The Ship Model Forum

[quote="Timmy C"](to be honest, I get lazy and stick to freehanding the vertical surfaces with the brush tip just barely touching the deck, and then touching up any messes)[/quote]
That's what I do, too, if we're talking about various fittings projecting from decks, or about places where deck meets bulkhead at a right-ish angle. I'm sure [i]somebody[/i] has the patience to mask around every frigging greeble on a ship's deck, but that somebody sure isn't me. I build full-hull models, though, so I need a nice, clean, straight division between the anti-fouling paint below the waterline and the normally visible colors above. I'll give de-tacking a try first, and add a jar of primer to my next hobby shop order. Thanks.

It sounds like you could use a primer before painting. Alternatively, I've done all right be de-tacking the scotch tape before applying it onto the paint so that it's less sticky. You can also get purpose-made masking tape from the hobby companies like Tamiya.

(to be honest, I get lazy and stick to freehanding the vertical surfaces with the brush tip just barely touching the deck, and then touching up any messes)

What do people nowadays do to mask off areas when painting with brushes? When I was last active in this hobby, in the early 2000's, I just used Scotch tape, and it worked out fine. With modern paints, though (which I've noticed are much thinner than the ones I used back in the day-- presumably to facilitate airbrushing), the tape just rips previous paint applications right off, seemingly no matter what I do. What's a modern solution to this problem that's compatible with brushed paints, whether acrylic or enamel? (I use both types fairly indiscriminately, which again never gave me trouble 20 years ago.)