Lego Spray Painting Question

[MoreDCthenBatman]

I've just started Lego modification more recently and was hoping to get some advise.

What I'm trying to do is spray paint a ring going around the forearm of a Lego arm, I covered all of the areas that I didn't want recolored with scotch tape but when I removed the tape there was paint underneath and not around the edge of where the tape had been covering, so I redid it with masking tape but I had the same problem.

So what I need to know is is there a better way to cover the parts of the minifigure's arm that I don't want to spray paint?

It seems to be going through the tape.

Thanks in advance.

Edited February 22, 2014 by MoreDCthenBatman

[CustomJoe_MD]

I used to put blue painters tape, and then use kid modeling clay over that to seal any gaps. the result was that you peel off the tape and the clay/plastiline and clean any residue. You can reuse the kid clay a few times even if its all mixed with paint, a bit messy but it works for me.

There was also a technic using wax or gelatin instead of tape, wax is a pain to remove unless you freeze it for a bit and then scrape it gently off. Gelatin you just clean with warm water, test it a few ways see what works for you.

I'm assuming the band is being applied with a airbrush and crafts mixed paint with a bit of solvent, paint cans tend to spray too much thickness and are only useful for bigger stuff or if you are doing a wide area.

Cheers, welcome and hope it helps.

Edited February 22, 2014 by CustomJoe_MD

[Concore]

Using this image as a reference, I'm guessing your results ended up like the blue stripe, which is normal off-the-shelf masking tape, which due to a high paper to plastic content means the paint bleeds into the grain and absorbs the paint. You want to use a better quality tape, the best widely avaible tape is Frogtape which is green, or even better is plastic pin-striping tape which can be found model shops and some warehouse stores.

As a couple of sidenotes, when masking off, use your nail or another piece of LEGO and spend a good 10-20 seconds pressing down the tape to make absolutely sure there is no air bubbles or gaps in the tape. Avoid masking off with paper, always with plastic. And finally build up thin layers of paint rather than one heavy coat, a heavy coat will build up along the tape and can adhere to it, maing removal a messy job,it also create a lip, which isn't very pretty. ^_^

Hope that helps.

Edited February 22, 2014 by Concore

[Wardancer]

I also wanted to mention frogtape.

Also in model building shops, there should be very slim tapes, just 2-3 mm wide. People use them them to make the water line on model ships. This could be useful for lego arms.