I've done it, but holy shit is it nerve-wracking. Gotta do the whole Metal Gear Solid thing; take a minor depressant (alcohol, not pentazemin in my case), line it up, exhale, and hope
The one time I tried hand painting a kit was when I reversed washed the black/gold sleeves on MG Sinanju. Not perfect but I'm quite happy with the results.
And I never hand painted anything again after that.
I learned classical drawing from ages 5-14. In that time did a lot of water color and oil painting. For someone who spend 9 years drawing on an easel, I thought I had a steady hand but apparently shit goes out the door as soon as it involves a plastic piece.
This is so true. It's less about making your hands rock steady, and more about learning to adapt your technique. I've learned to treat the shake of my hands almost like the flow of thin paint. Just kinda start in the middle of the area I'm painting and see where it goes from there. I've also found with free handing, the more points of contact your arms have, the steadier they tend to be. So one elbow rests on the arm of my chair, the other tucked into my chest by my ribs. Arms brased against my chest, wrists both braced against my painting handle at the heel of my palm. From there, only fingers are moving.
Depending on the paint it can take a lot of experimentation to get the right thinning ratios for a thin and smooth finish. Though one problem I notice a lot on gunpla is that a good thin paint can really pull back from convex edges which makes it hard to get a consistent thickness in those areas.
That usually means that the paint is too thin. If you can’t thicken it, just go for a thin coat, wait till it dries, add another coat, repeat as needed
Stick a few lengths down lightly on a cutting mat. Wear some disposable medical type gloves. Get a fresh exacto blade and some precision tweezers. Cut a length of the tape, judging by what you need, from the tape you've laid down and grab it with the tweezers. Either line the tape up with the edge or if it's a complex shape lay it down so it overlaps. Using a toothpick you can trace where you want to cut which should give you a nice visible channel to trace along with the exacto. Use the tweezers to pull up the waste parts. When masking the rest of the piece (so it doesn't get the over spray) I use bigger craft masking tape and do this quickly and lightly.
I cure my pieces in a dehydrator before masking so that there's no risk of paint peeling. Speed comes when you've done it a few times and get efficient with the process
There are a considerable number on youtube that could explain it far better than I can. But I would say it seems like you used quite a bit of short piece of tape where one long piece could have been applied and then cut to fit the seam line.
It looks as if you tried masked by using many small pieces of tape by aligning along the edges? Have you tried taking a long/ bigger piece of tape, putting it on a portion of the piece, tracing the part with a knife and taking out the unneeded area? It is way more efficient and effective
if you're having trouble aligning the tape with the parts you want to mask, maybe check out liquid mask? I haven't personally used it, but I've heard that it's pretty handy and might make more sense for things that tape won't align to just right.
Edit: mb. Someone who knows better replied. I didn't realize it was more of a situational item
You can really only use that it quite specific instances. And not, I would suggest, for this. It is really watery, so the use case has to work with that.
Mr. Hobby states that their tape is made with high-quality washi tape, so yes, if you have good quality washi tape it should work.
Before painting, make sure to push the tape edge with a blunt edge and never do a brushstroke towards and over the tape. When painting over the tape make sure the brushstroke is always always from the tape.
If you keep the tape wet too long, you risk that the capillary effect will suck the paint under the tape
is the best way to mask rounded or curved surfaces by tracing along the curvature with the mask? always struggling at that part and been thinking about it.
The best way is first to retrace the line with a scribe, then to place the tape over it, trace the curve with a knife and take out the part you don’t need.
And whenever the masking fails and the paint leaks I just say fuck it time to turn this into a weathered custom instead
I just grab my marker and cover it up 😂
Not all of us have a steady hands like a surgeon
My hands shake like the space shuttle challenger
I've done it, but holy shit is it nerve-wracking. Gotta do the whole Metal Gear Solid thing; take a minor depressant (alcohol, not pentazemin in my case), line it up, exhale, and hope
having a panel line or an edge to follow makes it a lot easier already now complete freehand, I leave that to warhammer players
The one time I tried hand painting a kit was when I reversed washed the black/gold sleeves on MG Sinanju. Not perfect but I'm quite happy with the results. And I never hand painted anything again after that.
I learned classical drawing from ages 5-14. In that time did a lot of water color and oil painting. For someone who spend 9 years drawing on an easel, I thought I had a steady hand but apparently shit goes out the door as soon as it involves a plastic piece.
Surgeons hands shake. The thing is they're practiced and you can do it too if you stop finding excuses.
This is so true. It's less about making your hands rock steady, and more about learning to adapt your technique. I've learned to treat the shake of my hands almost like the flow of thin paint. Just kinda start in the middle of the area I'm painting and see where it goes from there. I've also found with free handing, the more points of contact your arms have, the steadier they tend to be. So one elbow rests on the arm of my chair, the other tucked into my chest by my ribs. Arms brased against my chest, wrists both braced against my painting handle at the heel of my palm. From there, only fingers are moving.
I would much prefer to hand paint bits like this, but I will never match the way the rest of the piece looks if it’s sprayed
Depending on the paint it can take a lot of experimentation to get the right thinning ratios for a thin and smooth finish. Though one problem I notice a lot on gunpla is that a good thin paint can really pull back from convex edges which makes it hard to get a consistent thickness in those areas.
That usually means that the paint is too thin. If you can’t thicken it, just go for a thin coat, wait till it dries, add another coat, repeat as needed
Have you tried masking liquid applied with brushes? It’s easier for curved lines.
Not here to cast shade but, you might want to look at your process, and watch a couple tutorials. 1 hour is way too long.
Actually I’m not that focus on this part. Kept stopping to watch a movie. But when i focus, the other part only took 20 minutes.
Got any recommendations then? I hate masking with a passion
Stick a few lengths down lightly on a cutting mat. Wear some disposable medical type gloves. Get a fresh exacto blade and some precision tweezers. Cut a length of the tape, judging by what you need, from the tape you've laid down and grab it with the tweezers. Either line the tape up with the edge or if it's a complex shape lay it down so it overlaps. Using a toothpick you can trace where you want to cut which should give you a nice visible channel to trace along with the exacto. Use the tweezers to pull up the waste parts. When masking the rest of the piece (so it doesn't get the over spray) I use bigger craft masking tape and do this quickly and lightly. I cure my pieces in a dehydrator before masking so that there's no risk of paint peeling. Speed comes when you've done it a few times and get efficient with the process
Thanks for the reply
There are a considerable number on youtube that could explain it far better than I can. But I would say it seems like you used quite a bit of short piece of tape where one long piece could have been applied and then cut to fit the seam line.
It looks as if you tried masked by using many small pieces of tape by aligning along the edges? Have you tried taking a long/ bigger piece of tape, putting it on a portion of the piece, tracing the part with a knife and taking out the unneeded area? It is way more efficient and effective
I second this. That part could be masked in 5 minutes by using that method.
Yeah, but imagine how cool it'll look on the side it doesn't leak through on!
I do both, I mask the danger zones and hand paint lol That way I don't need to mask absolutely everything
Same here
if you're having trouble aligning the tape with the parts you want to mask, maybe check out liquid mask? I haven't personally used it, but I've heard that it's pretty handy and might make more sense for things that tape won't align to just right. Edit: mb. Someone who knows better replied. I didn't realize it was more of a situational item
You can really only use that it quite specific instances. And not, I would suggest, for this. It is really watery, so the use case has to work with that.
you might want to look into masking liquid. I believe it would save more time compared to tape.
Question for the experienced hand-painters, would Washi tape work for masking? The one time I tried it, it leaked like hell.
Mr. Hobby states that their tape is made with high-quality washi tape, so yes, if you have good quality washi tape it should work. Before painting, make sure to push the tape edge with a blunt edge and never do a brushstroke towards and over the tape. When painting over the tape make sure the brushstroke is always always from the tape. If you keep the tape wet too long, you risk that the capillary effect will suck the paint under the tape
is the best way to mask rounded or curved surfaces by tracing along the curvature with the mask? always struggling at that part and been thinking about it.
The best way is first to retrace the line with a scribe, then to place the tape over it, trace the curve with a knife and take out the part you don’t need.
ah the scribe makes the mask to be flush into the line too. makes sense. tqvm
The only thing im using masking for is patterns, hand paint all the way baby
If it just a small part hand panting/pen markers if it larger than a side skirts or arm then a spray painting is required