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jonboy1

anybody ever noticed.....?

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I've been painting a couple of polycarb bodies lately - and I was reminded of this little anomaly once again and have been meaning to ask if I'm the only one:

here's a typical window mask sheet:

Window Masks for Tamiya RX7 | RC Drift UK

in the image and the associated instructions, it states to "for large areas, remove the centre strip of the lining"

I've never found a windscreen mask that had a centre section of backing paper pre-cut to allow me to remove. Am I the only one? Am I missing something really obvious? :huh:

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Youre right - Ive never seen a pre cut middle section on any of the bodyshell masks I have had.

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I’ve noticed that before, but never understood how they expect it to be removed?

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Tamiya expect surgical knife skills from their customers! 

  • Haha 1

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I make my own masks and I cut them in half and tape back together. This means you can remove them from the center outwards for a cleaner finish. Maybe its just a tip?

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Once cut from the sheet, peel back the centre of the masking slightly and use your decal scissors to cut the mask down the centre, then its easy to cut again to have a centre strip to work from....

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I have never understood why some Tamiya kits have precut decals and masks, and others do not. A basic grasshopper, and Lunchie are cut out, but a more expensive kit will not. IMO, there is no reason today for them not to be. Some Mfg's even have the bodies cut out, ready for paint and decal as you like. 

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29 minutes ago, Hobbimaster said:

I have never understood why some Tamiya kits have precut decals and masks, and others do not. A basic grasshopper, and Lunchie are cut out, but a more expensive kit will not.

It was always my guess that the models that had precut decals were also available in Expert Built (XB) versions. I figured they precut those to speed the build process for assembly workers and those decal sheets filtered down into the kit versions too.

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The pre-cut decals are fast and easy, but not the best.  If you're really obsessive about not having any extra clear around the sticker edges, it's much better to trim them yourself from a solid sheet.  Pre-cut decals actually make it harder to trim the excess clear away.

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3 hours ago, Saito2 said:

It was always my guess that the models that had precut decals were also available in Expert Built (XB) versions. I figured they precut those to speed the build process for assembly workers and those decal sheets filtered down into the kit versions too.

I think that probably has a lot to do with it. Cutting them out is an entire extra manufacturing step on another machine, either die-cutting or with a plotter. It makes sense if they're doing the application labor, but it's a lot cheaper to skip it if we're the ones doing the work.

As far as slitting/removing a strip of the backing on masks or decals, that's where one of these comes in handy:

Vinyl-Slicer-Letter-Opener.jpg

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