# Masking Strategies ## Overview There are several ways I've masked over the years. Some I like more than others. Some I thought I liked and now I don't. It all comes and goes with the seasons, but here are the notes I have for techniques I use for masking. ### Tapes ### Liquid Mask A long time ago I tried liquid masking and gave up on it. My problem was I would use a liquid mask and then it dries clear. I would think I had everything masked, and then I would remove it and I had missed spots. I found it error prone when compared to just using tape, where I can very easily see what is masked and what is not. However, after my frustration with [[Eve - Stellar Blade]] and masking using a combination of tape and blue tack (almost entirely blue tack, no blame to tape other than laziness), I am now trying liquid mask again. Can it indeed work where I just paint it on where I want masked and voila? It works well? More importantly - is it easy to remove as well once done? Some tips when using liquid mask: - Use an old brush or possibly a silicone brush. You will never return your brush back to it's natural beauty. I tried Winsor and Newton brush cleaner, soapy water, etc. and you can't really get the liquid mask out of it. - Someone on reddit said to try a hair dryer. I have not tried this yet - Someone suggested silicone brush, which if it applies the liquid mask well enough may be the easiest option - Even with an old brush that gets gross - you can likely liquid mask ok with it. I'm not sure how many times, but it may be ok. Definitely don't use a brush you want to use for actual painting though. ### Para Film By far this is one of the easiest and my favorites, when possible. Para Film can be bought in a roll and will last a very long time. It stretches and sticks to itself. It is great for covering large areas. It is also possible to pull it along a curve and kind of move it a little bit more than plain straight tape such as Tamiya, although you do need to have a good "base" larger area getting wrapped (to have it start sticking to itself). Essentially, if you have any large areas, use para film 100%. It's great. It masks well, it's easy to remove. As you get into smaller areas and nooks and crannies, you may need to add on. Perhaps para film + some blue tack in small amounts or para film + curving tape along a bend or two. ### Blue Tack (Pink Tack, Green Tack, ....) A love hate relationship now due to [[Eve - Stellar Blade]]. I've used blue tack for a long time. A few tips if using: - Only use in small amounts - don't try to just mask exclusively with blue tack. It's easy to go on, but it's hard to get off. You don't notice it's hard to get off when you only use a little here and there, but when you use it to do general masking, you find out removing it all takes a really long and frustrating time - Test the stickiness - this goes with the above. If you can, use the least sticky kind you have. If it feels really sticky when you are moving it around and trying to put it in place, it's going to be even worse coming off. I don't actually know how you test this though. - [x] Test silly putty - I've heard it is not too sticky compared to blue tack. #hobbies/models ✅ 2024-11-18 - I suggest putting tape on, and then blue tack if using both. If you put tack on before, you end up using more blue tack likely and overlapping tape on top of it. The tape sticks to the tack and it's hard to save and re-use the tack after you remove the tape because it's now stuck to the tape. If you swap them, the blue tack goes over the back of the tape. It's probably easier to minimize the blue tack usage (probably good for sticking), and it'll probably come off the back of the tape fairly easily to save and re-use. If it doesn't come off the tape easily, you can at least peel the tape and throw it all away in frustration, still minimizing how much is left on your model. ### No Masking Yes, that's right. No masking. Of course, the easiest way to do this is if the parts you are painting separate, whether it be gunpla, or resin kits that are cut in an intelligent way such that colors are easy to paint. This section is not about that, however. Instead, sometimes I opt to use no mask if I am doing more brush painting - particularly if the paints I am using are easily brushable. Sometimes, with a little airbrush control and some guaranteed overspray, it is possible to at least limit the overspray and not make it too bold. You can then go back and touch up with a brush. If I'm going to paint skin by hand anyways, I've done this before. The project notes make the tradeoff clear: skipping a mask can save setup time, but it often creates more repair work and a less consistent finish. - On [[2B Nier Automata]], leaving the skin unmasked during a reverse wash made restoring the white top much slower than masking it first would have been. - On [[Zero With Ball Joints]], brushing details rather than masking and airbrushing was faster, but the final finish looked rougher. - On [[Android 18 WIP]], a brushed repair with pre-thinned lacquer lifted the underlying skin paint, and the patch could not reproduce the layered airbrushed skin tone. Use no masking when the neighboring finish is easy to reproduce with a brush. Mask when the adjacent color depends on layered shading, a smooth airbrush finish, or a light color that will be difficult to restore. ## Examples From Projects - **Large and curved areas:** Para Film worked especially well on [[Model Site/Figures/04 - Tifa Lockhart/Tifa Lockhart|Tifa Lockhart]] because it covered broad areas, followed curves, and could be adjusted with a toothpick. Tape remained better for small straight edges. - **Fine raised details:** On [[Lucy Fairy Tail]], covering the whole area with tape and cutting out the exposed design was faster and less error-prone than building a border from many small tape pieces. - **Putty masks:** [[Eve - Stellar Blade]] showed why tack should be limited to small gaps: using a large amount took hours to remove. [[Kaine]] found silly putty easier to remove, although it needed more effort to keep in position. - **Repairing overspray:** A protective clear coat helped remove a few small overspray spots on [[Kaine]], but larger mistakes still required repainting. On [[Lucy Fairy Tail]], a localized airbrush repair left hard paint lines; blend into a wider area or repaint the full part.