I am new to modeling and completely finished my tamiya A6M2, I was dreading masking this canopy as it does not have very well defined framing and has many panes of glass to be masked, tried all the methods and decided to mask off all the framing that runs parallel to the wings,airbrushed on the paint waited until dry to touch and removed tamiya tape, let it dry for about 4 days and masked off all the fore and aft direction framing, removed tape and it looks great! dipped the whole canopy in future and am quite pleased with the result! the thought of using tiny pieces of tape to mask of each frame made my brain twitch it is 1/48th scale and granted other models may not need much work to mask, what do you all think?

Hi Dave

not a bad idea!

... but I personally like to glue the canopy to the model, mask and then do all the painting, i.e. interior colour, primer, camouflage (which mostly consists of 2 or more colours) so I would have to change masks for every layer and the crossings will build up severely.

Since eduard began with the kabuki pre cut masks I am a big fan of those and when ever i can I will use those. Else I like Bare metal foil, which is very thin and you see the slightes canopy framing. But it has disadvatages ... I cannot future the part beforhand, as I remove the residue(another downside) with Revell model wax ... which will affect the future layer. It also makes the paint job a little shiny ...

just my 2 ct

cheers

Steffen

sounds like you did a good job. Did you paint the interior colour first? Doing this shows the interior colour on the inside, it also helps the coverage as light will shine through the clear part, making the paint look lighter, if the paint coverage isn't good.

Cutting individual pieces of tape, in situ is really that difficult. It's more difficult in your head than actually doing it and, like most things, simply requires a little practice. Multi panelled clear parts can be particularly daunting but it just takes time and patience. I use Parafilm-M but Tamiya tape is good. Lay on the tape (you can do one panel at a time, or cover the entire canopy) then use a pencil to run around the edge of the panel, this will highlight it and press the tape well into the edge. Take a scalpel, with a new blade, and run this around the panel, using the frame as your guid. Use very little pressure ( I use the weight of the scalpel to provide the pressure, but you will probably need more with Tamiya tape). Holding the canopy up to a light source will enable you to see the frames easier. For frames with right angle corners simple cut towards the corner, from both sides. For rounded corners turn the canopy, in most cases, rather than the blade. Sometimes a little of both is required.







Mal

Great hints Mal

and the NEW BLADE !!!!!! is very, very important!

cheers

Steffen

Indeed. A used blade makes masking an annoyance at least, a complete pain in the rear at worst.
I usually don't mask whole panes of glass with single pieces of tape (lay down tape, then cut out the excess), as any mistakes will cause ugly marks on the canopy, and itf you make a mistake cutting it, you'll have to apply another piece of tape.
Using thin strips of tape to mask the edges minimizes the amount of cutting you have to do against the clear part. When I'm done with the thin strips, I apply larger pieces to cover the centers.
Tape cut into strips conforms to mild curves too, although some shapes require the tape to be cut in situ.

I did add layers of paint...interior color first ect....this canopy had very vague frames, the canopys are very daunting this came out very well, the pre cut masks interest me, trying to mask individual panes is not for me...Iwould rather lick a cheese grater thanks for all your input. glueing the canopy on then painting is a good idea that I will try.