Plato Putty

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...... The name was changed, for the sake of humor.
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When I was in school, may years ago, Art was my Minor,
at this time we will not discuss what my Major was............
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..... Anyway.... I alway knew that my Philosophy classes would
come in handy for something...........
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...... THIS IS NOT ONE OF MY TIPS ...... I heard about it through
the grape vine. But it does seem to have some potential
in the painting arena.
..... I understand that it was first tried by Steve Zaloga ,
the passed to Cookie Sewell, the passed to us.
..... It is a new way to mask your model tanks, and aircraft
to be painted...........
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Masking with Silly Putty
Cookie Sewell got the snappy banded tricolor camouflage
pattern on this 1/35 scale Soviet BA-6 armored car with the aid of a
secret weapon that should be in every armor modeler’s arsenal: Silly Putty.
Painting the wavy, multicolored camouflage
schemes common on
armored vehicles can be a pain, but
I recently discovered an inexpensive,
easy-to-use masking
substance: Silly
Putty. Silly
Putty? Yep, same stuff we played with as
kids, pulling images of the Sunday comics
off the paper and stretching them into
goofy faces. Turns out it can be an armor
modeler’s best friend, at least when painting
time rolls around.
Silly Putty has a number of great
advantages for masking armor models. It
is far simpler and easier to work with than
tape, frisket paper, or other materials such
as a liquid masker. It gives far more thorough
protection, leaving no edge for
“underspray” or fuzzy joint lines.
Even when saturated with paint,
Silly Putty leaves no residue and pulls
away cleanly. If your estimate of how
much you’ll need to cover an area turns
out to be slightly off, you can just stretch
it a little more to fit. It is easy to squeeze
inside and around small parts like wheel
sockets and mounts, so that you can paint
those parts off the model and still have
bare styrene as a gluing surface to attach
them after painting.
One of the reasons most aircraft masking
techniques don’t work for armor
camouflage is the details – pins, fittings,
tie-downs, handles, tow hooks, lifting
shackles, and other bits – that stick out on
armored vehicles. Silly Putty goes right
over these items, but it won’t pull them
off when it’s removed.
My sample project is a 1/35 scale
1930s Soviet BA-6 armored car built
from an Eastern Express kit. I decided to
give it the rather gaudy three-color camouflage
scheme used during late 1941.
There were some variations in the colors
on the full-size vehicles; I chose to paint
mine in green, black, and sand. The
scheme is actually very similar to the
modern Russian pattern.
I had previously painted the inside of
the BA-6’s engine bay, so I sealed off the
openings with pieces of index card to protect
the interior parts from overspray.The
model was then sprayed with a base coat
of Floquil mud, which is a good match
for the sand color I wanted.
I masked the sections I wanted to keep
sand-colored with the Silly Putty. To
make the masking strips, I put the Silly
Putty on a flat surface and rolled it out
like pie dough. It must be rolled flat and
relatively thin to work best. Once it was
flat, I simply cut out the shapes I needed,
which can be done either freehand or
using a template.
Unlike other materials, Silly Putty
does not tear easily, so I cut the strips with
a very sharp knife. Otherwise, instead of
separating from the “rolled dough” part,
the pieces would have stretched and
deformed, making a mess of things.
Unless you have an unusual situation,
a camo pattern should be painted from
After the paint was dry, cleanup was
very simple: I just peeled off the Silly
Putty, rolled it up, and put it back in its
egg. It separates gently from the model
and usually doesn’t take hand grabs or
similar photoetched metal parts with it.
You can use it for several models, but on
future projects pay attention to the colors
the Silly Putty carries with it. Keeping it
in the egg – which you forgot to do as a
kid and later found the putty either stuck
in Mom’s carpet or hard as a brick – is a
good idea.
Silly Putty masking lets you avoid the
frustrating debate about whether to paint
first and hope assembly goes well, or
build and then hope you can get the paint
on smoothly. Don’t let the “silly” name
put you off – this silly stuff is for serious
modelers.
My thanks to Steve Zaloga for introducing
me to Silly Putty masking.
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you will find 'blu-tac' is even better................especially if it isnt new.....but it must be proper genuine blutac...............ive tried similar generic stuff and its never been as good as the genuine article

Blutac is alright, but I have always liked Silly Putty better, mostly cause it tastes better

Gary

G Cooper wrote: Blutac is alright, but I have always liked Silly Putty better, mostly cause it tastes better

Gary

Arrrrrrrrrr there Gary;


.....You are beginning to worry me now........ you sound like my friend AB.
He likes to use Ribbon Putty for chewing gum..............
..... I reckon it is about time for my safety article.