Taping and Painting Curves

[SacEsq]

Would love to see/read techniques for masking off and painting curves.

Thanks

[blackbrandt]

Cut some cardstock...basically make a boat tail just big enough to fit around your curve.
Thanks

[foamy]

Are you talking about making a curved line on a body tube or fin? If so, there are a few ways to go about it. Let's say you have just tape to work with. Depending on the complexity of the curve, you can lay out a broad (2 or 3" width) area of tape. Draw your curved line on it and then use a sharp knife blade and cut on your line. Again, a sharp blade. Use enough pressure to cut through the tape, but not go into the body tube or fin. It takes a little practice to get a feel for it.

Another option is to lay a strip or strips (if you need that kind of coverage) on a piece of glass. Do your cutting flat on the glass, peel it up (carefully) and apply it to your rocket. You would probably have to have your design worked out in a vector program of some sort first so you know what your dealing with when you go to apply it to your rocket. You can also use your (to scale) drawing on top of the tape to cut your lines precisely.

One more option is stretch friskit. Draw your lines on your rocket, apply the frisket (it's translucent) and again, using a sharp blade, cut the friskit out by tracing your drawing on the rocket with your knife.

If your curves are not complex, with the right ape (one with some flex) you can cut it to an eighth of an inch (or a little more) and make your curves with that. Using half inch tape, or whatever will suit, to mask behind it.

Hope this reply is understandable.

[AfterBurners]

I think foamy covered all the processes and some I didn't know.

[Worsaer]

Mark @ Stickershock can make paint masks, much like decals. He helped me with paint masks for the boat tail of my 5.5" V2, and they worked perfectly.

[SacEsq]

THX Foamy and everyone who replied. That is what I was looking for. Was not sure if there were some other tecniques I was not thinking of.

[kenstarr]

Get some nice 3M line tape. Comes in .25" and .125" widths (at least that I know of). Used in painting flames and other work involving curves. A little pricey but the stuff does wonders. After its applied, use your favorite masking tape to tape off whatever you want covered on the other side of the line. Love it! Because of its curve conforming abilities, you can tape off a nose cone or boat tail easily.

[SacEsq]

thx ... is that available at auto parts places?

[AfterBurners]

You can also use get some Tamiya tape on Hobbylinc. I use it all the time and have had good results. If you want to spend a little more money check your automotive supply stores. They have a lot to choose from, but like I said kind of pricey.

http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/tam/tam87033.htm

[HammerZ2008]

+1 Tamiya tapes.

40mm Tamiya tape is good to cut patterns from if the curve is complex. But for rockets paint bleed is an issue. I cut it on wax paper before laying it on the tube, just make sure the edge is stuck down good. Maybe an inter coat of clear (or the base color if that is all you have) to help seal the edge to be sure.

[Micromeister]

3m Fineline green Tapes, Tamiya Tapes, & EZmask painting tapes all claim to adhear to compound curved parts. for the most part these products do. unless your in very small radii or inward/outward complex contours. these areas will often lift between application and painting. All of these masking tapes will lift if your not very diligent about re-burnishing them down just before paint is applied.

Some offset litho tapes particularly "Rubylith" transparent tape is a very low tac masking tape that can be seen through making following pattern lines a good bit easier. this one does not however work well on complex compound curved surfaces. NC radii are usually OK but tight radii or complex areas can lift after application. Rubylith tape is EXCELLENT over new paint.

Because of this tendency to release in these curved areas I make it a practice to give the taped lines a coat of matte clear to "seal" the edges before applying a color coat. Matte clear dries incredibly fast and to a thinner layer then pigmented paint.

Frog Tape particularly the delicate surface Yellow stuff is working out very well on multi-color models. I've only used it on one model so far so I can't really say its better then sliced bread..will see what a few more applications produce.

Best always as good as your knifed edge masking for curved and compound curved surfaces is Liquid masking. These materials are either airburshed on or can be applied by hand with a brush if you can be consistant with the thichness applied. Like all things Liquid mask has a learning curve so don't expect perfect results with the first application.

Another often overlooked compound curve mask is Parafilm-M this stuff only comes 2" wide and must be Stretched and relaxed before application to the model. kind of wierd to work with the first time or two but because of its super thin nature can product hand painted multi-color patterns the can not be distinguished from Spray painted patterns. Pretty KEWL stuff once its been played with a few times.

[qquake2k]

Micromeister, is there anything you DON'T have pictures of? LOL

[foamy]

snip... Best always as good as your knifed edge masking for curved and compound curved surfaces is Liquid masking. These materials are either airburshed on or can be applied by hand with a brush if you can be consistant with the thichness applied. Like all things Liquid mask has a learning curve so don't expect perfect results with the first application. snip...

I can't get along with liquid masking. On a flat cold or hot-press board, using ink or watercolor—maybe. And then only on very limited areas. Unless you can get it off whole—you risk smearing paint on whatever you're painting. I didn't mention it in my previous post for that reason. That, and I'm just not keen on it. I only use it to preserve highlights on watercolor paintings and illustrations. YMMV.

[qquake2k]

Would love to see/read techniques for masking off and painting curves.

Thanks

Hey Jason, what project are you working on?

[Pem Tech]

Another often overlooked compound curve mask is Parafilm-M this stuff only comes 2" wide and must be Stretched and relaxed before application to the model. kind of wierd to work with the first time or two but because of its super thin nature can product hand painted multi-color patterns the can not be distinguished from Spray painted patterns. Pretty KEWL stuff once its been played with a few times.

Parafilm....
Haven't seen any of that since my last time in an Organic Chemistry lab. Excellent idea Micro. Now to order some...

[SacEsq]

Working on a couple and have often wanted to do some curves. The most recent project is my Estes Leviathan.

[o1d_dude]

I'm doing the fillets on my Leviathan.

Be sure to check out the decals/vinyl from Stickershock for the Leviathan. He's got the complete set as shown on the packaging.

[Micromeister]

Yea qq!
Lots of Things I don't have photos of. It's just a lot easier to explain strange or wierd materials if folks can see what is being talked about

Foamy:
Many of the "hobby shop" liquid masks do require a bit of getting used to, for success. I'm a Sign man remember, I use Spraylat "SignStrip" and Wyandotte "Gripmask" by the gallon and 5 gallon bucket on plastic sign faces. Generally spray applied but more often then one might think Roller applied. The Three I showed in the earlier photo (one being Gripmask) are three types I personally recommend for "new to Liquid Masking" applications.
The trick to liquid masks it to get a WET coating by Brush, mop, roller or spray, that will dry to a minumum 2mil thickness. Generally this means you really have to pack it on while wet. The mask liquid needs to be Opaque 4 or 5mils thich when wet, it'll dry clear within 24hours to 2 or 2.5mils.
When knifing make sure your using a well stropped, very sharp blade. Lift and remove "to be painted" masked areas using the point of the blade to start. Do not attempt to remove liquid mask until the paint has dried to at very least "to the touch dry" if not overnight. Give one another try on something very difficult to mask, I'm sure you'll say Wow! that did make a big difference in ease and effect.

[foamy]

snip... I use Spraylat "SignStrip" and Wyandotte "Gripmask" by the gallon and 5 gallon bucket on plastic sign faces. generally spray applied but more often then one might think Roller applied. The Three I showed in the earlier photo (one being Gripmask) are three types I personally recommend for "new to Liquid Masking" applications....snip

Thanks Micro. I've only used liquid mask on art pieces as you probably gathered from my post. I had no idea of sign painter's liquid masks—they would have to be quite a bit more "industrial." That's good info and I'm surprised that I was unaware of them. Good to hear about the technique involved.

I do miss a professional art supply store. As good or better than a hobby shop. My local paint store only sells One-Shot in pints. No Chromatic at all. It's rare that I need a pint, but (still) I do love opening those cans and gazing at pure color. It sounds silly, but it's true. I'm funny like that.

Thanks for the post and explanation.

[Micromeister]

Thanks Micro. I've only used liquid mask on art pieces as you probably gathered from my post. I had no idea of sign painter's liquid masks—they would have to be quite a bit more "industrial." That's good info and I'm surprised that I was unaware of them. Good to hear about the technique involved.

I do miss a professional art supply store. As good or better than a hobby shop. My local paint store only sells One-Shot in pints. No Chromatic at all. It's rare that I need a pint, but (still) I do love opening those cans and gazing at pure color. It sounds silly, but it's true. I'm funny like that.

Thanks for the post and explanation.

Not a problem at all, Glad to share.
We just finished a 16ft x 40ft billboard size Flex-Face that was 1st surface masked, knifed and re-mask (8 colors) using liquid masks to eliminate wicking around the fabric threads and overlaying colors. A lot of care had to be taken not to cut through the face as well as the masking it worked out very well completely eliminating usual required touch-ups on this huge multi color Flex fabric face. Normally adhesive backed masking papers are used but as mentioned they generally lift a bit on this type material. I didn't mention Tufbak, PTmask or Friskit Adhesive backed masking papers as most folks don't want to spend 15 bucks for an 18" x 50yd roll. but they also have many varing uses.

I do understand missing the Art supply stores locally, but with the digital age most of the stuff we were used to going in to "Pick-up" are only a short electronic order form away. Still is was really fun wondering through those huge Art supply stores looking at all the mediums out there we had to play with.

I'm a 1-shot man myself.. never liked the chromatic line much...mainly because of the stocking distributor in our area I sure can identify with opening cans of new color just to smell and gaze into the depth of color. I was fortunate enough to have siezed on some 1/2pt cans of the 1-Shot Pearls and Metallic lettering enamels before the were dropped from the line. Thinned down they work very nicely on models it's kinda KEWL to hand brush a model and have folks think it's been sprayed

[foamy]

snip... I'm a 1-shot man myself.. never liked the chromatic line much...mainly because of the stocking distributor in our area I sure can identify with opening cans of new color just to smell and gaze into the depth of color. I was fortunate enough to have siezed on some 1/2pt cans of the 1-Shot Pearls and Metallic lettering enamels before the were dropped from the line. Thinned down they work very nicely on models it's kinda KEWL to hand brush a model and have folks think it's been sprayed

Snagging those metallics was fortuitous—lucky guy.

I had a bit of luck last Summer—I acquired a few old (real turkey) quill pin-stripe brushes, still in their waxed paper, with gold-stamped seal, bags. And a few sticks of the same vintage. I haven't yet worked up the gumption to try pin-striping, but I'm going to give it a shot sometime this season. One-Shot is da bomb and I'm just looking for an excuse to use it. Have they changed the formulation in recent years? I sure hope not.