spraymask

When you first open the can of Metalflakes "Spray Mask" your first thought is going to be, "There is no way this extremely thick material is going to spray through a paint gun." The Spray Mask is water based, so it can be thinned by just adding water. I thinned it down at a 1:1 ratio and was able to get it to spray out evenly using a gun with a 1.5 needle and tip.

Apply four heavy wet coats. Allow ample drying time between coats. Let each coat dry thoroughly. You will be able to tell when it is dry enough to add another coat when it turns transparent (see picture). Metalflake recommends that you build up a minimum of 8 mils of spray mask material. If it is any thinner, you will have a hard time peeling it off. The only aspect of Metalflakes "Spray Mask" that I didn't like was that you need to wait 8-12 hours before it is dry enough to be able to start cutting it to do any paint work.

Once the Spray mask is completely dry, you can draw directly on it. I didn't care for the fact that it had a blue tint and was not completely transparent when it was dry. Even with the blue tint the Spray Mask was transparent enough to cut tight traps with underlying colors.

The Spray Mask cut very easily with a razor blade or X-acto knife. The cuts could be made by lightly cutting the material without having to bear down so hard that the blade would score the paint below it. The Spray Mask peels up very easily and give you a nice clean edge.

Once the design is opened up it can be sprayed or airbrushed. The mask creates a barrier to the underlying color and will not let solvents through to damage it. Spray colors in light coats so a heavy concentration of paint builds up along the edges. Cleaning the spray equipment is simple, just use water to clean them. Make sure to lubricate spray equipment after cleaning with water.

Once the paint has dried the Spray mask can easily be pulled off. This process can be repeated over and over. If a problem peeling any of the Spray mask occurs, use a soft towel soaked with water to remove it.

Overall the Metalflake Spray Mask is a good product.
Good Features:
Easy to cut.
Can be drawn on.
Peels off easy.
Does not leave a residue.
Good for airbrushing and graphic masks.
Needs Improvement:
Drying time is too long.
Not transparent.
Must be thinned down to spray which in turn takes more coats to achieve required mil thickness.

Xotic Colours "Graphic Mask" is meant to be sprayed directly out of the can. It is waterbased but they do not recommend thinning it with water. Xotic recommends that you achieve a minimum film build of 15 mils thickness. This can be accomplished by using a spray gun with a 1.5 needle and tip and by applying 4 wet coats. The "Graphic Mask" dries fast between coats. Within 15 minutes you can see it turn clear (transparent) and can apply the next coat.

It takes very little material to achieve the 15 mils thickness. The Graphic Mask dries extremely fast. One to two hours (at 80 degrees) after the final coat has been applied, the Graphic Mask is dry and ready to work with.

In this picture you can a comparison of the Graphic Mask over a beige base coat and the Metalflake "Spray Mask" over the same color. The Xotic "Graphic Mask" dried clear and the "Spray Mask" has a semi-transparent, blue tint to it. I found that Graphic Mask was really hard to draw on unless you used a marker. Pencil would not show or transfer to it.

With the required 15 mil thickness, I had a difficult time cutting the Graphic Mask without having to bear-down hard with a razor blade. Due to the rigidness of the Graphic Mask material I was left with a not so pleasant paint build up at the edges.

The "Graphic Mask" was difficult to completely remove. Before I decided to give this product a bad evaluation, I thought I would experiment with it further. Even though Xotic Colours does not recommend thinning the Graphic Mask, I diluted it with approximately 10% water to get the product to flow out more even. This time instead of 4 coats to achieve a 15 mil thickness, I back off to 2 heavy coats to give me approximately 7 mils thickness. This worked out much better. I was able to cut the dry Graphic Mask easier and didn't score the paint below it this time. Being thinner, it made it a little easier to peel the Graphic Mask off.

Spray on masks are a great idea but need some improvement. I would like to see one of these company's spend more time in the devotement of these products. If you could cross the best aspects of each of these products I could see using them more often. If you could take the Metalflake "Spray Mask" and have the transparent and quick drying properties of the Xotic "Graphic Mask" you would have a very workable and user friendly product that I could see using on intricate illustrations.

Good Features:
Dries Fast 1-2 hours
Transparent. Can see artwork clearly through it.
Does not leave a residue.
Needs Improvement:
Hard to remove.
Can not easily draw directly onto
Hard to cut unless you reduce the required mil thickness.

In all my years of Kustom Painting, I've never felt the need to use a Spray on Masking Material. In the past I heard rumor that the products left a residue on the basecoat it was applied over. That alone was enough to keep me from using the product. My thoughts changed about using these products when I was thrown a job that need a great deal of masking that couldn't be done in any conventional way (see Digital Camo article http://www.airbrushtech.net/AIRBRUSH/camo.html ). Since I had no previous experience in using a Spray Mask I decided to test two different products. Here is my evaluation on them.

Steven Craig is the owner and head painter of SKC CUSTOMZ in Lake Havasu City, AZ. In the past Steven has won the House of Kolor Prestigeous Painter Award and was a 1st Place winner of Dupont's Hot Hues Awards. He most recently was awarded the Matrix System's FX Grand Prize Award. Steve paints a wide range
of jobs from guitars to large off shore boats. Visit his web site at

Airbrush : Iwata HP-BH, Custom Micron B
Spray Guns: Iwata LPH400 and Iwata LPH300
Paint Media: PPG, Xotic Colours, Dupont and Matrix Systems
Surface Media: Everything I can get paint to stick to.
Masking : R-Tape and 3M Masking Tapes
Projector: Artograph
Lighting : Natural and Florescent. Spray-Line and Spray King Paint Booths