The Little World

If there is one thing that model airplane building brings you to, it is the knowledge of how to do masking. You may do it badly or well, but you will be doing it for nearly every model you work on. I’ve just been taping up the Grumman Duck and it has prompted me to set out a table of observations:

a. Paint the easiest thing to mask first. Whether this is a large area or a small one, and whether it is going to be light or dark in relation to the rest of the paint sceme…plan to do the least amount of tape stretching, cutting, and sticking that you can.

b. Mask your model away from the ears of women and children. This will enable you to use language.

c. Mask with the best tape you can afford. Cheap bargain basement masking tape is great for painting cheap bargain basements, but has no place on a model-maker’s table.

d. Keep the tape clean – out of sight and out of dust.

e. Start your line with as small a tape as is necessary – this will need to be a flexible one if there is any contour to pass. Paper tape doesn’t flex well, so choose a plastic one for the first pass.

f. Then add progressively wider tapes where you can – and use commercial low-tack painter’s tape if at all possible for big panels.

g. Do not trust the blandishments of the tape makers that their product will not lift paint or leave residue. Test it out throughly beforehand.

h. Supplement the tape wherever you are suspicious of a gap – with Humbrol Maskol or other liquid masking material.

i. Double-burnish all edges before you paint.

j. Paint promptly, and in good weather – if you leave a masked projet for several days in varying heat and humidity, it can debond at critical areas.

k. Let your paint dry thoroughly before unpeeling.

l. Unpeel cautiously and with due regard to the angle that you are pulling the tape. Don’t get greedy – better to do it one layer at a time and get a good edge with no flaking. You took time to mask – take time to unmask.

m. You will track masking tape bits through the house. Inspect the underside of your shoes or feet.