Masking Round Thingees

[fubar57]

I am currently finishing off a Spitfire from the 57OTU. I'm not bad at masking straight flat lines but the propeller hub is in three colors and really lacking in straight flat lines. I tried free hand but it looks like I painted it free hand. All tips would be greatly appreciated. Thx

 

[r2800doublewasp]

Can you post some pics?

 

[Wurger]

Of what scale is the Spitfire model? Do you have an airbrush?

 

[Airframes]

And by 'propellor hub', do you mean the spinner? If so, and being 'conical' in shape, then which way are the three colours - rings, segments etc?

 

[fubar57]

Can you post some pics?

 

[fubar57]

sorry about that...round thingee=spinner. Model is 1/48 Tamiya, and I'm a wielder of the hairy stick. Again, thx

 

[Airframes]

Gotcha! This should be straightforward, but a bit fiddly and time consuming.
First, paint the entire spinner white, preferably matt first, then gloss (it can be matt clear-coated later).
When totally dry, mask the central ring by cutting strips of thin masking tape, such as Tamiya tape (normal masking tape will be too thick and coarse for this job). You'll probably find that you may have to do this in sections to allow for the compound curves.
If you only use acrylic paints, then airbrushing is the only sure way of getting a decent finish on this small area. However, with enamels, the rear, blue band can either be brush-painted or airbrushed. The red tip is probably best brush-painted, or even dipped.
To ensure there is no paint bleed between the colours, before painting the bands, once the masking tape is in place, give the edges a thin coat of gloss white, which will seal the tape.
Hope this helps.

 

[Wurger]

I agree with Airframes. My three cents here are that these masking strips should be quite narrow.I mean about 2-2.5mm.This allows to fit better these to a spinner curvature.The area between these two strips you can mask either with a larger strip of the tape or with liquid Mascol for instance.

 

[A4K]

Good advice guys! A wider strip would also be good if you can scribe the masking tape with a scribing circle (protractor), ie not straight bands but curved. Ive seen this done on a Korean Mustang build with three band spinner scheme.

 

[fubar57]

Thanks to all. Did all you asked before,Airframes, with the exception of tape,(Used blue painters tape), with the expected result.(Dog hid for hours) Living in the sticks,finding Tamiya tape will be hard till I travel to the city.Again, thanks.

 

[Wurger]

The blue tape is not a problem. You can use this one.But be carfull when unsticking it because the tape adhesive can cause damages to already painted surface.

 

[Airframes]

I agree with Wojtek. Not a major problem - until I could find the Tamiya type of tape (it's actually a tape used in graphics and drafting design, taken on by Tamiya, and sold at double the price!! ) I used to use ordinary masking tape, or even 'Sellotape' (like Scotch tape in the US). The trick is, run the tape between finger and thumb, pressing lightly, before use. This will remove a lot of the 'tackiness'. Also, only press it hard at the actual sealing edge, and use the tip I mentioned of sealing the edges with the previous colour. Patience is the key. It might take two hours to mask a job, and literally seconds to paint it. But if it's rushed, and the masking fails, you can double the entire periods in time needed for correction - or sweeping the remaining shattered pieces from the floor!

 

[Wurger]

ALso agreed. In addition these paper masking tapes can be removed easier when you put them into warm ( not hot) water or soak it with thie water.Keep it into this for a while and then you can start removing.

 

[Migrant]

You can also use circle templates, those stencils that draughtsmen/graphic artists used to use before computers There are also some metal scribing templates out there with various sized circular holes. Push the spinner through the appropriate sized hole and spray, only thing to watch for is avoiding a wet edge where the spinner meets the template. If you mist light coats the paint will be dry as soon as it touches plastic.