Micro Mask

[NOBLNG]

Has anyone used this stuff with acrylic paints, Tamiya in particular? It says not to use it with water-based paint. I want to do parts of a dashboard  in acrylic and leave some parts unpainted. It’s too tiny to mask otherwise.?

TIA, Greg.

[Snake45]

Run your own test and see. 

Meanwhile, you can make your own liquid mask with Elmer's glue, hot water, and a drop of dish soap (and food coloring if you wish). This works better than any commercial liquid mask I've ever tried. 

[89AKurt]

I got a big bottle of the stuff long time ago.  It has a shelf life, separates, and think mold was growing in it.   Small bottle is the way to go.  When I did use it, was a bit of a PITA, still needed to cut the edge if applied to an inside corner.  My two cents.

[NOBLNG]

In the works,? one side I will cover with tamiya primer, the other straight acrylic paint. I will post results.

[Jon Haigwood]

I used Formula 560 Canopy Cement on the seat inserts on a pair of buckets It worked better than Micro Mask

[Modelbuilder Mark]

I use it frequently, in certain circumstances. I have used it for dash gauge faces,  and on rims where you want the otter lip chrome, but perhaps the inner rim silver (Think torque thrust) or where I may have a one piece wheel tire where you spray the entire thing black, then mask off the tire, and spray the rim color.

I will say tho, it has it's limits. It is thick, and due to its surface tension, is somewhat hard to work into tight areas. I mostly recently used it to paint in and around the raised letters on old good year tires, so I could paint the raised letters, then peek away the mask. The This was difficult, but not impossible, to work into all the areas, using a brush, toothpick, and straight pin. In the end tho, I was not satisfied with the paint not sticking, but that was not the masks fault, but when I pulled off the mask it also puled the lettering off. This is where the water based paint is not recommended, as it "connects" with the mask.

Like most every tool I have, one tool does not fit all folks needs/tastes, not does it work for every job. You just have to experiment.

[NOBLNG]

4 minutes ago, Modelbuilder Mark said:

This is where the water based paint is not recommended, as it "connects" with the mask.

Like most every tool I have, one tool does not fit all folks needs/tastes, not does it work for every job. You just have to experiment.

 

2 hours ago, Snake45 said:

Run your own test and see. 

Meanwhile, you can make your own liquid mask with Elmer's glue, hot water, and a drop of dish soap (and food coloring if you wish). This works better than any commercial liquid mask I've ever tried. 

Ok, if the MM “connects” with acrylic paint, is the home made stuff less likely to bond with the paint?

[Roadrunner]

I've only ever really used it for masking off large canopy areas and nav lights on aircraft models, but it works great for that.

[BigTallDad]

5 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

 I want to do parts of a dashboard  in acrylic and leave some parts unpainted. It’s too tiny to mask otherwise.?

 

As a suggestion, try masking the "Made in the USA" on the underside of the plastic utensil. That will give you a better feeling how the liquid mask will cooperate on small areas.

[NOBLNG]

It seems to work well with and without primer.

[NOBLNG]

Quite a difference in shrinkage between the primed and non primed mask.