How do you prevent bleed under masking tape

[alastai kean]

finishing off a 1/5 scale mustang with invasion stripes
everytime i mask and paint i always seem to get bleed through the tape
leaving a ragged edge
can anyone tell me what im doing wrong
its very frustrating
cheers guys

[Pat Cuss]

Right' this is a real pain, so what I do is go to a paint supplier to the car trade , these are found on nearly all big trading estates, and get 6mm wide 3M 'buff' lining tape. when you mask with this you must press down the edge firmly either with your finger nail or an old blunt kitchen knife ( must have a bone handle if your doing WW1 stuff). You can tell if the edge is sealed down well as the tape darkens, practice first. Alternatively if you use ordinary masking tape, stick a length to a clean piece of glass and cut a new edge with a Morton scalpel against a steel rule, when you stick this down you need to paint the edge with the colour of the surface you have stuck to , this seals the edge, then paint to colour you want. I find the first method best. Any other suggestions out there?.

[David Jones]

A belt and braces method I use is to initially mask off with 1/4" wide 3M blue plastic tape, available from any auto paint retailer. This gives a really sharp edge with no bleed, I then mask again with normal paper masking tape, leaving half the blue tape exposed. The beauty of the plastic tape is, with it being narrow, it goes around curves easily.

If you are using low tack masking film, like I have for making my own "stars 'n bars", I had paint creep as well, and I was advised, as Pat has mentioned, to spray the edges first with your base colour which will seal it and, if you do have any creep, it's your base colour that's creeping so you wont see it, then spray on the colour you intend to finish with. These might not be eveybody's methods, but they work for me. Jonesey.

[Cary Bailey]

Tamiya Masking tape every time! does EXACTLY what it says on the tin! Use this tape as the edge of where you want your line to finish & mask the rest off with any masking tape & paper. I did all my 1/5 scale P51D markings including invasion stripes, colour changes etc using this method. No errors and I'm useless at spraying!
Cary

[Alan Cantwell 1131]

Get some decent masking tape, clean a sheet of glass, stick tape to said glass, sharp blade, straight edge, cut down middle, good, new sharp edge, two of them!! Works every time, cut thinner for going round corners, then mask up to the cut line with paper, tape, or whatever

[alastai kean]

Thanks to all
I will try all suggestions
Cheers Guys will keep you posted

[paulbyrne]

Masking tape for fabric surfaces
https://www.oracover.de/index.php/katalog/artikelinfo/11345-1-show-oratex_masking_tape_width_10_mm_length_50_m.html

Have not tried this yet, but Oracover recommended, normally I use 3m fine line tape

[Bob Thompson1894]

Not cheap, but I imagine it is good. However, a 20m roll of Oratex is £200????????

[Steve Rickett 2333]

Tamiya tape everytime!!

Give the base paint a light flatting back with very fine wet and dry used wet. Thoroughly dry the surface and then mask making sure to rub the tape down well (I use the back of my thumb).

When you paint, give a VERY light misting first and wait 5 mins or so before adding more light coats. Never build up a really thick layer against the masking or you will be asking for trouble.

Hope that helps

[frank fearn]

Black Electricians tape does it for me... never any issue. I ensure I stick it to a glass surface prior to applying to the model, so the adhesion is not so severe... I find the other colours in the range is not so good ...

Worth a try....

[Clive Hall]

Don’t bother about avoiding some bleed, just block it. We are obviously talking about spraying, so when the tape is first in place give a thin coat of clear dope over all the edges. This will probably bleed in places but it makes no difference. It blocks the little gaps that the colours would otherwise find, and when the tape is removed leaves a clean line because the small amounts of the clear dope that do bleed are invisible. I can offer over 20 years of building showcase display models professionally, and this trick has never let me down.

[Rob Buckley]

For proper scale invasion stripes, just slap them on with a scale sized 1ft brush, like this...