Carolina Clemson Luna Bugs, my first masking attempt

Hmmmm, good, not so good...

The Carolina Bug came out ok, just some minor touch ups along the edges. Painted garnet (burgundy) two days ago, masked off the body and painted the fins black. I'll spray some paint in a cup and use a tiny brush to draw a line right on the edge/corner.

Clemson bug on the other hand is gonna need work. Painted it orange two days ago and masked it the same way and painted the fins purple. It was the first to be uncovered. I took the nosecone masking off and dragged purple all over the nose cone. Tried to wipe it off and made the mess worse.

Now I remember something I should have done. I should have through a quick coat of the base color, orange on the masking, then put down the purple top coat. Also, as I did on the Carolina Bug, I was MUCH more careful peeling the mask off.

Also had some runs on the Clemson Bug, but I'm going to glue some pompoms on those locations anyways.

Oh well, I'll do better next time, I hope.

Thanks.

I know opinions vary on this, but that’s a big reason why I don’t remove masking whole the paint is still wet. Too much chance of that happening.

I will try (when possible) to unmask before it’s fully cured, but I like to at least have it dry to the touch.

Agreed, I should have waited a little longer. I'm not sure what that is, but about 10min was not enough. I was afraid of waiting too long, didn't want a jagged edge. The way I took off the masking was bad part.

With the Rusto 2x paint, which take approximately forever to fully cure, I'd wait an hour or two at least. Actually, that might now be long enough, might be in the stretchy/stringy state at the point.

In reality I usually wait at least a day. I do not know what the "ideal" waiting period is.

Remind me the hazards of leaving tape on too long? Other than maybe it will stick too hard to the base color and peel it off?

Try using a 3M fine line tape. I like the blue. Will leave an edge crisp enough that I have cut myself before

I did masking for the first time today, and took Micromeister's advice about lightly burnishing down the edges of the Tamiya yellow masking tape and then spraying on a coat of matte clear coat (Tamiya matte clear). I waited about an hour after the last coat, and gently removed the mask + Tamiya tape, gently twisting it at an sharp angle and pulling slowly. Perfect results; I am really pleased the way my first attempt went.

This was on an Estes Space Corvette with the dark grey fins. Later I'll try something more complex on my Arapahoe-E.

Bill S said:

I did masking for the first time today, and took Micromeister's advice about lightly burnishing down the edges of the Tamiya yellow masking tape and then spraying on a coat of matte clear coat (Tamiya matte clear). I waited about an hour after the last coat, and gently removed the mask + Tamiya tape, gently twisting it at an sharp angle and pulling slowly. Perfect results; I am really pleased the way my first attempt went.

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neil_w said:

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Here you go... the area at the base of the fin where it looks irregular is actually glare from the overhead lights. I could see that there was indeed a paint dam from the dark paint on top of the lighter paint, but I had to use a magnifier to see it. At normal viewing distances it looks fine to me.

And the rocket w/o red paint on the fin tips, and w/o decals.

Still working on these two. Remasked with Scotch Magic Tape, burnished, put a coat of base coat down first to seal against wicking, then several coats of contrasting color. Let it dry for about two hours before CAREFULLY peeling away the tape. May take a fine tipped brush and draw over the intersecting colors. They are ok, but my OCD is saying I must do better. Still need graphics.

Go Clemson.

Bill S said:

At normal viewing distances it looks fine to me.

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I really like how you eased the edges and corners of the fins. Nice job.

scadaman29325 said:

Go Clemson.

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Well, until they stop

Nytrunner said:

Well, until they stop

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scadaman29325 said:

Go Clemson.

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Win a few, lose a few.
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