Source for kabuki sheets?

[denders]

Anyone come across a source for sheets of the material like Tamiya tape? Other than buying the small sheets from Tamiya and others? Eduard and others are selling masks made from the same or similar stuff.

 

[Kevin Futter]

It's a good question. I can't even find the Tamiya sheets here in Australia!

 

Kev

[denders]

The name Kamoi seems to be related to the material. Most listings on google show some sort of tape. I also saw some indications about that tape related to masking for painting automobiles but I haven’t gone on a search for a local automobile paint supplier yet. 

 

I found that Green Stuff World has 200 x 300mm sheets. If I order directly from GSW it’s a pack of 2 sheets for about $2.50. But the shipping. I found someone here in the states who sells them for about 60% more. 

[denders]

Hmmm, I found this at Coast Airbrush. It looks very similar.

 

coastairbrush.com/proddetail.asp?prod=FBS_Gold_Mask_Plottable_Masking&cat=23

 

[denders]

I ordered some of the Green Stuff World masking material. Each pack contains two, 200mm x 300mm (8" x 12") sheets.

 

 

I needed to make a half circle as part of the masking of the silver paint on my Ki-100 model (over at LSP). And I added a couple of the "64"s for the landing gear covers.

 

I cut an 1.5" x 4" piece and placed on the Cameo cutting mat.

 

 

And sent through the cutter using the normal setting that I've been using for materials like Oracal 810 and Art tool Ultra Mask. The setting to note is the depth of 2. As you can see, with a depth setting of 2 it is close to cutting the whole way through. I ran another with a depth setting of 1 and it seems to have made the cuts without coming close to cutting through.

 

 

I then placed some of the cut masks on the onto the model. The half circle will be accompanied by tape to mask the under side of the fuselage, etc. I used Frisket as a transfer tape to place the "64"s. 

 

 

I found the GSW masking at Noble Knight Games. It was ~$4.30 per pack there, on the Green Stuff World (Spain) site it was ~$2.50 per pack. The Tamiya sheets were ~7" x 9", 5 sheets for about $11, if you can find it. Looking on the SB site, Ammo, Border, and Tamiya have masking sheets of various sizes and quantities. Some don't show in stock.

 

I haven't decided on trying out the other material that I found, it's 12" x 11 yards at $65. If it works, it will probably last my lifetime. 🤪

 

 

 

[Kevin Futter]

Great results, Dave! Thanks for running these tests for us. Still on the look out myself.

 

Kev

[denders]

Yes, those seem to have come out okay. I tried some cuts at Depth setting of 1 and I'm not sure if it actually cut properly. I also tried using this for the masks for the markings on the top surface of the wing above the flaps that I've gotten the idea it is something like 'NO STEP' and one of the Japanese characters did not cut well. I have not gone back and altered the speed and pressure yet.

 

Right now, I'm working on the canopy masks for the Ki-100. I'll see how those turn out.

[denders]

Becoming a little less liking this stuff. It should stick on the canopy better than this. The canopy curve isn't that extreme and this is 32nd scale. I didn't wash the canopy parts although it isn't falling off, it's just not sticking over the curve. I'll be fine if I press it down when I go to paint, but....

 

[Kevin Futter]

That reminds me of the vinyl that Montex uses in its sets, where I've had similar issues. That's a bit surprising from a paper-based tape, though.

 

Kev

[snigel79]

I have tried "Gold mask" and find that it's reasonably sticky and flexible for canopymasks but is too easily distorted when the mask get much larger or intricate. It sticks to the backingpaper too much for masking the ID-letters on 1/48-scale RAF fighters for example unless a transferfilm is used. The smallest circles are not cut cleanly enough by the machine (maybe it is a speedsetting issue) so the smaller cirlcles are better cut by other means. It tends to curl very easily making placement difficult and gunks up the blade quicker than Oracal 810. I'd say using a transferfilm is a must when using Goldmask unless you're masking a canopy, nosecone or something like that. It will stick to compound curves almost as good as paint though. Is it a good maskingmaterial? It depends on what you're masking.

[denders]

On 3/3/2024 at 1:22 AM, snigel79 said:

I have tried "Gold mask" and find that it's reasonably sticky and flexible for canopymasks but is too easily distorted when the mask get much larger or intricate. It sticks to the backingpaper too much for masking the ID-letters on 1/48-scale RAF fighters for example unless a transferfilm is used. The smallest circles are not cut cleanly enough by the machine (maybe it is a speedsetting issue) so the smaller cirlcles are better cut by other means. It tends to curl very easily making placement difficult and gunks up the blade quicker than Oracal 810. I'd say using a transferfilm is a must when using Goldmask unless you're masking a canopy, nosecone or something like that. It will stick to compound curves almost as good as paint though. Is it a good maskingmaterial? It depends on what you're masking.

Thanks for the input. Having looked at a video, what you're saying makes sense to what the material looks like in that video.