Bleed through when airbrushing over masking tape

[Dwango]

I have been using my airbrush to create a diamond pattern on a number of different harlequin vehicles. I've basically tried to create an alternative colour gradient by adding little diamond masking tape patterns over one colour gradient and then airbrushing over a different colour gradient. The problem I've had is bleed through onto the diamonds.

 

Before I attempt to fix this by hand painting over the areas affected, does anybody have a nifty trick where I could remove the new layer of paint without affecting the original?

 

Cheers.

[Dagoth Ur]

I wouldn't know of any way to fix the minis at hand, but a suggestion I can give you for the future is to use two thin layers of varnish inbetween gradient layers - then you can use white spirit to gently rub off any bleed through.

[Grimoire]

+1000 on the Varnish.  What I do is after Masking, spray Varnish (I use Gloss) along the edges of all the tape. The Gloss seals any potential gaps that could bleed. After tape removal I don't worry about any clear gloss that has gotten under the tape because if diligent about sealing the tape edge after application there is very little bleed through and after all paintwork is done, application of a flat varnish hides all of it.

[Dwango]

Thanks both! Thats very good advice. Its also a good example of asking for tips before carrying out the method on all the vehicles doh !

[Firedrake Cordova]

I've seen some comments saying some tapes are more prone to it than others (people seem to rate the Tamiya tape for not bleeding through as much as some others - don't know if that's confirmation bias or not though!)

 

Before I attempt to fix this by hand painting over the areas affected, does anybody have a nifty trick where I could remove the new layer of paint without affecting the original?

Airbrush cleaner (dilute IPA) on a cotton bud might be gentle enough to remove just the top layer (or it might not - best bet is to try it on a bit of sprue first!)

[tychobi]

I found that painting masked items I avoid bleed by putting down thin repeated coats. Make sure your under layer is dry before more paint goes on. I use the air from my brush with no paint to speed the process and paint in batches so I have work to do while a layer dries. Usually 5 minutes is fine if you are painting thin. Thin paint at low pressure has been the most effective for me. The pressures needed to push thicker paint can mess up your masking and shove paint past the edge.

 

As for paint removal, its pretty easy when wet but darn near impossible when dry without destroying under layers. Properly applied airbrushed paint is really thin and should be no issue to paint over other than time. Good luck!

Edited August 21, 2020 by tychobi

[Tyberos the Red Wake]

What kind of masking tape are you using? Packing masking tape and blue painter's tape? Using dedicated model masking tape such as Tamiya masking tape might help.

[Arkhanist]

I have been using my airbrush to create a diamond pattern on a number of different harlequin vehicles. I've basically tried to create an alternative colour gradient by adding little diamond masking tape patterns over one colour gradient and then airbrushing over a different colour gradient. The problem I've had is bleed through onto the diamonds.

 

Before I attempt to fix this by hand painting over the areas affected, does anybody have a nifty trick where I could remove the new layer of paint without affecting the original?

 

Cheers.

 

Removing paint that's on paint without affecting both is pretty much impossible alas; if you'd done a varnish coat between layers there are options (IPA for example), but for those models fixing it will need overpainting, or starting over.

 

If you've more harlequins to do, you could save yourself a lot of grief and use an airbrush stencil instead of masking tape. Diamonds is a relatively common pattern in stencils, but here's one from a good company suited for 40k scale harlequin vehicles. These ones are flexible and slightly tacky, so they stick to the model curves.

 

 

They also do an infantry sized one.

 

 

If you don't want to order from the US, there's Anarchy models in the UK. They do similar low tack flexi plastic stencils, the HD range - there's 3 sizes of diamond grid, this is the medium one:

 

 

In the HS range (non-sticky, so you need to tape them to the model or hold it in place) they have some funky designs like this one:

 

[Dwango]

Airbrush cleaner (dilute IPA) on a cotton bud might be gentle enough to remove just the top layer (or it might not - best bet is to try it on a bit of sprue first!)

Thanks for the suggestion. Sadly it does not work.

 

Thin paint at low pressure has been the most effective for me. The pressures needed to push thicker paint can mess up your masking and shove paint past the edge.

Pretty much this! This is what I think has happened!

 

What kind of masking tape are you using? Packing masking tape and blue painter's tape? Using dedicated model masking tape such as Tamiya masking tape might help.

Thanks for the advice. I've just used an unbranded low tac tape.

 

 

Thanks for this Arkhanist. I may well redo and get one of these! The last one you linked looks ace!

[tychobi]

I think learning to enjoy process has taken a long time for me. Patience is not my strong suit but my airbrush is a good teacher!

[Firedrake Cordova]

 

Airbrush cleaner (dilute IPA) on a cotton bud might be gentle enough to remove just the top layer (or it might not - best bet is to try it on a bit of sprue first!)

Thanks for the suggestion. Sadly it does not work.

Doh! :(

 

 

What kind of masking tape are you using? Packing masking tape and blue painter's tape? Using dedicated model masking tape such as Tamiya masking tape might help.

Thanks for the advice. I've just used an unbranded low tac tape.

The Tamiya modelling/masking tape gets a lot of love from the historical modellers. :)

[Dagoth Ur]

I can 100% vouche for Tamiyas masking tapes - I use them for modelling, masking off borders while painting traditional art (Oil, Acrylics, Ink and Watercolour) as well as just general small scale masking work. That stuff is probably the best tape I have thus far encountered. One thing I can recommend though, is to get a bone folder of some description as it really helps get the masking tape into nooks and crannies and give it proper adhesion so that you can prevent bleed-through.