Masking putty on the move!

[Night Owl]

I am about to embark on an daunting camouflage pattern. at 1:48 scale the paint edge needs to be almost crisp with just a slight feather to the edge. I did some trials with the camo putty rolling it in sausages of different thicknesses and spraying from varying distances and angles which by the way is near impossible to maintain the same distance on curved surfaces. I found that after about 15 min the putty was settling and moving. I am wondering is Silly putty which I have heard a lot about does the same thing? The pattern is an exact copy if the mask is on the move well like most modellers I am a perfectionist so that just wont do! I am open to different products and processes.

 

I also heard that Elmer's school white glue makes a good mask that wont move but I have not tried it. I was thinking that is I could get some maskol or the like into an old Vallejo paint container I could lay out a nice curve from the applicator tip and fill in behind it. Trying to get a smooth curve with Maskol using a brush well its pretty unforgiving if you have to backtrack, plus I find its hard to tell what's been covered until it dries and changes color.

 

Dave

[bmwh548]

Gunze makes a masking fluid that can be trimmed with a scalpel after drying if you want perfect shapes. It's the Masking Sol R.

I only get the Uhu White Tac. It stays exactly where I put it (for no matter how long), no oily residues. 

[ckw]

I quite like the Masking Sol R - it has the big advantage of being water soluble - but I don't think it will help with your feathered edge. Blu or white tac is my preferred solution, either using the sausage method or using it attach paper masks slightly above the surface

9 hours ago, Flaps out said:

which by the way is near impossible to maintain the same distance on curved surfaces.

Well yes, it is tricky. I've yet to find a way of making that easier. The alternative of course is going free hand with the airbrush. I can just manage this on flat surfaces, but I'm a long way from feeling confident to try this on a complete model!

[Shin]

Not sure what paint you're using or if anyone else has had similar experiences, but the only time I tried masking over paint with Masking Sol R, it lifted the paint when I tried to remove it. I just use it for canopies now. 

 

In my case I applied on acrylic paint after a day of dry time, so it may not have cured enough for such a product.