The Little World

It is unfair to take a photo of a lady when she is only half-dressed…unless she specifically wants pictures of herself in that condition. I was reminded of this when I thought to picture the Avenger TBF-1 in her masking tape. But as this is a new departure – a three-level USN paint scheme – I wanted to get it down for posterity.

It also marks the first use of a technique that I’ve read about – the business of sealing the edge of masking to prevent paint creep. Its a problem that has occured as recently as yesterday when I tried to brush paint an anti-glare nose panel to a 50’s aircraft. No matter how well I thought I had sealed the edges of the masking tape down to a remarkably smooth fuselage surface, some  black acrylic paint leaked past and marred the silver finish. I knew it was the last time I wanted to have to scrub off paint and patch up things so I took notice of the magazine forums:

a. I smoothed the masking tape blocking the lower part of the wing as closely as I could with a specific instrument as well as my fingernail.

b. I then sprayed a further small bead of white at the edge of the tape to seal it.

c. I did not brush anything – only sprayed. Spray seems to load the surface less and allow the paint to dry faster before it can seep.

The result, including a second masking after the intermediate blue had cured, was excellent. Even in places where the characteristic Grumman fuselage seams were deepest, there was no tracking of the intermediate blue into the white. And no bleeding of the dark blue either.

The final result is very pleasing but I shall not crowd my luck – it gets 18 hours to finally cure before I gloss coat it and add decals.