Painted gun case

I’ve just had a second thought about the masking question……
My earlier response was about masking areas that you don’t want to paint, therefore that mask should ideally remain until finished

But my second thought is about masking the pattern. For different patterns there can be the need to remove different masks, so there could be a degree of lifting and moving masks. But as this will be BerlinCam then I would expect the mask plan to be:


1) protective masking - cover anything not to be painted, that does not have to be exclusively masking tape, I have used tape, newspaper and cling film.
For example wrap the case handle in cling film then tape its edges.
Clamps and hinges can be a pain in the arse, so probably tape the edge, perhaps trim that with a scalpel then tape all over the rest of that piece. Make sure that any folds aren’t going to leave a gap for paint to get in.
A lazy option is to not paint the side faces, in which case you can mask the whole side. For big areas I would cut newspaper to fill the space and tape down its edges. This takes away the problem of neatly painting around the hinges but leaves unpainted sides / edges - sometimes that looks good and sometimes it just looks obvious that it was avoided

2) Paint any base coat, and the first camouflage colour - for the number of layers that seem right

3) Let it all dry, then let it dry some more. Stick on the first pattern mask over the ares of this first colour that are to remain

4) Paint the second camouflage colour, let it dry properly then mask this colour etc

5) Once all colours are complete and dry lift the camouflage masks.

6) Optionally before lifting the original protection mask spray on a clear matte coat to protect the paint

BerlinCam is a nice crisp pattern in the good old dazzle style, so does not need soft blends. That means for this pattern you would want to leave masks in place. If it was a blended pattern then lifting masks would allow for blending different edges rather than crisp masks


Tm
 
More brilliant replies, thanks from me and the boy. I'll order the necessary supplies.
 
More brilliant replies, thanks from me and the boy. I'll order the necessary supplies.
This might now be the wrong time to show a couple of examples of my ‘painting skills’
Take them as proof of my “do as I say, not as I do credentials”


Bright yellow / lime goggles, based on a cheap discounted frame colour to be a marshalling / photographer set
(When thinking of them I was being semi cocky about how well the soft rubber areas are still intact ….. but from the photos here that is because they were that colour anyway, it was the orangey brown that I painted which is a more solid area)
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Medic bags are player props for “combat medics” covering red team and blue team …. If I remember correctly it was just tape to mask around the existing white print crosses and thick fabric paint brushed on, plus arm bands from some chopped up material with elastic straps sewn on the back - again would have been masking tape to form crosses and fabric paint


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The green gun and mask were my first purchase, subsequently repainted for loan use
Paints on this were what I had in the shed, hence the odd shade of green

(The gun was anodised bright red & silver
This was properly quick & dirty, taking the lens, strap and trigger frame off. Blocking holes with tape or whatever could be stuffed in them etc, (i wrapped a fluffy barrel cleaner in cling film to shove down the barrel)

Then it was just a coat of tan, some tape as an initial pattern mask for the green, and then the masking taken off for a general overspray of green to “soften” the pattern


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