As a companion to the previous post, Masking Kanu, I also have videos I took during the process. I wasn’t able to upload the pictures since I didn’t have time to convert the video files to flash format so better Nate than Lever…. Videos after the jump.
Today’s update is all about masking Kanu so that I can paint some detail areas. I use four different masking techniques. For the areas that boarder between the masked and unmasked areas, I use tamiya masking tape. Tamiya masking tape is very thin and is easily cut with a very sharp(brand new) hobby knife blade. Below is the part ready for masking, I will be masking off the skin areas to paint the body wrap and the hair.
Weekend update. A good amount of work was accomplished on Kanu over the weekend, some rework to resculpt a broken/missing piece, and a build gathering capped out the events of the long Labor Day weekend. Because of the amount of hard alcohol consumed, I spent the day recovering. I’m still not 100%, but at least I’m no longer orally evacuating last night’s liquid consumption.
With the clear gloss cured for a full day, I can now apply the decal. The first picture shows the planning stage. Once I have a good idea on where I want the tattoo (decal) placed, I can now dip the decal in some water for a few seconds then take the decal out of the water and let it sit on a napkin for a minute or so. This loosens up the decal from the paper backing and doesn’t completely dissolve the glue that’s on the decal film. When I went to slide the decal onto the skin, the decal fell apart, several decals fell apart… so I took my gloss clear and sprayed the decal sheet and let that set up for a couple of minutes. Once that completely dried, I tried the attempt again, and the clear gloss added some strength to the rather thin decal film. The bad part about this is that the clear gloss added a little thickness to the decal film.
