The Little World

Well, in for a penny, in for a pound…I tried the Art Spectrum masking fluid from Jackson’s Art Supplies in earnest.

The bottle seems a lot like Humbrol Maskol, except slightly thinner. It doesn’t have quite the strong formaldehyde odour of Maskol, but it’s latex, all right. If you do not clean a brush in water very quickly after you’ve finished, it is going to take a soak in turpentine to loosen the hardened rubber. I’ve decided to tape an old brush to the bottle for exclusive use and sacrifice it if needed.

The watery nature of the liquid means you’ll pick up more bubbles from the bottle and you need to work these out in the brushing – otherwise you’ll have open spots in the coat that will let in the second paint colour.

The disadvantage this has over Maskol or Mr Masking Sol R is the fact that it dries clear – I shall have to be very careful to inspect the model after the masks and rubber worms are removed to make sure I haven’t missed any of it.

The booming advantage is the cheap price.

And here’s the result. It has covered perfectly over Mr Color Dark Earth and then released cleanly – no lifting of the underside. The art gum eraser worms have rolled up and the grey material is reusable.

We’re on a winner, folks – this may well mean no more interminable cutting and pasting with masking tape.