Good liquid masking agent

[LyleW]

I had a bottle of Maskol a fairly long time ago and wasn't really satisfied with it. It seemed way too thick. Just watched a short video on Youtube from Humbrol and it looked as if this guy was tinning it down. Anyway, I see several brands out there....

Any help would be appreciated.

Lyle.

[Stikpusher]

I’ve used Micro Mask from Micro Scale and Mr Mask from Gunze… I liked the Micro Mask better.

[jkim]

I had a bottle of Maskol but it quickly dried out on me. I've been using the blue Micro Mask and it works, although I don't use it very frequently.

[BlackSheep214]

Hmmm... I'll have to get some Micro Mask. I'm not crazy about Vallejo Liquid Mask.

[LyleW]

Thanks, gentlemen. There are a couple of things I will try/get.

[cbaltrin]

I personally love maskol. It does dry and dry-out fast in the bottle though. I love the first quality but not the latter. I found that not leaving it open very long, storing it upside down, and cleaning the cap very well after usage helps prolong shelf life. Micro-mask is a totally different animal -- lasts for ever in the bottle and seems to take almost as long to dry . If anyone has tips on how to get the best results from micro-mask I am all ears. My biggest misconception about liquid masks when I started experimenting with them is that they would act like tape when dried, but the latex based ones stretch as your remove them and tend to pull themselves out from under the layer of paint that was on top of them and throw fine dried paint particles all over the place , so no chance on getting a clean edge there. Now I just use them to fill in open areas that would be hard or time consuming to mask with tape. I also love using them to keep paint out of mounting holes for landing gear and other such things

Back to micro mask (MM). This is he only one I know of that could be used similar to tape. I am not sure what it is made of but it dries hard(and can be quite difficult to remove in my experience -- accepting advice).
I remember a FSM article many moons ago where a guy filled a milk jug cap about 1/16 in deep with MM in order to mask off the bare metal lip/edge on some airliner engine intakes. He dipped them face down in the MM filled cap to cover the lip of the intake. Seemed to work pretty well for him. I tried something similar a few years ago, but could not get good results.

[jeaton01]

Just easier for me to use tape. Had trouble getting good edges, and removing it was difficult.

[jkim]

Liquid masks have a limited application on my work bench. Typically, I'll be using tape for 99% of my masking needs. But there are some situations where the liquid mask makes things easier. Keeping paint off of a critical glue connection for example. Or sealing the edges of a circular mask. I've found that keeping Micro Mask thick helps make removal easier but the drawback is that it lengthens dry time.