Masking for 'soft edge ' camouflage

[hamish]

Hi all, been looking for different ways to mask for 'soft edge ' camouflage, can anyone point me in the direction of ways to do this please, I have nearly spoilt my Tamia 1/72 Mosquito, it will now wait until I find a way to do it.

[cib2265]

Couple of methods:

1. Rolled up bluetack (or whitetack) into snakes (about 5mm in diameter) press firmly onto surface and spray over without trying to fill in (ie feathering)

2. Use business cards or post it notes or what not, cut into shapes and then attach bluetack below so it rests off the surface by a couple mm

3. Freehand with airbrush - very thin (70/30 thinner to paint or even more).

In most cases, paint the lighter camo first, then paint 2nd/3rd darker camo.

I recently did my Hetzer freehand, putting down the primer red coat, then the olive green, then the dark yellow (which I stuffed up here and there) - about to start weathering:



I prefer the bluetack method for a better controlled result - I just

[hamish]

Thanks for the reply, I have not tried the rolled up blue tak but I think that is the one I will try. The method I used was to lay down Tamia masking tape then try to lift the edge slightly to give the soft edge but this resulted in removing the paint in a couple of places. Now need to do a bit of touch up. Is it necessary to fill in the space between the blue tak not being sprayed to stop any overspray?

[cib2265]

Is it necessary to fill in the space between the blue tak not being sprayed to stop any overspray?

Hi Hamish - a tentative yes if you want to be sure, and/or if the camo pattern is quite aggressive. I will sometimes put masking tape between the bluetack, or more often, I use my business cards as a movable mask as I go along. If Im confident in the paint flow (Im finding Mr Levelling Thinner with Tamiya paint is gorgeous with no spatter) I wont bother. Im spraying at much lower psi than when I started!

AS for the Tamiya masking tape - make sure you remove as much stickiness (Word?) from them as possible before applying - good trick is to put the tape firmly on the back of your hand, smooth/press it down, then take it off and put on model (without removing hairs!)

Hope that helps and good luck with your build!

[Paul]

On my Hobby boss 262 i use plasticard cut to shape and raised of the surface using white tack, this gave a superb soft edge demarcation line on the camo work
http://www.intscalemodeller.com/viewtop ... 291&t=7154

[cib2265]

On my Hobby boss 262 i use plasticard cut to shape and raised of the surface using white tack, this gave a superb soft edge demarcation line on the camo work
http://www.intscalemodeller.com/viewtop ... 291&t=7154

Hmm.
Im going to try that out on my 1/48 HB Ta-152C1 build for the upper surfaces - thanks Paul!

[schweinhund227]

personal choice ! I would go free hand and make sure the pressure is low and your mix is just right ...

experiment first and once you get good results.... then apply the winning combo to your model !

draw the outline and fill them in

Good luck and take care !

[hamish]

Thanks to all for those, if I wanted to try freehand a couple of you mention low pressure, what would that be? also what ratio thinners to paint?. I thin 50/50 with 25 psi using masking tape.

[cib2265]

Go a little lower in pressure and up your thinner a bit (about 70/30) - it minimises splatter and you can draw very fine lines...most of the time!

[AndyCook]

Don't suppose anyone has ideas on how to achieve the same results with just paintbrushes? Funds won't extend to investing in an airbrush just yet...