turret canopy

[alecras234]

Hi i want to paint canopies easily without making mistakes.    I brush paint using acrylic paint.   I read on this forum that someone puts a strip of tamiya tape either side of the canopy and brush paints down the middle or something,  it's a post by old trumpeter,    i dont understand what he means.

[(ex)Sgtrafman]

Hey buddy

 

Have a look at this 

 

Cheer 

 

Iain

 

[alecras234]

Do i cut a strip of tape and mask one bit at a time?   So instead of cutting tape into the shape of a square to mask a window panel,  shall i just put a strip of tape to cover a window panel and paint one line at a time?

[AltcarBoB]

A lot of kits you can buy an aftermarket set of masks for the canopy. Peewit and Eduard are the two I have used, at about £7 a go its not cheap but it saves a lot of teeth grinding

 

[825]

17 hours ago, alecras234 said:

Do i cut a strip of tape and mask one bit at a time?   So instead of cutting tape into the shape of a square to mask a window panel,  shall i just put a strip of tape to cover a window panel and paint one line at a time?

That's one way to go, use thin parallel  strips and paint the horizontal frames, let dry, take off the tape, then mask the vertical frames, though this is more challenging as the canopy curve has to be dealt with. Tamiya do thin 1 and 2mm flexible tapes that do conform. It works and a number of people are fans. You might think it's time consuming but is probably a lot less so than painstakingly trying to cut tape into precise masks for each pain. 

 

I use (when I don't have a mask set) of masking each pane using small strips of tape, to work around it. By using a length of strip a bit shorter than the length to mask fitted into one corner along the frame, you then overlap one coming the reverse direction and so work round the pane and move onto the next pane. As you go along you burnish the tape into the canopy to make a good seal.  It's painstaking and slow but gives good results. The strips don't need to cover the whole pane on the canopy only the edges if you're brush painting, just use a fine brush and be careful. As I model a lot of naval subjects there are a lot of glasshouses to be masked and I find it works for me. 

Edited February 21, 2020 by 825

[ckw]

I use a similar technique to very obsessed member, but I don't worry about cutting strips to length before applying. I'll lay a strip across the whole length of the canopy, then make cuts where the strip crosses the framing (then obviously the same in the vertical direction). As I airbrush, I then fill in the taped frame with liquid mask (I like Mr Masking Sol R).

 

The secret to success is to use the thinnest strips of tape you can cut. I lay strip from a roll of Tamiya tape on my cutting mat and then slice very fine strips from that using a steel rule. Basically the tape is just acting as a container for the masking fluid, so the thinner the better, as this makes it easier to conform to the canopy frames (even when curved), and easier to make the cuts at the frame boundaries.

 

Of course it is vital to use a sharp (preferably new) blade! I use a swann morton no. 11 (straight) to cut the strips, and a number 10 (rounded) to make the cuts on the canopy. The rounded blade allows you to make the cuts with a rolling motion - less likely to slip and scratch the canopy.

 

In cases where the moulded frames are really well defined, it is possible to lay tape across the whole canopy, and then with a new blade run it around the edge of the frames and pull away the tape from the frame lines. This may be quicker, but I think its much riskier.

 

Once you get a bit of practice, its not difficult - and I find it quite theraputic 😀 

 

I have tried using pre-made 3rd party masks, but I really found no advantage. In fact, with complex subjects (lots of little panes), I find my method quicker and easier.

 

Cheers,

 

Colin

[825]

As @ckw outlined there are more than one way to go about it. There are two really important things. The first is to find a way that suits you. And the other, irrespective of what method you use is to use really sharp scalpel blades and replace them frequently if they start to 'drag' or stick. You can usually get a box of 100 non sterile blades of Amazon or similar at a pretty reasonable cost. 

[Uncle Uncool]

Wow... my spoken English pronunciation is just like that of Bobby Waldron's, I just found out.

Yeh, me did...

Cheers,

 

Unc²