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Hard Body Masking Help

binaryterror

binaryterror

I wanna be Dave
Joined
Jan 28, 2004
Messages
3,583
Location
Detroit
Ok guys, I used to be big into painting static models, so I know the major and minor things needed. Now I'm used to parts also being more pieces than my current situation for this scaler. I know you guys know, so I have to ask.

I have an eBay/Boom Racing JK 2dr Jeep hardbody. It is horrible yellow which I will be painting to match my 1:1 Jeep JK, but they painted the interior (not removable) a nice black, and I was thinking why re-do that since it looks good as is. How do I go about masking this interior area off. It has lots of nooks and crannies making taping somewhat difficult for the areas around the seat bottoms especially. I thought about using Liquid Mask, but the same issue, the small areas means thick mask potential and month long drying or hard to get the mask all cleaned out after.

I am currently thinking maybe using both tape and liquid mask.

Are there better options that I am missing or maybe never learned?
 
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I wouldn't use liquid mask on the interior. It's sometimes a pain to remove from areas that are "easy" to reach.
Somehow, someone put that thing together. I'd try to take the interior (or at least the bulk of it) out of the body.
I like using vinyl paint mask for the cleanest lines, or 3M's smooth tape. (the blue stuff, I forget what it's called)
 
Do yourself a favor and pick up some tamiya masking tape. Comes in defferent widths. Id suggest some 8 or 10mm wide to mask off the edges, then switch to conventional masking tape to cover the rest of the area. It will still be somewhat tedious to mask off the interior im sure but, the tamiya stuff is really thin and easier to work into any nooks or corners. Plus I never have any bleed through with it. Always gives nice crisp paint edges for me. GL
 
The removable parts are out. The floor and seat bottoms are molded into the body. All one nice piece. Makes for good rigidity but isn't making the task of painting easy.
 
When I did mine, I used the green frog tape. In the tight areas and hard bends I ripped it in small pieces and worked it in. If the edge wasn't clean enough , I used a blade to fix it. When I had all the edges done I used a roll of blue tape-clear folding cover to protect everything inside of the edges. My build is in the 1.5 section if you want to see how I did it. Hope that makes sense!
 
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jeff22 said:
Calm down man he was just trying to help. Maybe post up some pictures so we can see exactly what you are talking about.
Click to expand...
Pictures are in my build,"Codyboys Ebay Jeep" in the 1.5 section."thumbsup"
















And a finished photo.





Hope the photos give you a idea of what I did. A tip to detail the interior a little more is to take a fine tipped paint pin (I used a copper color) and highlight all the seams of the seats. Kind of makes them pop. Good luck and have fun!!!
 
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A picture is worth a thousand words...
If the OP can disassemble that much...

An idea...I've not tried this, but it should work.
Mask the areas you want painted with tape.
Spray the liquid mask. Several med wet coats. In this case, thicker is better. (It'll help the mask come off)
Remove the tape, leaving the liquid mask over the interior.
Paint as usual...

Somethings to note, the liquid mask sometimes doesn't like solvent based paints. (Read the directions)
Liquid mask is VERY difficult to remove when not sprayed thick enough.

OR,
Just tape everything off like Cody did.
Sometimes simple is better.
If you're gonna be touching the body a lot, I recommend washing your hands frequently, or wearing gloves.
The skin oils can cause solvent paints to "fish eye."

How about a build on that Lazy Susan Pit Stand, Cody???
 
HANgOVER Airbrush RC said:
A picture is worth a thousand words...
If the OP can disassemble that much...

An idea...I've not tried this, but it should work.
Mask the areas you want painted with tape.
Spray the liquid mask. Several med wet coats. In this case, thicker is better. (It'll help the mask come off)
Remove the tape, leaving the liquid mask over the interior.
Paint as usual...

Somethings to note, the liquid mask sometimes doesn't like solvent based paints. (Read the directions)
Liquid mask is VERY difficult to remove when not sprayed thick enough.

OR,
Just tape everything off like Cody did.
Sometimes simple is better.
If you're gonna be touching the body a lot, I recommend washing your hands frequently, or wearing gloves.
The skin oils can cause solvent paints to "fish eye."

How about a build on that Lazy Susan Pit Stand, Cody???
Click to expand...

Nothing special, all repurposed Goodwill-salvage yard parts. I bought two of the lazy susans at goodwill for $3.00 and the other parts 4X2" pipe caps from salvage yard. The top cap has a salvaged 1.9 tire stretch over the top. Last photo is the other lazy susan.








 
Tape off the edges of the interior, then tape a plastic bag over it. On my 6x6 cab, I primered and painted the whole thing tan, then taped the edge of the roof and put the rest of the cab into a trashbag. I taped the bag to the edge tape, so I could get a clean, grey roof without having to tediously mask the whole cab.

For your interior, do this backwards: tape the edge of the interior and then tape a bag to that tape. Ta-da! You have a masked interior without actually masking anything!
 
Lots of great tips, thanks guys. Gonna start the masking tonight with the tips and see where I get.

May try silly putty too, especially in the front seat to door jamb area. This was a tip from an old scale model painter. He uses it for all things masking. Think I can add up the frog tape, time, plastic bags, and others all into one and get a good job.
 
another option is foil, ive used it in engine bays for vehicles that got color changes without engine removal.

the risk is ripping it and scratching the crap out of things

any paint that gets around the edges will be soft and can be removed like overspray.

I look forward to seeing how your project comes out :)
 
Good luck, I'm sure it will come out great. Remember a nice fine point knife is your friend."thumbsup"
 
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