Which Liquid Mask?

bobafett · Post by **bobafett** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 5:53 pm

I've never used liquid masks but was going to order some with my next order. I've found several brands on myatomic.com but don't know which is better.

http://www.myatomic.com/catalog/viewcat ... 207&page=3
there are several brands stretched out on the first 3 pages

Opinions please?

Post by **TER-OR** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 9:29 pm

What are you going to use them on? I don't use liquid mask too much anymore myself, I use blue-tak and silly putty more frequently.

Oh, and the oh-so-smooth Tamiya Tape. Buy some of that now.

Joseph Osborn · Post by **Joseph Osborn** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 10:27 pm

I'm not real familiar with those brands on your link-- I think they are geared toward the R/C crowd. If they contain ammonia, you'll want to be careful with them around acrylic paints. I think the liquid masks made by Microscale and Vallejo do not contain ammonia-- but don't hold me to it.

Edit: if you don't plan on needing a lot of liquid mask, then you can mix up a homebrew from Elmer's white glue and a little bit of dishwashing liquid (like Dawn). Ratio about 10 parts glue to one part Dawn. The soap breaks the surface tension of the glue and lets it flow to cover the surface more easily. The soap also acts like a release and lets the glue come off cleanly.

seam-filler · Post by **seam-filler** » Fri Jun 26, 2009 1:03 am

Joseph Osborn wrote:I'm not real familiar with those brands on your link-- I think they are geared toward the R/C crowd. If they contain ammonia, you'll want to be careful with them around acrylic paints. I think the liquid masks made by Microscale and Vallejo do not contain ammonia-- but don't hold me to it.

Edit: if you don't plan on needing a lot of liquid mask, then you can mix up a homebrew from Elmer's white glue and a little bit of dishwashing liquid (like Dawn). Ratio about 10 parts glue to one part Dawn. The soap breaks the surface tension of the glue and lets it flow to cover the surface more easily. The soap also acts like a release and lets the glue come off cleanly.

Any white (PVA) glue is good at this. Big warning, though.... It may seem obvious, but don't leave the mask on for any longer than you have to because eventually it will harden.

I don't use any of the proprietary masks and use the PVA glue most of the time or occasionally neat liquid latex. Latex contains ammonia, so like Joseph says, it can stain acrylic and even strip fairly fresh acrylic. But if the acrylic is more than a few days old and if you don't leave the mask on any longer than needed then you'll probably be OK.

bobafett · Post by **bobafett** » Fri Jun 26, 2009 4:47 am

I had planned on using this on 2 different projects...

A Klingon Bird of Prey on the underside where the panel tops are to be red and on a Star Wars Slave 1 to simulate an extremely warn out paint job.

If it worked out I was also going to use it on aircraft (small scale) to mask the cockpit glass.

Thanks for alerting me of the ammonia concern... that's all I need is another hitch in my paint jobs

P.S. That link is not the only place I'd buy from, they happen to sell my favorite brand paints. If there's a better brand I'll buy it elsewhere.

Joseph Osborn · Post by **Joseph Osborn** » Fri Jun 26, 2009 11:12 am

For worn-out paint, don't forget the old rubber cement trick

Antenociti · Post by **Antenociti** » Fri Jun 26, 2009 12:04 pm

Joseph Osborn wrote:For worn-out paint, don't forget the old rubber cement trick

....?

Joseph Osborn · Post by **Joseph Osborn** » Fri Jun 26, 2009 5:55 pm

Antenociti wrote:
Joseph Osborn wrote:For worn-out paint, don't forget the old rubber cement trick
....?

Paint your basecoat; stipple or dab some rubber cement where you want your topcoat to be "worn through" and let if dry; paint the topcoat and then use tweezers or a pencil eraser to remove the rubber cement. Voila-- worn-through, chipped-up paint.

Same thing can be done with liquid mask but you don't get that rubber-cement smell.

bobafett · Post by **bobafett** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 9:32 am

Joseph Osborn wrote:
Antenociti wrote:
Joseph Osborn wrote:For worn-out paint, don't forget the old rubber cement trick
....?
Paint your basecoat; stipple or dab some rubber cement where you want your topcoat to be "worn through" and let if dry; paint the topcoat and then use tweezers or a pencil eraser to remove the rubber cement. Voila-- worn-through, chipped-up paint. Same thing can be done with liquid mask but you don't get that rubber-cement smell.

Sounds like what I'm after...

veedubb67 · Post by **veedubb67** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 10:24 am

There's a product called Mold Maker that you can find at Michaels or Hobby Lobby. It's liquid latex and works great as a liquid mask. I've left it one for several weeks and never had a problem lifting it off and it doesn't pull up paint.

Rob
Iwata Padawan

Post by **TER-OR** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 8:09 pm

Salt weathering is among the easiest and most effective for chipped paint etc. I show it here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ter-or/set ... 704701438/

Lt. Z0mBe · Post by **Lt. Z0mBe** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 3:55 pm

veedubb67 wrote:There's a product called Mold Maker that you can find at Michaels or Hobby Lobby. It's liquid latex and works great as a liquid mask. I've left it one for several weeks and never had a problem lifting it off and it doesn't pull up paint.

Rob
Iwata Padawan

That's what I use. I bought 12 ounces in 2005, and it's still going strong. You can also fint it at Wal-Mart.. I've never had a problem over dry - even freshly dried - acrylic.

Kenny