[Custom] GT Stripe level achieved. Also discovered an alternative to Tamiya masking tape...

...it works just as well as the Tamiya masking tape and maybe even better. It’s probably already in your house as well. More on that soon.

I’m still playing around with the British Racing Green RS1600 Escort. I wanted to try my hand at some more masking. First some shots of it finished then a few shots from during various stages of the GT stripe masking/painting.

I’ve always liked matte black stripes and in particular this style where one is wide and the other narrow. I’m very happy with this look and will make a better quality version of this once it’s stripped again. I was too hasty and although the BRG paint is a quick dry enamel I should have let it fully cure before handling. It was still a bit soft and I’ve lost a lot of the gloss in some areas. Anyway I now know what I’m doing this weekend. ;)

Ok so now the masking bit.

The yellow tape is the awesome Tamiya masking tape. The white tape is ‘borrowed’ from my first aid kit. It’s called 3M Micropore surgical tape. Don’t be put off by the Micropore name as preliminary testing has shown it doesn’t let paint through, a very important trait in a masking tape. Now I’m not suggesting this is a cheaper alternative and I’ve not researched for cost comparisons.

Another bonus, if you have access to a 24 hour chemist shop or Drugstore even supermarkets you can get hold of it for those times hobby shops are closed but you really want to paint something.

The reasons I like it are its wider than the Tamiya tape, sure Tamiya tape is also available in similar widths but it starts getting expensive. Being wider made masking the bulk of this cast very quick as only a couple of runs were needed. The Tamiya tape I have is 6mm wide so masking a whole car was tedious. It has pretty much the same amount of tack and is able to be repositioned as much as I needed with no loss of stick noticed. It also conforms as well if not better than the Tamiya tape. I think the medical tape is a little thinner and therefore able to be pushed into the panel gaps and wrap around tight corners. If it is thinner, which I believe it is just from the feel, it’s an important feature at this small scale. The edge of the second coat of paint on the stripes seems to be finer than the stripes I’ve done previously on Sanjay’s custom. I’m still learning painting technics and the paint used for these stripes is different to the paint for Sanjay’s RS1600. Alright enough of that, the devil is in the pudding or the proof is in the details apparently so feast your eyes. ;)

The picture above shows the cast ready for the thin stripe. I’ve purposely used different tape on either side of the stripe. This makes it easy to see any difference in finish. I can’t.

I just did one coat with some quick dry matte black spray paint.

After about 3-5 mins I removed the Tamiya tape and some of the 3M tape next to it and laid a fresh piece of 3M tape on the edge of the next stripe.

Next was another piece of Tamiya tape for the other edge of the wide stripe. I could have tried doing this in one stage but the thought of trying to cut a bit of tape thin enough and trying to apply it straight stopped me from doing so.

Second stripe painted. It should be noted that the masking that was applied over the thin stripe was done 10 mins after the paint was applied. It would be better to let the first one fully dry before masking on top of it but it’s worked out fine as it was.

The last two shots were taken at about 3-5 minutes as soon as the masking was removed. The wider stripe dulled off more as it dried.

Alright thanks for reading and I hope it helps out some here.

3m Micropore link: http://products3.3m.com/catalog/au/en0…