I’m relatively new to modeling, and recently have started airbrushing acrylic’s. I’m finding that when I use mask tape over some areas that have already been painted the tape lifts off the paint. What am I doing wrong here? any suggestions?
Which primer are you using? Some popular brands are pretty useless (Vallejo Model Air primer)
I haven’t experienced lifting with either Mission Models primer or Stynylrez.
How long are you letting the paint dry before masking.
We need more info. What brand of paint and primer (if any) are you using?
And what kind of tape did you use? Is it tape made specifically for scale modeling, like Tamiya’s tape products? It is the buff-colored masking tape from the hardware store, like 3M’s masking tapes? Some other product?
Most paints should have a good primer under them. Acrylics need primer and certain acrylics must have primer. I’ve never had paint lifting issues using stynylrez primer on the model before any brand acrylic paint goes on to include craft paints, fwiw. Not even using blue painters tape sometimes, though a lower stick tape is probably a surer bet.
Hi;
Much like the others I have to ask. What kind of primer did you use on the model Before masking? Many,Many paints from the old style to the newer Acrylics reuire almost as a requirement a primer coat base. Once that is on ,you shouldn’t have that problem. The primer has " Tooth" and bonds to the plastic whilst the topcoat bonds to the primer!
If you are using regular masking tape run it through your fingers or stick it to a piece of glass, peel and then mask the model.The brand of tape you are using may be to sticky for the paint it is being applied over!
Drying time is important too. Paint feels dry to touch long before it is completely hardened.
In my experience, you need a good primer underneath. However, something that I have just started doing is laying a coat of future down before putting the masks on. Since I started doing this I have not had anything peel off when removing masks. I just did some roundels in 3 stages of layers. I sprayed some future over each layer and the masks never peeled anything off. Might be something to consider.
I tried the blue painter’s tape for a while, 3M’s product. It’s low-tack, so I didn’t have any problem with it pulling up paint. The issue I had with it was that it left a lot of residue, and it tended to shred or fray when cut, even when using a brand-new, Nr. 2 blade, masking a canopy. I started using Tamiya’s tape at that point, and as far as tape goes, it’s all I use for masking now.
I also use things like putty, Silly and serious ([;)]) for masking.
I like the Frog green tape too, as well as the 3M stuff. I use poster tack, and for cavities I stuff them with facial tisse. I wet the surface to keep any pieces in place.
What kind of paint/tape are you using? The worse masking issues I’ve had involved using Model Master or Vallejo paints with no primer underneath. Any other paints I’ve used (Tamiya, Mr. Hobby) gave me no issues with or without primer.
That was his only post over a month ago,I guess it doesn’t really matter to him [*-)]