SPA Modeler

John and Joe,

I got MICRO MASK, from Microscale Industries.

And opted not to use it! I went with the Kari Method instead:



I am happy with the results. Also, this beats using pre-cut masks, at least for me. There’s only one line to worry about at a time. I need to do some trimming but that won’t be a problem. This took approximately 45 minutes. Onto the windscreen!

That looks great Kenny! That looks like the method that I use too if I'm not using pre-cut masks. Takes some time but like you said, you just have to worry about one side of a frame with each piece of tape. I was worried about the liquid mask approach. Micro Mask is very useful but it has its own particular qualities that you have to get used to. It's not the best for sharp corners as you would find on a canopy. I think your route is the best route.

Many thanks John!

Ah! See, I figured the corners might be tricky with that stuff. At the beginning I was more concerned with it messing up the clarity of the clear plastic. Leaving a residue. It’s water soluble but so, as you know, is our paint. Well. Semi water soluble, the Tamiya Paint, what I was planning on doing was frame it out with the tape and then paint the micromask on the area in the middle but that didn’t end up seeming like it’d be worth it when I could just use scraps of tape in there.

And I’m pleased with how this worked. It wasn’t troublesome or frustrating at all!

I'm glad you found a method that you don't hate doing. Makes a big difference if you can eliminate those areas in a build. Curious... do you dip your clear parts in Future?

Nosir! I haven’t used future. I flatly refuse to gloss coat paint with it, but I’m certainly open to other uses for it. It’s good on clear parts?

I've never used it as a gloss coat but I find it useful for clear parts. It improves their clarity and also protects against CA glue ghosting. I don't know if I have any comparable before/after pics but I can tell you that the difference in clarity IS noticeable.


It's easy to do... just dip and let dry. The only thing you have to watch out for is pooling and pieces of dust when drying. The nice thing is that you can remove it easily with Windex.

I think it is sold as Pledge Revive It in the US now...

Well I’m convinced. Those clear parts look lovely. I’ll get some.

I got the masking finished and got paint on the canopy.



Only, somewhere throughout the course of doing this, I lost one of those little windows, and the gunsight part.

I’ve been having a rough week at work and at home and that right there, though seemingly trivial, was thebstraw that broke the camel’s back.

I hate that so much stupid crap has gone wrong with this project since the beginning. It’s been one stupid thing after the other.

I am so sick of this project.