The Friday Night Thread

[Rob P]

Depends on the canopy. If it's a bubble canopy such as a Typhoon then I resort to my stash of Parafilm 3M.

Anything more complex, out comes the Tamiya tape and scalpel.

Bottle of Tiger Beer anyone?

[Mike]

Now that is a top idea. I usually quick shine my canopies , but have never thought of a re dip to seal the masking.

cheers

Jonners, using it on his next model

A word of caution - I thought this was a good idea on my first few models, until some Klear got under the canopy and wasn't found until I'd glued it on and the painting was done... it was my Gnat if anyone remembers. I was left with thick lumps of Klear to chisel off with a sculpted cocktail stick. To compound the issue, the canopy was a vacform... I managed to get it clear again, and after a brushed coat of Klear it won't notice under noraml scrutiny.... beware!

I'm one of those folks that breeze through canopy masking - it took me around 45 minutes to mask my Fw.189's greenhouse with Tamiya tape and a new #11 blade after giving up on the kit supplied masks, and I almost never get bleed under my tape. I read an article lately where a chap took 2 days to mask his canopy - granted it was done inside & out, but it was a Stuka, which doesn't have that many panes.

Mine's a vimto please

[Robert]

Sorry I'm late, did not know where the pub was.

Like the idea of using a second dip of klear will try that on the Hawker Seahawk I'm making at the moment. I also use a number 10 scapel blade (the rounded one) as I find it easier to `roll' it for the edges instead of a 10A which I find wanders sometimes.

Mines a Cobra please.

Robert

[Kitkruncher]

Same old boring Tamiya tape. I use a cocktail stick to make sure the tape is well burnished up against any raised detail (if there is any) then a sharp 11 blade - followed by more burnishing. If it is too compound curvy though I resort to very think strips of Tamiya tape to get a line against the raised detail with infill in Maskol. Think I will have a go with the post-dipping technique - that sounds wicked. Easiest mask = 1/48 Reaper (arf arf) Worst mask = the back end of the Airfix HMS Victory (Ok ok so it's not transparent but you get the idea)

Nice Pomerol please (as if ...!) . Cheaper than the pub innit??

"think" ??? Sounds like I have had too much already ... can somebody see me home?

[Radar]

Evening All,

Sorry I'm late in. Mine's a Fosters please Barman

I also do the Tamiya tape and sharp scalple blade method. Thing is though you get bloomin great gouges in the canopy that if you don't get the cuts in exactly the right place look horrible on the completed model.

I like the dipping in Klear after masking idea I'll try that over the weekend.

My tip especially for 1:144 airliners that most times the manufacturer also provide black decals for the cockpit windows. If you don't want to mask a transparency is to scan the decals, print them full size on your printer and them cut around them on top of making tape then you have perfect masks at the right size. I did that on my Revell B737 Wedgetail conversion.

Worst masking nightmae was the glasshouse on the Monogram 1:48 Douglas Dauntless. took absolute ages, I got sloppy towards the end and ended up with the aforementioned gouges.

The whole thing with masking is patience which when I'm getting towards the painting phase of a model always seems to be in short supply!

Another round please barman and 5 bags of salted peanuts.

Ian S,

[Col.]

Tamiya tape? Check.

Sharp blade? Check.

Cocktail stick? Check.

Klear/Future seal coat? Hmm, not yet, might give it a try soon though.

Worst kit canopy to mask? Hasegawa 72nd Ki-61 that was masked the other day. Lovely fine engraved lines all over the kit parts were also on the canopy. Alas they were so fine on the canopy I couldn't use them to guide the blade so had to paint the external frames in the interior colour just to see tham through the tape. Job done - eventually.

Drink? Sorry lads but the wife and her pals are out on the sesh and guess who gets to taxi them home later? Oh joy.

[Murdo]

I've never been perticularly happy with any of my canopy paint masking jobs. I always seem to get either bleeding or a ragged edge, even with new blades. Perhaps I need to get better quality blades?

If you cover the mask with Kleer do you need to gently cut round the mask after painting or does it just peel off?

Cider, lots. And a round for the boys.

Edit: Oops... And girls.

Edited November 25, 2011 by Murdo

[Kiwidave4]

I dont do a lot of wingy thingies these days, and the canopies are one reason why!

I have had a good results with Bare Metal Foil. It does not seem to have the bleed problems of masking tapes, it handles compound curvature well and it peels off quite easily.

When working with the smaller clear parts on armour, ie headlights, I often use Kristal Klear as a liquid mask.

Regards Dave

[Doug Rogers]

Tamiya tape and sharp blade for me too. Works for me.

Better not have any more to drink thanks...hic!

[Speckled Jim]

A Scotch on the rocks please for me,

I fallow the thing I saw (Monkey see, monkey do) and tamiya tape my canopies and cut them with a sharp scalpel blade (and occasionally my fingers) and then pray! I dont have any magical concoctions to prevent bleeding... I have never been that rich when I am in the model shop!

The worst aircraft I had to do to date was my B-29.... that really was a greenhouse!

James

[kspriss]

hi guys. Pint of Old Speckled Hen here please, and of course whatever everyone else is having.

i use the tamiya tape and scalpel too...although im thinking of trying a liquid mask, maybe like pva?

EDIT...and im not looking forward to masking my airfix boston!!

steve

Edited November 25, 2011 by kspriss

[Vulcanicity]

Just in time before the bell! I'll grab a nice pint of proper West Country Thatchers Dry: Cloudy, Orange, Dry, Kills a horse at 50 paces.

In a mug.

Oh, and a bag of Pork scratchings too, please barman!

I try and get away without masking where possible as I hate it with a venegance. I have pretty steady hands (the perks of youth?!) and usually freehand canopy frames with a paintbrush. Where there really is no option, I'd have to go with the Tamiya Tape/fresh scalpel blade option.

The biggest nightmare was the MPM 1:72nd Blenheim I, which I did mask, and had a lot of bleedthrough, and only just managed to save from disaster!

Edited November 25, 2011 by Vulcanicity

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Time please gents!!

Thankyou all for your thoughts. We'll do another one of these in 2 weeks time

Jonners

[Panzer Vor!!!]

what time allready ?????????????? b****r got go home

[Antoine]

Friday night with only a couple of pints???

Never mind, it's already saturday afternoon here.

So.

As nearly everyone, tamiya tape, a good scalpel with a new blade (I also use one with a swivel head), cotton bud and toothpick.

But....

I like masks, and use them as often as I can, but I do not really like cutting mask for canopies.

Now, when buying a kit, I always try to buy also some eduard masks, iff they exist and are available.

[jacksdad]

What happened???

Where's everyone gone?????

Where's my trousers????????

[Albeback52]

A lot of great minds thinking alike here!

I use Eduard masks ( if available for the model I'm building). I 've had no problems with them at all. Latest ones used - Revell HE-177 & FW-200. Otherwise, it's bog standard Tamiya tape, a very sharp knife & cocktail stick. Worst masking experience ?Easy, Revell B-36 , Airfix BV-141, Airfix TBD Devastator & SB2-C Helldiver. I really hate masking so, I always do it before starting to paint/build so that I can get it out of the way!!

I'll have a pint of Old Peculier please!!

[nigec]

Great night in the pub last night lads how did I end up at the gentlemens club after heehehe.

Until The Next Time

Nige

[Shane]

To refine Turnerdad's tip - if you overspray the mask with the colour being masked instead of Future/Klear/Quickshine it will prevent "bleed under" and has the advantage of not spreading under the masking which is what happens with Future if a little too much is applied.

Ian

Errm, but isn't the colour being masked actually clear when masking a canopy? Which means the anti-creep has to be clear as well?

Of course, you are otherwise right if the masking is over some *colour*

I've been doing this for at least 20 years, since I first read the tip smewhere. It works a treat on both canopies and other masking where bleed might be an issue. On canopies I carefully run a small brush of Future around the tape edges, but usually just slap it on elsewhere

Shane,

drinking red wine as I type, but if I were in the UK I'd have asked for a Dog's man-vegetables, because I could.

Edited November 26, 2011 by Shane

[Albeback52]

Meant to add that it is usually appropriate to have a band aid handy!! I write this after having just sliced open my finger while masking the canopy on the Airfix F-86!

[Bertie McBoatface]

Sometimes I use Tamiya tape and a sharp blade. I push it into the framing with a cocktail stick and then trim in situ with a new scalpel blade. I can feel when I'm touching plastic that way. However when the frame engraving is too fine to follow through the tape I do it this way.

That's 1mm tape from littlecars. They also do 0.5mm if you have a VERY small radius curve, though I've yet to find anything in 1:48 that the 1mm can't handle.

The rest of the areas are filled in with latex (or Maskol if you are rich). I ovten use the scrap ends of the tape stuck to the middles of the larger windows to reinforce the latex, just in case I'm careless and rub against them with a finger while painting.

The one in the middle has been backed with Tamiya tape as it will be sprayed off the aircraft. I usually fix the canopies to the airframe before painting, mostly to protect the cockpits the easy way, but also to make the canopies look like they grew there instead of being tacked on afterwards.

N.B. The latex has never affected the Klear coatings that I always use, despite smelling slightly of ammonia.

[Calum]

No booze for me tonight but, SWMBO has made us some cracking brownie!

For straight edges its another vote for Tamyia tape and scalpel from me. For more complicated shapes I've been using Copdex applied with a tooth pick but the results are mixed!

To avoid bleeding I dip my canopies back in Quickshine to seal the masking.

The killer for me so far has been Phantom front canopies I just can't seem to get a neat result!

Phil

Do you find you get any chipping of the clear when you remove the masks? I assume Quickshine is like kleer?

[Seahawk]

The rest of the areas are filled in with latex (or Maskol if you are rich).

Always a sucker for a cheap alternative, so where do I get this latex? Any particular brand I should ask for?

Edited November 27, 2011 by Seahawk

[Bertie McBoatface]

May I quote myself from this thread: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.p...3833&st=140

On Masking

My current best practice is to use this marvellously...

...thin and very bendy tape as a boundary and then fill in the centres with...

...latex. It costs...

...for a litre. A litre of Maskol in those tiny little bottles would cost you £117.86, I believe!

When it's this cheap you can splash it all over, as our 'Enery used to say. If you live in

Derby please get it from Allenton Homecrafts, one of the last of the old style friendly

ironmongers. He usually has stock but phone ahead first 01332347214. And yes, I do

consider him a friend of mine, though I don't think either of us knows the other's name!

N.B.

Don't use the latex without the tape. It will become very thin at the edge and when you

pull it off it slides out from under the paint leaving a nasty ragged edge.

Don't use over Humbrol Dark Earth as it stains it. Every other paint I've used is ok though

and the staining goes away when future is applied to the dk earth which is strange but true.

I use it thin, although thickening agents are available, and it can run into places by capillary

action and then be hard to pull out again. Two layers are easier to remove than one and give a safer

thickness of mask. It dries in about half an hour depending on ambient conditions.

Best to decant it into a small jam jar as it will go off with repeated exposure to air.

I also keep it out of the light as I think this has a curing effect on the rubber as well.

Kept like this, a litre has lasted me years and I use a lot of it.

[Kitkruncher]

Are we on again tomorrow or is it next week . (Listen to me I must be turning into some sort of alky!!!).

Hic ...

Jim