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Can anyone advise on a superlative masking tape please? I've tried most of the selection available at Bumblings and they are all not so flash if you want a perfect result. I'm talking about a paint to varnish line that will stand very close inspection, millimetre by millimetre. Most tapes are not bad but will give a tiny bit of under cutting that then needs to be cleaned up with a craft knife and with a magnifier fitted on your specs.

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Thank you. I will the suggestions on a test piece first. One of the difficulties is the paint/varnish I'm doing is that they are a one-shot deal. Mess it up and it's very difficult to correct.

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Use 3M only, there are several types that may suit, the purple low tack I like but there are several fineline pvc types but they are very fiddly. Double taping helps give a good edge too.

 

I like the sound of the fineline pvc type. I'm only trying to mask off paint to varnish lines a few centimetres long so the fiddly aspect shouldn't present a problem.
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Go to an automotive refinishing place and get the yellow tape (Japanese i think) it has a very low profile  and is great for masking where you dont want to see a thick line where the paint types change.

Perfect match paints used to stock it.

Have you tried Wairau paints?

Not sure where you would get it outside of Auckland sorry

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Thanks for the good advice - one can always rely on you chaps to come up with answers.

So what I'm trying to achieve is a razor Sharp line between the black paint replicating the canopy and the varnish on the rest of the aircraft. Both are sprayed finishes.20191022_214410.jpg

I thought I might manage to sell a couple of these models - I didn't count on an order of 50 so I need to get my production and finishes sorted.

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Thanks for the good advice - one can always rely on you chaps to come up with answers.

So what I'm trying to achieve is a razor Sharp line between the black paint replicating the canopy and the varnish on the rest of the aircraft. Both are sprayed finishes.attachicon.gif 20191022_214410.jpg

I thought I might manage to sell a couple of these models - I didn't count on an order of 50 so I need to get my production and finishes sorted.

 

Awesome!

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Thanks for your help with the masking tape. Will chase your recommendation up on Monday.

 

Plane looks great; wish i had that level of craftsmanship.

And thanks also for your comment but it's not skill, it's just having the right tools.

At the moment I have 10 of the spitfire Mk.V's under build and have started on a run of P.51-B Mustangs - but it's all come to a bit of a stop. I need to figure out how to sand the little fiddly bits. No skin left on my fingers and the bloody fingerprints are hard to remove from the wood.

Girl's hands.. but got to pay the expenses on that canal boat somehow..

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Dremel with appropriate attachment?

Yep, got a Dremel but it's a bit vicious on little bits.

After a bit of experimenting this is what I've come up with if anybody has a similar problem.

I cut a 300mm piece of 5mm steel down to 25mm wide. One end is clamped in the vice and the rest of the bar sticks out on the side of the vice you want to work on - depends if you're right or left handed. On the bar I put a bit of 25mm emery tape held on with a tiny ratchet clamp on each end.

The little bits I want to shape and sand are very thin and only 10-20mm long, but the bits are cut 20 - 30mm longer to provide something to hold on to. When finished, the handle part of the job is cut off and the piece will need just a couple of whisks over the sandpaper to tidy up the cut off. Holding the bit between thumb and forefinger, the front part of the forefinger runs along the edge of a steel bar which gives good control but just make sure it is properly de-burred.

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This masking off paint lines is driving me insane!

On these models I sand to baby's bum smooth, spray two coats on varnish, sand with 400grit,then mask and spray some parts with black paint. I bought some eye wateringly expensive detailing tape as advised in posts above but am still getting a degree of undercutting. And what do you do about corners where one line of tape overlaps another? There is always a paint dribble there. The attached pic shows the aircraft canopy in black AFTER an hour of delicate clean up of the paint line with a scalpel, and it's still not all that good. There's got to be an easier way.

And I realize that this query has nothing to do with boating except that if I can keep selling these things then we can afford to keep canal boating starting April.Bf109.JPG

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This masking off paint lines is driving me insane!

On these models I sand to baby's bum smooth, spray two coats on varnish, sand with 400grit,then mask and spray some parts with black paint. I bought some eye wateringly expensive detailing tape as advised in posts above but am still getting a degree of undercutting. And what do you do about corners where one line of tape overlaps another? There is always a paint dribble there. The attached pic shows the aircraft canopy in black AFTER an hour of delicate clean up of the paint line with a scalpel, and it's still not all that good. There's got to be an easier way.

And I realize that this query has nothing to do with boating except that if I can keep selling these things then we can afford to keep canal boating starting April.Bf109.JPG

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This masking off paint lines is driving me insane!

On these models I sand to baby's bum smooth, spray two coats on varnish, sand with 400grit,then mask and spray some parts with black paint. I bought some eye wateringly expensive detailing tape as advised in posts above but am still getting a degree of undercutting. And what do you do about corners where one line of tape overlaps another? There is always a paint dribble there. The attached pic shows the aircraft canopy in black AFTER an hour of delicate clean up of the paint line with a scalpel, and it's still not all that good. There's got to be an easier way.

And I realize that this query has nothing to do with boating except that if I can keep selling these things then we can afford to keep canal boating starting April.Bf109.JPG

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This masking off paint lines is driving me insane!

On these models I sand to baby's bum smooth, spray two coats on varnish, sand with 400grit,then mask and spray some parts with black paint. I bought some eye wateringly expensive detailing tape as advised in posts above but am still getting a degree of undercutting. And what do you do about corners where one line of tape overlaps another? There is always a paint dribble there. The attached pic shows the aircraft canopy in black AFTER an hour of delicate clean up of the paint line with a scalpel, and it's still not all that good. There's got to be an easier way.

And I realize that this query has nothing to do with boating except that if I can keep selling these things then we can afford to keep canal boating starting April.

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