Monogram De Havilland Mosquito FB VI-Silver wings!

[LyleW]

That should be an interesting test.

I do have a question, though. What is this "finish" you speak of?

[Stikpusher]

Personally I say go with Silly Putty, as it is a known constant, and can be found for quite cheap at most toy or bargain stores.

[Gary Brantley]

Okay folks, the test results are in, and we have a winnah! Stik's bet was confirmed; the Silly Putty performed best of the three products I tested. I did leave the putty worms in place longer than first planned. I guess they were left on more than 48 hours; much longer than they would ever be left normally. I figured that would give any problems time enough to reveal themselves and I guess that they did.

The first pic is of the corner where the Blu-Tac poster stuff was attached. One can easily see a "trail" or stain left where the worm lay:



Next is the generic white poster putty; it also left a visible trail...just not as vivid:



But here is the corner where the Silly Putty was laid; I can't see much of a stain at all here:



Next, I wanted to see how they performed over the same Humbrol polished aluminum paint used on the Mossie. Here's the results of the three different materials on my paint mule Hind:

Generic poster tac:



Blu-tac:



And finally, our winner, the Silly Putty result:



One can very easily see that the Blu-Tac poster adhesive even left large pieces behind when removed. How would you like having to "pick" all of those specs off your paint job? Yeah. That would be the suck, wouldn't it? In all fairness, all three materials were pretty old. New examples of each might garner different results, but I'm not too sure about that. At this point, I do plan on using the Silly Putty to mask off the two topside colors and also between the top and lower fuselage paints. I believe if removed in a timely manner, the Silly Putty shouldn't leave any noticeable stains on the paint surface. We'll find out one way or the other!

But I will say that I've considered, more than once, that this bird would look pretty cool if it were all silver doped. That does remain a viable, historically accurate option.

Hey, thanks for following along and thanks for your interest in the Mossie! I do appreciate it and please feel free to comment, my friends.

[Stikpusher]

I think the big thing with the poster tack stuff is that it must have adhesive qualities for its intended purpose - holding up a poster on a wall long term. It’s going to have at least some sort of mild adhesive in it to work. The longer that you leave it in place, the more time that the adhesive has time to work. Silly Putty, having no such purposes, so it is a more neutral substance.

[Gary Brantley]

Yes, I believe you have a good point, Carlos, and probably the very reason for its poor performance.

[BlackSheep214]

I've used blue poster tack for a variety of uses - including camo.

[Gary Brantley]

Did you ever find it leaving any sort of evidence behind after using the blu-tac?

[keavdog]

I have had success using elmers orange wall tack and then this happened

Of course that was the kit from hell to begin with so... Kinda fixed it but one of those builds you're just glad to put up on the shelf and say done. I think it was the paint - Hataka maybe? Don't recall, but I've had success since using the same techniques though. I have a tin of the AK camo putty to try on the next project.

[BlackSheep214]

I've used blue poster tack for a variety of uses - including camo.

Did you ever find it leaving any sort of evidence behind after using the blu-tac?

Tiny bits of it but nothing earth-shattering that's hard to remove. I just use the blue tack to pull it off. As far as stain goes, none whatsoever. I usually don't press down hard on the blue tack to get a hold. I do have silly putty in my stash but have yet used it.

[Stikpusher]

John, is that the ESCI Kfir kit? I have read that those kits are difficult…