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so I bought a few stencils for my eldar from the great guys at anarchymodels.uk My question is what si the best way to cover my models as to not get paint on them. I've seen painters tape used but I was wondering if putty or something else may be easier? dont care so much about cost just ease of use.

I use tape/paper or masking frisk as these cover greater areas more quickly. Then it's just a case of not spraying too much paint down, stencils will stop paint as it comes down but won't prevent pooling paint coming out of the stencil.

Tape, low tack masking sheets and cling film/Saran wrap.

great tips guys. saran wrap is a great idea. never thought of that before!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Just wondering tho, is there any putty that can easily cover the model and come off just as easy?

Liquid masking fluid.

Masking tape (you need this if you want to get a nice hard edge), blutack, I have been known to tape plastic bags or gloves over parts of the model to avoid getting that dusty overspray on them as well.

 supreme overlord wrote:
great tips guys. saran wrap is a great idea. never thought of that before!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Just wondering tho, is there any putty that can easily cover the model and come off just as easy?

Saranwrap is a staple of airbrushing

If your model is **TOTALLY DRY** you can use some low tac putty like the stuff that 3M blue-tac for paper (it's barely sticky at all). Don't use the sticky bluetac, the stuff you use to pose models, because it will just peel off your paint unless it's really, really cured.

I've seen other people use different kinds of putty too, mostly for camo masking on tanks.

Again, if your model is **TOTALLY DRY** you can use paint on masking stuff (like from Mr. Hobby). In this case, invert the stencil (use the punchouts), and paint the mask where the stencil would be, then tape off around that area.

Being totally dry is a prerequisite for all masking. Ideally if you hit it with a layer of gloss varnish and then wait a couple of days is safest. I've had Mr.Hobby masking fluid strip paint because I didn't wait long enough for the underlying to cure, I've also had cheap masking take pull off paint even after a prime + 1 day cure + base coat + 1 day cure + gloss varnish + 2 days cure... it STILL lifted it, so it's worth buying tape that especially designed to be very low tack. I've been happy using Tamiya tape.

It does also matter what paint you're masking over. I haven't done extensive studies on it, but I've found Vallejo paints are significantly more likely to be torn off by my mask than Humbrol acrylic paints. Unfortunately Humbrol acrylics have horrible pots so I don't own many of them, lol.

I've never had a problem with blutack pulling up paint, but I only use it over a gloss varnish and only after waiting a day or two. It's also best if you use fresh blutack, while it might *feel* reusable, once you've sprayed it once and mixed all the dried paint in to it, it loses many of it's properties. If it's something I care about (like the camo pattern on the spitfire I'm currently working on) I just bit the bullet and bought a brand new pack of blutack to do it. If I'm just trying to cover an area to avoid getting that dusty overspray off, it doesn't matter quite so much.

Masking tape + cling wrap or foil for large and straigt areas.

Blue Tack for small pieces (like a space marine head for example).

I never had a situation where I felt I need liquid mask, it is relatively time consuming to work with as opposed to blue tack and I have seen it taking off the underlying paint (I guess paint wasn't fully cured).

That's how I like to do it.

 supreme overlord wrote:
great tips guys. saran wrap is a great idea. never thought of that before!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Just wondering tho, is there any putty that can easily cover the model and come off just as easy?

I've seen many people that recommend using Silly Putty to mask with (although I've never tried it myself).