Hi everyone,

Right now I am painting the 1/35th Takom Whippet with the stripe heavy Irish Revolution build.


Obviously, very stripe heavy. I will admit, masking is not my strongest skill, but one I am will actively working on (hence this build).

I painted the top of the hull with little to no issues. Came out quite well. HOWEVER, the sponson stripes are giving me some grief. For the life of me I cant seem to get a very sharp line. A little bit of white or red bleeds in. I believe all of the rivets and bolts and detail are not allowing my Tamiya masking tape to sit down as snug as it should. I typical try to smooth it down with a tooth pick then paint it, but still am having issues.

Any one have any suggestions for how to mask over these uneven surfaces?

Thanks for your time.

Just as a thought put tape on, spray a light coat of flat clear over the tape edges and let dry. Paint the white. Tape and Spray some more flat clear and let dry. Spray the red. Now remove the tape. Practice first to get confident with your technique. Let the flat clear seal your tape edges. Maybe use a narrower tape. Have you burnished the tape edges?

That sounds like an interesting and practical solution! Thank you.

I have not burnished the tape edges. How does one go about that?

after the tape is on get a small flat tool to rub down the edges to seal the tapes edges flat.

Remember if you spray clear on the edges use a thin coat so you won't leave a thick ridge and the tape will be easier to get off.

How had it been painted in real life? Probably, some paint overlapped the next color and the painters fixed this with a paintbrush.
That's the way I do when I encounter the kind of trouble you are in. I don't mind having perfect masking (yes it's better if I can) and I complete the stripes with a fine brush.

Olivier

As modelers we stress over the perfect stripe line, the perfect soft camo and all the rest. Remember in reality the vehicle was painted by a pizzed off private who didn't want to be there anyway.

All of the above, and use really light coats of thicker than normal paint through your airbrush. You have to have patience and allow to dry before going over the colour again, and again before removing the tape - then do your next colour...