My current method of strips of blue painters tape face-up works OK for bigger/solid details, but even with reducing the tackiness by sticking it to glass first, the tape doesn’t seem to work so well with delicate items (right now, I’m trying to paint scratch-built scale pallets, and the tape seems to pull 1 board off of every 6th skid or so). Besides, unless you get it on sale at the home center (somewhat a rare occurance) it gets a bit costly for a throw-away item.
So what are your favorite low cost, low tack methods for supporting delicate details during painting (but lots of 'em - so a wide attachment area is a must)?
I use a two-sided tape too. The parts stick more or less to the tape. It depends how strong you push them to the tape. And when the first thin layer of paint is on the tape you can use it but the parts will stick much less.
I have seen some people put rubber cement on the head of a common nail and then put the item on the nail head, then have a piece of foam or a board with lots of holes drilled in it to hold the nails.
Nothing special or unique in my method but for what it’s worth – a block of wood, 1/4" wide masking tape upside down, and held in place very taut with thumbtacks. For delicate parts, just a tiny bit of an edge resting on the tape is enough to hold it during spray painting.
The attachment area is not wide – quite the contrary in fact – but the block of wood and hence the tape are both long, so lots of parts can be painted at once. With care parts can be across from each other on the same bit of 1/4 wide tape, because really very little sticky surface is needed to hold a part in place.
btw - That 1/4" wide masking tape, which I was able to buy cheaply on a rather large spool about 6" across, has a great many uses in scenery, kit construction, and as above, spray painting.
I use plain old scotch tape. It’s not a tacky as masking tape but has enough to hold parts in place. I also use it to mask engines when i paint them. I learned this from a gentlemen at one of train clubs I belong to. He paints most of his undecorated equipment himself and does a very fine job of it. Best part about it is you can find it almost anywhere.
I use the tape method as well, but I try to use a tooth pick or bamboo skewer if there is a place to hang the part from. For instance, you may be able to stick a tooth pick inside the pallet and let friction hold it on the tooth pick. I drill a series of small holes in a scrap 2x4 for a place to stand the tooth picks as the paint dries.
This is pretty much the method I have been using, substitituing blue painters tape for the masking tape, and securing the ends of the upside down tape with…more tape (hey, it works) as opposed to tacks.
For the pallets I mentioned, it was just the very corner of them pressed onto the tape to prevent such breakage, but in the event the corner ‘board’ still broke off due to sticking to the tape.
Just wondering what is low tack than blue painters tape? I thought it was (greater to less) duct tape > masking tape > scotch tape > blue painters tape > er, post it notes?
I tried this method yesterday, and it was indeed quite successful - no cracks or broken slats, and items stayed put during the spray painting process.
However, the price of the material means I’ll need to restrict it to where necessary (i.e. fragile items), and retain the blue painters tape (itself not all that cheap) for the more robust details.
I’ve been Krazy-Gluing small stuff to pieces of cardboard. Frogtape works great for almost everything but it doesn’t stick to the stuff I mold, it keeps falling off. If I airbrush small parts it blows them off the tape.
I use Scotch double-stick tape on a piece of card board or 1 x 4 and lay the parts on top; pressing the part into the tape slightly to get it to hold. Works great and holds parts well.
