To mask or not to mask?

[BobToc]

Hi, I’ve thrown myself back in to modelling after a 25 year absence and I’ve started with a Tamiya 934 in the Vaillant livery.

Quick question - for the black bumper / window lining bits (marked with X-18 in the instructions) should I be painting by hand or masking them and spraying?

[tangerine_sedge]

BobToc said:

Hi, I ve thrown myself back in to modelling after a 25 year absence and I ve started with a Tamiya 934 in the Vaillant livery.

Quick question - for the black bumper / window lining bits (marked with X-18 in the instructions) should I be painting by hand or masking them and spraying?

I don't know this particular kit, but I've had success with hand-painting, then using a sharpened cocktail stick to correct any mistakes when the paint is almost dry. That approach normally works best, if there is part of the plastic which can be used to guide the cocktail stick point.

I'll do anything to avoid masking

[Gary29]

I would mask it 100%, it will be night and day difference compared to hand painting.

Doesn't look too bad to mask. A few hours spent masking and a 10 min spray job and you'll be sorted.

Plenty of videos on Youtube how to mask window rubbers if you want me to suggest some.

Evo I did with masked up rubbers / roof strip:

Edited by Gary29 on Monday 20th April 12:15

[stevep944]

Have to agree, mask and spray will look better.
That looks pretty straightforward to mask too.

[Terry Tibbs]

Yeah mask it up. Will look loads better that way.

[AlfaCool]

I have masked up before and hand painted using matt black, seems to go on really uniform for me, and as been said can be easily tidied with a sharp cocktail stick
The door frames/ rubbers and smaller stuff my weapon of choice is a black sharpie.

[generationx]

I made the Jagermeister version and masked it. A fiddly job but worth it.

[BobToc]

Thank you everyone, mask mask mask. Assume I do the base green first and then spray over with black? Same story for the yellow bits on the front bumper?



Gary, if you had a good video to recommend I'd really appreciate it, otherwise I'll take a walk through the Youtube search engine.

[Gary29]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igF0W6gZ_qQ&li...

[BobToc]

Calming lunchtime viewing, many thanks.

[Gary29]

No worries.

I have had success by applying 10mm tape and burnishing it down with a cocktail stick and then trimming around the rubbers with a sharp scalpel and then carefully removing the tape to expose the rubber to be painted black if that makes sense.

[cookie1600]

Has anyone tried a Sharpie pen? I did this on a 1/10 Tamiya Lunchbox with pretty good results.

[Gary29]

cookie1600 said:

Has anyone tried a Sharpie pen? I did this on a 1/10 Tamiya Lunchbox with pretty good results.

I have experimented, but it's not the same as spraying a semi-gloss black to really simulate rubber / plastic mouldings, and getting that even coverage only an airbrush can give.

[Stealthracer]

No matter how frustrating it may seem to spend half an hour on a masking job that takes ten minutes to spray then five seconds to peel off the tape, there is no other way to tackle it if you want it to look right.

(I speak from (bitter) experience.)