hi again. been busy so I haven't got around to building too much. just one quick thing I did that seems interesting to share.
I've been looking around to get some Gunze Sangyo Masking Sol Neo or Humbrol Maskol but couldn't find it anywhere. the reason I need that is for the wheels. see the wheels are not all chrome or aluminum.. its actually aluminum with a very bright chrome center cap, as you can clearly see in this photo:
now how do I recreate that effect?? the instruction says to paint the center cap X-11 chrome silver.. but the problem with chrome silver is that 1) its never gonna be as shiny as chrome and 2) to get a shiny surface the paint would need to build up and the center cap would look out of scale.
so the best way to do it is not to paint the center cap.. which is already chrome plated, but to paint the rest of the wheel aluminum.. to create a contrasting effect.
to do such painting I need to mask out the center cap and spray the wheel aluminum.
since it's impossible to mask out the cap using tape.. I need a masking agent. I heard some good thing about Humbrol maskol and Gunze Masking Sol Neo but I couldnt find any in my local hobby shops.. so I gave this a try:
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/904-106
it turned out to be pretty good.. just dont expect to be able to cut it with a knife.. once the paint is on and dry.. that's it.. you can not trim it.. you can only remove it... this is not bare metal foil.
so here I go masking out the center cap.. note that I use a lot of paint and make sure the paint covers the groove around the cap so the cap would appear 3D.. otherwise the cap would appear like a thin piece of paper because the edge is painted over.
also.. using a lot of paint prevents the paint from drying too soon while you're still painting.. absolutely a no-no cus you would end up pushing the mask around or even lifting it.
if you screw up.. STOP!!!. let the paint dry and remove the mask. if you dry to wash it off while its still wet you would make a big mess that you cannot get out of.
do not let the mask dry overnight or you would risk it sticking too well to the chrome and you might lift the chrome when you remove the mask.
after the mask dry (when its turned from white to translucent) I spray on some TS-30 silver leaf.. I use that instead of say aluminum metalizer because metalizer dries way too fast so when I remove the mask I leave an edge that looks "ripped". the tamiya silver leaf is a little brighter than I want but it does have a smooth texture that doesn't look out of scale and looks matt next to the chrome.
after I spray silver leaf.. I let the wheel stand for about 4-5 minutes.. and I remove the mask with a pair of sharp tweezers.
that's when using a lot of masking paint became vital because the thicker the mask the easier it is the tweezers can grab on to it. a thin mask and you risk the tweezers scratching the chrome and you would have a hard time removing the mask. you can always use a piece of masking tape to remove the mask but the tape might inadvertently remove bits of chrome.. and you're screwed when it does.
after Im through all that thats how they look:
not bad huh????
one more thing.. the masking paint is a real pain to get off the brush.. use paint thinner followed by alcohol..