Model Kit Builder » Masking

Home Alone … and slotcars to restore

Klaus Weitzel — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:37:49 +0000

OK … my wife had to leave me … but only on family business. What else to do than to go on with one of my projects? Nothing!

So I started masking the cockpit area of the Tamiya kit. It will become flat black with the driver painted in traditional colours. But first there comes some masking … actually quite some of it:

Overall view of the masked cockpit ...

... from both sides.

Actually, since I am quite lazy I covered the rear area with paper from a standard note block … But then again … that’s what the real car painters do as well (with different paper though).

Dttailed area around the driver figure ...

... and more detailed.

The last detail images only show, that I need a new blade for my scalpel … don’t I?

masking … a different approach.

Klaus Weitzel — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 20:04:12 +0000

Sometimes you need to mask of areas differently if you don’t manage by “just” applying strips of masking tape around the area you want to have masked. Here is a different approach, you apply the stripes all over the area and then use a scalpel (a sharp one so be careful!) to cut out the area you want to paint. Here the area are the 2 rear air scoops in the rear area of the Porsche.

Detail view of the masked area ...

... and the cut out area afterwards

As you can see, my scalpel was not sharp enough, so the edges do look more ripped than cut. For me that means … do it again. Anyway, here is also a complete view of the car with the samples …

The masking again ...

... and from the other side.

Masking and Spraying

Klaus Weitzel — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 07:44:24 +0000

Last week I went to town wif Claudia, my wife. Actually I don’t like at all going to town, but as a “reward” I got myself some new propellant for the old airbrush. OK … I didn’t have the other 2 guns yet so I thought let’s go for it with the old one. I masked the right side of the Porsche 936-78 to give the air duct a bit of the old red colour that the LeMans Car of ’78 (Jacky Ickx , Henri Pescarolo, Jochen Mass) had. Additionally the rear wing gets some of that red as well.

View of my "Paint Booth" ...

Detail - Masked of Area of

So here you have it, a nice look into may spraying area. It’s located right beside one of two windows in the room (remember the fresh air!) but, since I don’t have active air circulation, I have to protect me during the brief painting sessions. I actually have 2 cardboard boxes, a small one for little parts and the large one for the bigger jobs.

small paint booth with spainted spoiler

large paintbooth with model and airbrush

In the last picture the freshly painted parts just need to be protected against dust for drying and they are ready to go. If you don’t protect those freshly painted parts, they will attract the dust like a magnet (in the larger pictures you can see what I mean …).