any way of using blu tac or similar products to get a soft edge camo?

checkout 'holdfast' Mal Mayfield - he has a spit done with white tac camo mask

Hi Godfather. Regarding the use of blue tac. I use it frequently to get soft camo edges. I love this stuff. First, paint the lighter camo color....might as well cover the whole subject. Then roll the blue tac into long rolls about 1/4 to 3/8 inch in diameter. Using your instructions as a guide for the camo layout, place the "rolls" accordingly. Mask the area inside the tac representing the first color. Spray the second color by starting at the blue tac.....aim your brush straight down or just VERY slightly "into" the blue tak curveda area.....do NOT aim directly into the blue tak curve as this will give you a sharp edge. Your first model with blue tac will seem like a lot of trouble, however as you proceed up the learning curve with added models you will find this is a very effective way to get that desired soft edge. Like anything new, its best to practice on an aborted model or bland styrene.
Bails-In-Minnesota

A Mk 1 Hawker Hurricane with the dark Earth masked with White Tack (same as Blue Tack)

A Mk 1 Spitfire Masked the same way, with the Dark Green added

The result

This masking was not done for a soft edge, I spray that free hand. For a soft edge do as Bails suggests. To get a hard edge I roll the Blue Tack out ( I roll it between 2 boards, to get nice even sausages) For soft edge leave it with a circular cross section. For hard edge, squash the sausage flat, use the board, then cut it down the middle. This will give you 2 squashed sausages for the price of one Use the cut edge for the masking. Somewhere I have a picture of my Corsair masked for soft edge. I'll see if I can get it posted.
HTH
Mal

Of course the Corsair pic is in my article

Mal

Good show. I might try that in the future.

However, what about the blu-tac getting painted? Is this a problem? How often can you re-use it?

There appears to be no problem with painting the blue tack. However I have not, yet re-used any for masking like this. It does seem useable though, when squished about to move the painted parts to the inside of the piece. I use blue tack for holding parts for painting anyway, so this is what I use the Tack that has been used for masking. Until I need some for masking and have no fresh

Mal

Oh, I see!!

But isn't expensive after a while to buy all that tacky stuff?

I wonder,
does the tac leave greasy resude like the clay we used to play with in kindergarten?

No, no residues are left, bu don't you put it in your hair, because you'll be one sorry sod!

:-)

i used to be a free hand camo freak!! i loved free hand camo and there was no way you were gonna get me to do it any other way. however, i kept hearing people bring this stuff up and i had a British build on the bench, which are notorious for very sharp demarcation lines on their camo jobs. so, i purchased some Elmer's tak here in the USA, and rolled it and masked the field and let it rip............MAN!! It looked so good, i will use this method everytime now. the larger the roll of tak, the softer the edge. the finishe looks alot more even IMO with a masking job. good luck. later.

Careful Salty' you could start this debate off again :-) I actually work with a guy that used to paint aircraft, at RAF Finnigly, he told me how camo was produced. It was not hard edged, just very tight.
Mal

no, no!! not me, don't want to start a debate!! i know what you mean, British camo demarcation lines are always a hot topic when discussed.......EVERYWHERE! anyway, i agree with the tight, but soft edges, as i have a couple of ref. pics that weren't hard. later.