Masking minis before painting

[Viking Slade]

Quick question about masking minis before painting. I have seen a bunch of videos where the painters use a putty of some sort to mask off parts of minis when they air/drybrush. I've tried searching for "masking putty" on Amazon, but all the stuff that comes up is air-dry clay. Is there a different name for it? 

 

On the same note, would y'all recommend the putty, or something like Vallejo's liquid mask?

[Ramell]

I just use Blu Tack for that purpose. 

I've heard it contains oils and can leave residue and/or react with paint, but I've never seen that. Dedicated masking putties are supposed to not have that problem, but can also be more expensive.

[Viking Slade]

How do you get it to be pliable without getting tiny bits stuck in the details? I've used Blu Tack for posing minis before assembly, and that was the frustrating part for me.

Edited December 6 by Viking Slade

[Ramell]

Kneading it a bit helps it be a more pliable in general, not so sticky. Never had huge issues with it getting stuck, but yeah, it does happen sometimes.

[tychobi]

Clay could work fine if you can clean it off after. Blue poster sticky tac works fine. Silly putty works fine. Both of these stick to itself better than other things but they are both very sticky and can cause damage to poorly cured paint as you pull it off. (Fully cured gloss varnish helps) Cheap painters tape, scotch tape, electrical tape all work nice. I often stick my mask to my clothes before applying to models to get a little lint on it to keep adhesion down. 

 

For zero damage masking on really delicate stuff try tin foil and or basic old school finger masking. Careful angles and finger tips and nails are super quick and can be extremely effective with a bit of practice.

 

The Vallejo liquid mask I found was very difficult to remove from crevasses on 28mm models without paint damage. I think is an interesting product but I don't use it despite owning some for years.

 

Fingers, foil and tape for me! Control of your paint is as important as your mask as flooding will seep under most masks.  Go slow and light on the paint by feathering your trigger and drying between coats. (Airbrush shooting zero paint through a double action or a hair dryer can speed the drying) Good luck!

[Ovidius Incertus]

Silly putty is very easy to manipulate and remove since it sticks to itself.  Applying with a toothpick prevents damage to your paint versus some metal tool, though I do often use tweezers.  Silly putty is also easy enough to acquire and cheap, at least where I am.

 

If it's hard lines you're after, though, Tamiya masking tape is the best.  Never had it damage underlying paint, so long as the paint is allowed to fully dry before being masked.  Tamiya tape is also very flexible and easy to get into geometric nooks and crannies.  If doing larger areas like vehicles, I will get my hard edges with thin Tamiya tape and then fill in the bulk of open spaces with blue painter's tape.  Works just fine.

[Bryan Blaire]

I use actual Silly Putty and it works great - I knead it a lot before use and if it looks greasy, I use a new microfiber towel (so I don’t get any fibers or bits from paper towel) to run it around until it doesn’t look greasy any more.  After that, just smush it around what you want to mask off and you’re good.  It’s also very reusable and if it gets to the point where you just have too much paint in it, the eggs of putty are pretty cheap.

[Viking Slade]

4 hours ago, tychobi said:

Clay could work fine if you can clean it off after. Blue poster sticky tac works fine. Silly putty works fine. Both of these stick to itself better than other things but they are both very sticky and can cause damage to poorly cured paint as you pull it off. (Fully cured gloss varnish helps) Cheap painters tape, scotch tape, electrical tape all work nice. I often stick my mask to my clothes before applying to models to get a little lint on it to keep adhesion down. 

 

For zero damage masking on really delicate stuff try tin foil and or basic old school finger masking. Careful angles and finger tips and nails are super quick and can be extremely effective with a bit of practice.

 

The Vallejo liquid mask I found was very difficult to remove from crevasses on 28mm models without paint damage. I think is an interesting product but I don't use it despite owning some for years.

 

Fingers, foil and tape for me! Control of your paint is as important as your mask as flooding will seep under most masks.  Go slow and light on the paint by feathering your trigger and drying between coats. (Airbrush shooting zero paint through a double action or a hair dryer can speed the drying) Good luck!

 

3 hours ago, Ovidius Incertus said:

Silly putty is very easy to manipulate and remove since it sticks to itself.  Applying with a toothpick prevents damage to your paint versus some metal tool, though I do often use tweezers.  Silly putty is also easy enough to acquire and cheap, at least where I am.

 

If it's hard lines you're after, though, Tamiya masking tape is the best.  Never had it damage underlying paint, so long as the paint is allowed to fully dry before being masked.  Tamiya tape is also very flexible and easy to get into geometric nooks and crannies.  If doing larger areas like vehicles, I will get my hard edges with thin Tamiya tape and then fill in the bulk of open spaces with blue painter's tape.  Works just fine.

 

3 hours ago, Bryan Blaire said:

I use actual Silly Putty and it works great - I knead it a lot before use and if it looks greasy, I use a new microfiber towel (so I don’t get any fibers or bits from paper towel) to run it around until it doesn’t look greasy any more.  After that, just smush it around what you want to mask off and you’re good.  It’s also very reusable and if it gets to the point where you just have too much paint in it, the eggs of putty are pretty cheap.

I am looking at using graphite powder, but I don't want to get it where I intend to paint/have already painted to a finish. Likely it will be applied very last, just before sealing, on my Space Marines, although I have some long-forgotten Necron Warriors that I'm going to try it out on their whole bodies. 

 

I may look into the Blu Tack/Silly Putty again, as it is definitely cheaper. 

[Firedrake Cordova]

I'll throw in another vote for  Blu-Tac for "wibbly" shapes and hard to reach places, and Tamiya modelling tape for the rest (you can also use Tamiya tape to hold cling-film or similar in place).