Works in Progress

Welcome to the Scale Model Paint Masks Works in Progress forum! Here you can post the progress of builds you're working on that you will be using paint masks on. You can post the entire build from start to finish, or just focus on those sequences that involve the masking and painting process. Either way, the point is to showcase your work, and help people see how it's done. Have fun! Kev

well, so to speak, I finally unpacked my Silhouette Portrait 3, downloaded and registered the device, searched for and watched several tutorials, but... to start with something simple, I would have decided to create my own masks for the spiral on the spinner and the individual number for the Yak-3 Special Hobby 1/32. I tried scanning the decal sheet and photographing it. I managed to import both files into the dedicated program, but apparently I can't detect the contours of the scanned copy. better with the one photographed, highlighting the contrasts. scanned one and .jpg I managed by trial and error t…

I've been working on a Revell Razor Crest. When I used the decals in the cockpit, they seemed a bit thick and I eventually had to pull out a very old bottle of Solvaset and use a 1/4" flat brush to push them down into the details. Therefore, I was concerned about using the kit decals for the yellow stripes on the outside. So I decided to make masks for painting the yellow stripes. I'm sure it'll be challenging to get them in place correctly. This is a screen capture from the Silhouette Studio software. I think it's the largest single piece of masking material that I've used. I'll weed out what I don't need but it'll be a couple days 'til I t…

I uploaded a file of Meteor roundels and walkways a little while ago. And here's the Meteor with the roundels painted - apologies for the "quick'n'dirty" photo. With hindsight, I would have traced and done the fin flash with the Silhouette as well; as it was, I used Tamiya tape and it was probably a lot more work. One more colour to do, ie black for the unit codes, serials and walkways. I'm doing VT112/XL-S of 226 OCU, a fighter training unit based at RAF Bentwaters in the immediate post-war years. (As an aside, they also operated a few Tempest IIs, and my SH example is earmarked for XL-Y.) Thanks for looking.

I'm doing a Revell P-51D-5 as part of a Group Build over on the Large Scale Planes forum https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/90601-p-51d-5na/ I specifically picked a subject, and a reserve, that I considered I would be able to do with masks. My first choice is 44-13471, 6N*J, "The Comet" of the 505th FS, 339th FG, assigned to Capt Evan M. "Johnny" Johnson. This has a name, a nose art I felt I could draw in the Silhouette software, red/white nose checks, and best of all (for me) full D-Day stripes. I don't intend to repeat on here all I've posted there, but thought I could expand the masking-specific bits here for anyone who's inte…

This is a tale of what NOT to do! Designing and cutting the masks for the wing Balkenkreuz was straightforward but using them was not my finest hour! Let me say first of all that I got away with it, more by luck than judgement but boy, did I make life difficult for myself: Anybody with half a brain would have used an "empty" mask of the whole cross to spray a white background, then simply apply the four white L masks and spray black....voila, job done, easy peasy! But for reasons unbeknownst to me I applied the whole mask to the wing, left the "white Ls" in place and then sprayed black. This then entailed putting the fiddly narrow out…

Those of you who are LSP members, or follow me on Facebook, may already be aware of this build, so my apologies for the double-up. I've now got it to the stage where I'm painting on some of the markings, and of course, cutting the required masks on the Silhouette Portrait! But first, a quick recap of the build to this point. The kit was given to me by a friend a couple of years ago, and I decided to mate it up with a parts kit that another friend had sent me a few years prior to that. This latter box contained most of an entire Hasegawa Mustang kit, along with an assortment of aftermarket items and some scratch-built modifications. I decided to treat both kits…

A Start I'm building the AlleyCat (originally Montex) Hawker Fury, a resin and white metal kit in 1/32 scale: The full build is logged on the Large Scale Planes forum here so this will simply be the painting and masking stage. Choice of subject was difficult but in the end I decided on because it was colourful and very different to the normal silver finish seen on Furies of the interwar period. It presents quite a challenge when it comes to painting and masking, a combination of trainer yellow, Dark Earth and Dark Green camouflage and polished aluminium on the side nose panels. The transfers supplied with t…