Techniques: Making negative masks

A negative mask is one that is grumpy and has a bad outlook on life. OK, that’s not true. 🙂 A negative mask is one that shows an area to be painted, while a positive mask covers an area already painted. Anyway…

On the rare occasion that I get adventurous and try to do a paint scheme that I don’t have decals for, I may try masking. Normally I go with a positive mask, as it’s a bit easier. I’ll paint an area of the aircraft the color of the marking, add a mask over that, and then paint the rest. But sometimes I forget to do that first, and rather than going back through the entire paint process, I’ll create a negative mask. Of course, the process for creating a positive mask is pretty much the same, you just use the part that is cut out. So this step-by-step has dual application, really.

First, I’ll put some masking tape down on on a piece of ceramic tile. using ceramic tile gives a good, hard, smooth cutting surface, and it can be easily rotated around for cutting curves.

Next, I place a print out of the markings to be painted. I make sure they are sized correctly ahead of time by “testing” them on the model first- just holding it up in place.

I then securely tape down the print out, which is essentially my cutting guide.

Using a brand new #11 blade, I carefully cut out the markings. I do the small cuts first, so that the paper will stay in place securely as long as possible.

Once the paper has been cut, I carefully remove the tape holding it in place, leaving just the single piece of tape underneath. using the tip of my #11 blade, I carefully lift up the mask, making small cuts as needed where it did not cut fully sliced.

This is how it looks once the tape in the area to be painted is removed. Keep in mind, this same technique can be used for positive masks! Just use the part you cut out as a mask.

Carefully place your mask on the model, making sure to get the alignment as straight as possible. I prefer to airbrush my markings. I use paint that is very thin but not too runny, and give numerous light coats, making sure the airbrush is perpendicular to the models surface. (And make sure you mask other areas to avoid overspray.)

This is how it looks when you are finished!

One step I did not show was after these photos where taken, I gave the painted area a light rub down with a coffee filter to smooth out the bumps and ridges. You may also need to use a small brush and dab paint here and there to make some corrections. It’s also possible to carefully use the sharp tip of a new #11 blade to lightly slice away some area and lift them up before the paint fully cures. If you do try that, be very careful though.

This same technique can be used for very complicated designs, utilizing both negative and positive masks together, and applying one color and element at a time.