" (I asked him If I could quote him on that and he said no, so ignore that!) He went on to say, "they were a piece of safety equipment and were painted red". I then asked if they were only painted red on his flight and I got a withering look and he said, they were painted red on every Spitfire that I flew! I wish that I could have told Edgar about this conversation The crowbar was removed on later marks so it is likely that the Mk XVI didn't have one I also found out something else (about K9998), several things actually, that after a conversation with Edgar I had doubts about, but Edgar agreed that if Geoffrey Wellum said that it was so then it was, but That is for another blog. The colours of the roundels are Oxford blue and post office red

Sorry to disappoint but I am not out of the custom mask business! If I had a laser I could cut stencil data (I spent many years after leaving the Army working with lasers). They are just too expensive and I don't have anywhere to house one, which is a pity With my current system though I can easily cut RAF 8" serials in 1/72 scale, which makes them 2.82mm (see my 1/72 scale Spitfire Mk I and BP Defiant on my Face Book Page http://www.facebook.com/miraclemasks/ ) I don't use the same material as Montex and Maketar (Oramask 810) so I don't have the same issues as they do (see the Maketar web page for the problem http://shop.maketar.com/?page_id=87 ) I also use precision ground blades which enable the very tight tolerances that are required to cut so accurately.

I'm tempted to coment, but I don't want to lower the tone, I'll get my coat!

Hi Tony, Sorry for my late reply, finding the time to get on forums is difficult! It is certainly possible to use hand brushing, but there is a very great danger of getting paint build up at the mask edge; as the material is only 80 microns thick it would be easy, when hand brushing, to overload the mask so that when it is removed the paint is damaged where it bridges the edge of the material. I would be uncomfortable selling a set of masks to a modeller who only uses hand brushing because of this issue. The only set of masks that I have done for a hand brusher I gave away, for the price of feed back, which I never got! So I did my own trials. You would need to thin the paint, but then there is a danger of paint getting under the mask edge where it passes over panel lines and other detail. Of course a few coats are required and that means that there would probably be too much paint thickness! I wouldn't use a rattle can iether, they throw out far too much paint to be a viable option, and there probably isn't the correct blue and red in any rattle can line up to make it a viable option. The above is more about the national markings, it would be easier to achieve reasonable results using the camo masks and the D-Day stripe helpers. I would be prepared to send you a set of 1/48 C1 type roundels, for just the postage, for you to have a trial run?

RAF ordnace was painted deep bronze green, the same colour as British Armour. The main fill band was green, not yellow and there was a red band, on the nose to indicate HE fill. Stencils gave more information. FYI and as an example, Semi Armour Piercing (SAP) 60lb rockets had the green ban on the warhead and a white and red band on the nose. AP rockets had the gren band and red, white, red bands on the nose and, as mentioned for bombs, the HE rockets had the green band and a red band on the nose. USAF ordnace used yellow bands, and Luftwaffe ordnace used yellow strips.

I will have a set of paint masks for the beautifil big Tiffie on sale at Telford: Here is the breakdown of the price of each element of the set of masks for the Airfix 1/24 scale Hawker Typhoon: Camouflage - £12.50 D-day stripes - £11.25 Roundels and fin flash - £14.50 Canopy clear parts and wheels - £3.50 Yellow leading edge - £1.50 This is a total of: £43.25 I will be producing a limited number of 100 sets at a price of £28.00 for the set.(that is a little better than a 35% discount) Yes I must be mad! The set includes very comprehensive instructions. On top of this blatant attempt to encourage more modellers to try paint masks there is more! If you purchase a set I will custom produce a set of codes and serials for the aircraft of your choice for 50% of my normal minimum order value of £10.00, so £5.00. I will also produce other specific items for your chosen subject, but there will be an extra cost for those, I'm not completely mad! I will also include, at no extra cost, blanks to mask off the fuselage roundels For the D-Day stripes) and wing walkways (see my build), if you require them! Maybe I am completely mad They will be available from the start of the Scale Model world show, the 8th of November. So pick them up at the show, I will have 30 sets there, or email me at [email protected] and I will send you an order form. I expect to have a lot of interest in this set so bare with me if I don't send the order form by return, but don't worry once I get your email request you are on the list. If you have sent me an email about interest in this set then please send me another email to request an order form. I will require a separate order form to produce the codes and serials of your choice; for which I will require enough information to be able to produce the markings of your choice, so gather those before you send back the second order form. Also be aware that I will essentially have 100 sets of add on markings to produce so a bit of patience please. My Typhoon at the moment, using the set:

I will be doing a set of masks at a discount for this wonderful kit, which will be available at Telford. They will consist of Roundels fin flash and camo masks. As I don't know what codes or serials you require you will be able to order those at the time of purchase and they will be also done at a discount and post free. I will probably do other items such as masks for the yellow leading edge. As this kit is very popular and I am sure that many will want paint masks for it (who wouldn't?) please drop me an email at [email protected] just stating that you have read this and that you are interested. Please don't give me any details as this as I won't be able to do anything just yet, this is just to get some ideas about numbers. I realise that some might actually want to build this for Telford, if you do and you would like paint masks for it then drop me a line and I will try and accomodate you. I will be doing demonstrations on using paint masks at Telford so, if you are unsure, this is the time to check out just how easy this process is and just how much more realistic it is to paint the markings on your model than using decals; especially on large scale models. I will be with Albion Alloys and Uschi van der Rosten

Well apparently, due to past transgretions in my previous alter ego, it isn't! However as that isn't a consideration of mine I care not However I do hope to be producing masks for quite a while yet as there is most of the modelling community to convert to their use

Sorry for the late reply Steve Von Tiffie, I'm too busy writing a "first look" of this truly wonderful kit and then I will start building it so that I can get those shark mouth masks done I will also be producing camo masks and anything else that can be produced as a mask for this. I am planning on building this one, wheels up with the prop spinning, via the electric motor (seperate purchase), and just maybe firing a rocket salvo; form my trade stand at Telford this year. I'll be with Albion Alloys and doing demos too

Can I have one please? Stunning build Steve, I will be getting the mag, I don't want to miss any of this. The decals look good but this is just crying out for painted on markings

Thank you When you try painted on markings you find out that they are as easy as decals, if not easier, in some cases; for example the dashed walk way lines on Fw190s, decale tend to have a massive carrier film which you eaiter have to cut off or go to great lengths to hide. Masks for these self weed (Weeding is the act of removing the part of the mask that requires painting, by self weeding I mean that as you lift the negative mask the positive rectangles stay behind). It is then a simple case of positioning the mask, masking around it and painting, to get an authentic look. Admittedly the likes of RAF roundels are more difficult and it took me a year to work out how best to approach the C1 type (thin white and yellow rings) but when I had and tried it for the very first time It was a Miracle and I knew that I would never be able to use decals for markings ever again. Everything that you see here is masksed and painted; the walkway dashes are a bit small I have resized them, but it does show what is possible and I have started using precission ground blades, much more expensive but the accuracy is worth it The model is 1/48 And the first model that I ever tried using paint masks on and quite a ureaka moment for me 1/48 Spit MkXVI: I Realised that if I was going to sell paint masks then I would also have to produce some good instructions so not only do I provide 4 of everything (1 to practice with, 1 to cock up and 2 for the model, or enough for 2 models, if you prefere ) but you also get 3 pages of generic instructions (one of which is a comic book style of "Millie", my logo, taking you through the process; drawn by the man himself Chuck Wojtkiewicz (ChuckW1) who created my logo) and specific instructions for each of the different masks in a set. Using paint masks is similar to using decals, there is a process to follow and its simply about acquiring a new skill. How often do you see a wonderful model painted with an awinspiring painting technique, well weathered and then decals are applied which look far too bright and out of place! With painted on markings there is the added bonus that you can weather the makings just the same as the rest of the paint work

That's the one, thanks TBOLT. Check out this link and you will see what I mean about not understanding the £ equivalant (maybe)? Thanks Russ Thanks for that link Dennis, 6.76 Euro seems like a very good price for both the prop and the tail planes Hi Bruce, Thanks AK Interactive sell Disc camo masks for German WWII armour produced by me, as does Alex Glass, of Uschi van der Rosten, http://www.uschivdr.com/ Alex also sells some other mask related stuff of mine and you should check out his wood grain decals, they are fantastic I am working on finding an outlet but, at the moment I only produce masks to order, but I do have an expanding range of products for which I need a new web site to advertise them. In the time being contact me at [email protected] and I will send you an order form, or just discuss what you require No problem, we all get a bit confused sometimes its the stress of SWMBO It does work but the Polish versionis in a different league

Thanks, Yes the common misconception is that you can only preshade using black but, done correctly and with a light (white in my case) undercoat, then the actual colour can be used. This only really works with darker colours and I still tend to use black for lighter colours but again it is how you do it that makes it subtle; the idea being to add tonal differences not to make it look like a patch work. I'll dig out some pictures of the painting process