I did not prime this kit, painted it with Tamiya paints thinned with alcohol, then gloss coated it with Aqua-gloss. Started putting on decals, and the paint dissolves. It did not lift off, it just plain dissolved. It went through the gloss coat, and through 2 colors of paint, right down to bare plastic. This is using plain tap water, no decal set or anything else. The Aqua-gloss had set for a little over 24 hours. Maybe not long enough?
One thing I did differently than I have before is I put a heavy coat of Aqua-gloss on the decal sheet. I got this kit from another modeler, and I did not know how old the decals were, and I have had terrible luck with old decals falling apart. But I was able to rub off the paint on areas that I had not tried to apply decals to, so the problem does not seem to be related to the decal application.
Weird thing is, on a CD case I experimented with, this does not happen. I did prime the CD case with rattle-can primer.
On the rear part of the wing here I just worked some water in with a brush.
This is the first time I have used the Aqua-gloss, but regardless of that, the water went through 2 layers of paint!
Anyone have any ideas?
I am going to do some experiments - prime some CD cases to get a good base finish, airbrush some Tamiya/alcohol, and then gloss-coat with the different products I have. I have a bit of Testors gloss, and bought some Microscale gloss the same time I bought the Aqua-gloss, and will use some Future.
Perhjaps a stupid question, but did you clean the plastic first? I know I’ve had some, where despite cleaning and priming, I did not get a good adhesion (bad batch of plastic?) and had paint lift. Could also have been that the paint layers weren’t cured? I’ve never used aqua gloss, so I don’t know how it would all react.
I did not clean the plastic, but the paint is not lifting, it is dissolving. Good point about paint curing, I do not remember how long I waited for that. The gloss coat had 24 hours. Thanks for the response.
This may sound like a silly or stupid question but, are you Positive it was water? Did you accidentally dip the brush or decals in a water/alcohol mix?? I’ve heard of people messing up like that, grabbing the wrong bottle of this or that…I know I’ve done similar things, dipped the brush in laquer instead of water or vise versa…Thats all I got for ya man…
Not a silly question at all. I wondered if I had something left in the brush, but then I got fresh water and a different brush and had the same results. Maybe I will go back and start with fresh water again, and a q-tip, no way it would be contaminated.
I AB’d some Tamiya over rattle-can primer yesterday, thinned with alcohol. I will wait until tomorrow, 48 hours, to let it cure before gloss coating it.
Today I can rub the paint off easily with alcohol, which makes perfect sense, since it was thinned with alcohol. I cannot get it to rub off with water. It would appear the Aqua-gloss is having some affect on the finish.
Here is an update - I let the Tamiya paint on the CD/primer cure for 48 hours. I then airbrushed 4 sections with 4 different gloss coats, Aqua-gloss, Microscale gloss, Model Master gloss, and Future. The gloss coats have cured for something under 36 hours.
They all held up well, with Aqua-gloss and Microscale being maybe a tiny bit more resistant than the other two, but not enough to make any difference.
The Aqua-gloss is not hurt at all by water or mineral spirits. So why did it wash away, and take the paint with it when I was applying decals with water? I guess one of the mysteries of life One thing for certain, I let the paint cure for longer in my experiment.
Anyway, I think I will gloss coat the P-40 again, and then try the decals again to see what happens.
Once again, Tamiya acrylic thinned with alcohol, and topped with Aqua Gloss (and tan color again). Funny thing is, it does not happen everywhere on the kit, but where it does happen, the water acts like a solvent. The instant it hits the paint it starts fading it, and the paint rubs right off.
Only thing is, this time I am not sure how long I let everything cure. I have spent more time on this kit than anything I have ever built before, so it should have had plenty of time to cure.
I am going to touch it up, let it cure again, and gloss coat again.
The modeling gods are not going to allow me to get cocky[:)]
It is definitely strange, and I cannot repeat it, but it went all the way through to the primer. I’m no chemist, but maybe something to do with the Aqua Gloss when it broke down? It is just so incredible so see, an almost instant reaction to the water. I am going to give the paint coat and the top coat extra cure time before trying decals again.
One thing for certain, I let the paint cure for longer in my experiment.