Who makes the best quality tape to use for masking for best the price?
Why are they the best for masking?
Is there any alternatives that will work great as well?
Thank you.

I have about 6 tapes for different purposes.

I think the safest of the lot is Scotch #2080 #delicate surface" tape. it's almost lavender in color and translucent. releases from acrylics without leaving a residue or pulling (well dried base) paint.

sometimes I use blue painters tape or Tamiya yellow tapes to hold the scotch in place. I've seen youtubers use 3M post-it notes to mask. some cut up bare metal foil.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q8YOPurI7M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm3I64hLfF0

both of these guys can be a little - uh, intense - but I think that's what it takes to be a good tuber-taper.

If you are painting and masking, I found that if I mask with tape then paint clear on the edges, it helps prevent the color coat from bleeding under the tape edge.

I use the low tack from hardware store to cover large areas, but for the edges the tamiya tape, in case of curves I use the white tamiya for curves, the tamiya tape is called "Washi Tape" if you look under this name you find several brands, mistakenly also called "Kabuki Tape" but Kabuki is only one of many manufacturers (Kabuki is actually the name of a type of Japanese theater), it is still important to buy quality washi tapes, not so much for the material but for the cutting on the edge that if not perfect can leave nasty surprises when you take it off, the best ones usually come from Japan, there is also the Aizu Project that makes washi tape really thin



https://www.hobbytools.com.au/tamiya-masking-tape-3mm-for-curves/


https://www.umpretail.com/collections/modelling-tapes/products/aizu-micron-masking-tape-mega-bundle-all-sizes

http://www.jammydog.com/

I would buy jammydog just because of the name!

Yup, that's definitely catchy.

Frogtape Delicate Surface masking tape. Available at home depot.
Why is it the best price? You get a 2" x 60 yard roll for $9.
Why is it the best for masking? The adhesive has a polymer that locks with the surface to completely prevent paint bleed and leave a razor sharp edge, and the Delicate Surface version won't lift the thinnest layers of underlying paint. It's amazing stuff!

IF the OP is still reading this thread...

The generic / no-name / off-brand "blue tack" or "art tack" found in Walmarts and Hobby Lobby is super good for both fine and larger-area masking over about any painted surface.

I always warm it awhile in a pocket, bowl of warm water, near a compressor or other modest warm-spot before I use it. I knead it into a ball and, when it feels pretty pliable, pull out a clump from the ball and flatten my pulled bit into a thin sheet (stretch it, squeeze it, etc., until you have a nice, wide (1.0cm+) ribbon. This will be your masking ribbon or "tape".

Gently apply it to your build - I've always had great success molding it around structures and details, tucking it around PE bits and stuff with a olive pick or other little tool, and detailing the masking-edge to get whatever effects I want there (tiny scallops?, clean hard edges, small soft-edge effects (scaled-down spray-painting effects and boundaries w/out any over-spray)?).

Because its a soft plastic-like ribbon, you can make about any form or curve you want right as you apply it to the build. No pre-forming or cutting is needed.

Art tacky or gum is easy to remove once done spraying (getting it off sooner is always best...) - just lift and pull it away. IF little bits remain behind, just use a little ball of the stuff to grab up those crumbs! It can also be reused several times - just knead it into a ball and get the current paint mixed in well before you stretch it and apply it again. (I typically mask part of a build, shoot it, pull up the masking and reuse that for the next masking-set on the build - whether the same or some different color and paint.)

The one place it MAY not work very well (but I've never tried this, so cannot really say... ) is for masking tiny lines on canopies. Otherwise, you can mask down to pretty small blobs and lines and forms (consider a small camo pattern on a 1/72 tank...) - just takes a little tooling and some patience.

I would highly recommend trying it over any form of tape. Tape requires cutting before you apply and/or after its on to get the form you want. Tape often suffers bleed-under, whereas that is super easy to avoid with tack. Tape generally cannot be reused. Tape is more expensive. Tape takes longer to apply in most cases. Tape IS, however, probably better (or at least faster) for masking along straight lines and edges, simply because it is already straight...

Cheers! Bob