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Canopy and Camouflage Paint Masks


George

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Everyone has a different approach to canopy and camouflage paint masks from creating your own to buying them commercially.  I have done both. 

 

In the former case, Tamiya tape has worked beautifully.

 

In the latter case, I have had success with Top Notch Models for camouflage masks and Eduard, DeadDesign and Cutting Edge for canopy masks.  I did not so much with Montex canopy masks because the masks did not cover the entire canopy and I found myself having to cut small strips to cover the canopy yet paint still managed to bleed in on the canopy. 


What has been your experience and do you have suggestions/advice that can be passed to other modelers?

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I've found the Eduard canopy masks, while generally well fitting, are not an entirely precise fit for the given subject and leave gaps, especially around curved corners.  Therefore, I stopped purchasing those and now prefer to use the following process. Since I paint the inside of the canopy/windscreen as well as the outside, I mask the inside as well as the outside.

 

  1. If necessary, I coat the entire canopy/windscreen in Future (Kleer) and allow to completely dry.  I don't often do this but sometimes it's necessary to improve the clarity of the part going to be masked.
  2. Outline the transparent portions of the canopy/windscreen with very thin strips (to allow effective masking of simple and complex curves) of Tamiya masking tape with the caveat that if the area to be masked is rectangular (such as the front armored glass panel on the windscreen of an Fw190, I'll just just cut little squares of said masking tape and do it that way.
  3. Burnish the tape ever so gently to seal the edges.
  4. Follow up with one of the following:
    1. Fill in all transparent areas with 3M painters masking tape (it's less expensive than Tamiya masking tape and does the job very well).
    2. Use a well-performing liquid masking medium (Micro/Super mask does not work well) and cover all transparent areas with that.
  5. Paint, decal, finish as usual then remove masking medium and pray that the paint didn't bleed under the masking medium.
Edited by Juggernut
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Hi Juggernut.  Thanks for the tips.  I spray paint the canopy separately from model after I have masked it.  I have template to cut rectangular and curved patterns and have used Humbrol Maskol to cover the corners (sometimes).  I generally do not paint the inside for the less detailed Revell models (especially the old tool kits) unless I have good fit.   I may paint the interior frame color on the outside and cover that with the exterior color.

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