Hey Gents,
One of the reasons I like armor modeling is that projects rarely call for masking. However, I am working on Meng's Bradley and because of its interior, will need to mask off the hatches, rear door, engine compartment door, and turret ring. What would be the best war of masking these openings? I thought about using the hatches themselves and brush painting the edges. Masking tape wold be hard to use because of the complex shapes. Any ideas?

I would use the hatches themselves. Or perhaps tissue paper in the openings.

That's what I plan for the BTR-80 I'm working on now.

Fill them with bits of sponge. I do this all the time with my ww1 aircraft. I push in a piece of sponge that is a little bit bigger then the opening and bobs your uncle. Since it is not very hard material it is not destructive to all your work on the inside.

Masking the hatches,tthemselves may proovea little difficult. I apply masking tape to the interior of the model, and burnish the edge. Paint and remove the mask. For smaller openings(.75-1.25"), I use cotton swabs or a piece of rolled paper towel.

Hey Jon,
Gather your a drummer?Me too,retired.
Robert has the perfect solution.Sponge is the easiest way to mask openings.The best is the kind cosmetic counters use to apply makeup.Very dense ,but flexible.They use them in small portions so they're already cut up.I had my wife get some from someone she sees regularly .

Tom

You can also go the more elaborate way: cut thin styrene or card sheet to fit the opening and glue it in with a bit of Humbrol's mascol or anything that can be later easily removed i.e. white glue. It is pretty paint-tight. I owe an apology to the author as I realy don't remember where I picked this tip up.

Cheers,
Greg

I do the same thing as what Grzegorz suggested.

It's worth the extra effort especially if there's a lot of build still left to go. The really tight seal helps to keep the earlier work clean and protected and not just paint-free with the exterior finishing.

I usually just use ordinary typing paper and which ever liquid latex masking fluid I have on hand. In addition to sealing the edges of the paper mask to the model, I also give the paper a couple of coats of the masking fluid to make it more durable over the rest of the build.