Masking tiny wheel hubs

[Alex]

I've been struggling with how to do a clean job of masking off wheel hubs on a 1:144 airliner.  These are much smaller than the smallest circle I can make with a circle-cutting compass, and so small that cutting inside a circle template with a scalpel isn't practical.  So I can't make masking tape masks.  How to do it?

 

I found on line these tiny circle cutters meant for polymer clay (Sculpey) crafting, and figured for $5, why not.

 

 

I rolled some Blu-Tack out thin and punched out some circles.

 

 

[Alex]

After a couple of tries, I discovered that the trick is to cut a circle slightly smaller than the hub, then push it on just firmly enough that it expands to the required size.  Obviously you need to press uniformly so it remains circular.

 

 

These for the front wheels are really quite small

 

[Alex]

Sprayed.  Please excuse the gloss black - I was painting a prop before decaling, so that's what was in the airbrush.  I will flat-coat them before they go on the model, of course.

 

 

Not too bad.

 

 

One key conclusion is that it would be best to use something a little less sticky than Blu-Tack.  I had a bit of a time getting it off, and even I tiny bit shows up really well on those white wheel hubs.  I think I will order some actual Sculpey to try the next time.  Also on the list is to try the reverse - make a circle cutout to enable a tire first then hub painting order.

[LSP_Kevin]

That's a very creative solution, Alex! I've always just used a circle template

 

Kev

[Alex]

On 5/5/2020 at 3:27 AM, LSP_Kevin said:

That's a very creative solution, Alex! I've always just used a circle template

 

Kev

My frustration was that there was never the exact size on the circle template I have - i.e. the template has 2.0 mm and 2.5 mm, but the wheel is 2.3 mm

[ScottsGT]

Genius!   I’ll keep my eyes open for some of these.  

[Out2gtcha]

Normally I just create a circle in my Silhouette cutter and use Oramask to mask hubs. However, I realize not all have a Silhouette cutter....................but they should! 

[Thunnus]

X2 on the Silhouette cutter.  Before that, when I was in need of really small circle masks, I used a Shadow Hobby Thinnerline Circle Cutter...

 

http://www.hyperscale.com/2017/reviews/tools/thinnerlinecirclecutterreviewbg_1.htm

 

Dspiae came out with their own version and there might be others out there as well.

http://www.hyperscale.com/2017/reviews/tools/brevecocirclecutterreviewjh_1.htm

 

These work very well but aren't exactly cheap at about $50 US.

[Out2gtcha]

Actually, Im still planning on picking up the Dspiae cutter it's a nice piece of kit.