Tutorial; Window Trim Masking

[Dino Scuderia]

This is the first installment of future tutorials which will appear as a 'sticky thread' at the top of 'Kits Corner'. I hope this will encourage current modelers to try new proven techniques...and also get some nonmodelers at UCP interested in the hobby.

Painting on the window trim straight and tidy is one of the most frustrating procedures in model building but it can be done with excellent results using this masking technique. This particular tutorial is based on airbrushing the black on but it will also work with spraying the black on with a can or brushing it on. The important thing is to make sure the edges of the tape are down good so paint doesn't leak under.

If you plan to spray the black on from can...I recommend spraying on a light coat of clear over the tape edges first to seal it, let it dry then spray the black on. This isn't necessary with the airbrush because it expells paint at a much lower volume. Regardless of which you use.... spray light coats.

Window trim is painted on after you final color/clear coats and your paint is polished etc.

Using Tamiya's 40mm wide masking tape to mask the window trim of this Revell Civic. As you can see this width tape works nicely for this job, one strip covers the whole area.


After pressing the tape into the grooves around the windows and firmly up against the lower raised window trim, I trimmed around the area with an Exacto knife.


I did the same for all windows and used the scrap trimmings to mask the rest of the car in conjunction with more unused tape.


In this step I have airbrushed black acrylic paint onto the exposed window trim areas. As a rule I use acrylic paints for window trim if the body has been painted with an oil based paint, and oil based enamel if it had been painted with an acrylic paint. This makes cleaning up edges easier because the paints are less likely to melt into each other. If you used a spray can for the black you should run an Exacto blade down each tape edge to score the black paint so it will make a clean 'break' when you pull the tape off.


After I removed the tape some of the edges appeared a little uneven. Using a toothpick, I scraped around the jagged edges of the black paint to even it out, this doesn't hurt the orange paint on the body. Some very minor touch up with a brush fixed the trim to look satisfactory.


Here is the completed trim work, I chose to leave the trim around the sun roof orange as I didn't want a big black square on the roof. This procedure was accomplished in about 40 minutes and the nice neat trim work makes a huge difference in how your model looks.

[henk4]

I even did not know that tamiya tape in 40 mm size (probably because the catalogue only shows three sizes), it does make it look very simple. I guess if you don't want to spray you do not need to cover the whole car, and sticking tape around the frame would suffice, also may be with some difficulty around the A-pilars.

[woodstock827]

cool! thx!
but my paint still always leak under the tape when i use brush..
would normal masking tape work? may be that's why it leak.... =P i'll try with tamiya tape next time...

[Dino Scuderia]

Originally Posted by woodstock827

cool! thx!
but my paint still always leak under the tape when i use brush..
would normal masking tape work? may be that's why it leak.... =P i'll try with tamiya tape next time...

Tamiya tape is the best I've ever used.

You can still use the painting on clear first method when brush painting to seal the tape.

[Digitor]

Thanks dino, a nice helpful tut. I'll have to see how the 'spraying with clear' method works too, as my local shop doesn't stock tamiya tape

[Matra et Alpine]

Originally Posted by Digitor

Thanks dino, a nice helpful tut. I'll have to see how the 'spraying with clear' method works too, as my local shop doesn't stock tamiya tape

I've found hlj an excellent source for some of the harder to get stuff.
Good prices compared to the UK suppliers for the same bits - even taking shpping into account.
I tend to buy the unusual kits from them

IF you're in the market for a kit too, then see http://www.hlj.com/product/TAM87063 shiping woudl be alittle excessive if it was only the tape you wanted.

I'm not associated with hlj, jsut a happy customer. You shoudl look online there may be local suppliers who will do mail order at a lower combined price.

[Dino Scuderia]

I've been a customer of HLJ since 1995...they do a good job.

[Esperante]

Excellent tutorial. Makes me want to get a better airbrush.

For those of us whoe don't have one, there is a riskier method, but still turns out pretty good most of the time. Score around the edges of the window trim with an exacto knife, as kind of a perimiter the paint cannot excape from once brushed on.

However, the best cheap way to do it is buy a craft pen (usually around $5) and do the trimming.

[henk4]

Originally Posted by Matra et Alpine

I've found hlj an excellent source for some of the harder to get stuff.
Good prices compared to the UK suppliers for the same bits - even taking shpping into account.
I tend to buy the unusual kits from them

IF you're in the market for a kit too, then see http://www.hlj.com/product/TAM87063 shiping woudl be alittle excessive if it was only the tape you wanted.

I'm not associated with hlj, jsut a happy customer. You shoudl look online there may be local suppliers who will do mail order at a lower combined price.

this is only valid for Japanese products, any other kit you can much cheaper buy in your home country....

[Matra et Alpine]

Originally Posted by henk4

this is only valid for Japanese products, any other kit you can much cheaper buy in your home country....

For sure.

I use hannants in the UK as my first check, but for Tamiya bits they've never beaten hlj. I think Tamiya has price-fixing in the UK

[spi-ti-tout]

Say people, do you know anyplace or a perticular store that I can get a kit from? Any easy kit that is. So far I've had no success finding one and I've been broke anyway but I'm getting a gift and the person asked me what I'd like - I'd REALLY love a kit but you see my problems

And besides that, are there other anythings that I will need to get eg spare parts, glue, paint etc?

[spi-ti-tout]

ANYONE - online stores??

[Matra et Alpine]

Originally Posted by spi-ti-tout

ANYONE - online stores??

two already mentioned in thus thread.

www.hlj.com and www.hannants.co.uk

Shame you cant' find a local store. Have you checked everywhere ? When startign otu it's good to find a local store who can dsicuss and advise.

I generally recommend trying a few really cheap kits to learn and see if you have the basic skills and patience before going for a Tamiya !!

[henk4]

Originally Posted by Matra et Alpine

I generally recommend trying a few really cheap kits to learn and see if you have the basic skills and patience before going for a Tamiya !!

because if you can master a cheap kit, than you will appreciate the quality of Tamiya and the easiness with which you can put that together.

[Esperante]

Absolutely. But keep an eye out for rare models at the store, ie Fujimi Enthusiast models. If I saw an Enthusiast model i'd buy it and keep it stored for a while, just to have it. But seeing as you're just starting, I wouldn't worry about that just yet.