Paint lifting under masking tape

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Painting and airbrushing
1

Greetings all,

I’ve been modeling for years, and have had this persistent problem that I hope some of you may be able to help with.

I use mostly acrylic paints, specifically the Testors MM Acryl line (thinned with MM Acryl thinner when airbrushed), with an Iwata HP-C plus airbrush, compressor and a homegrown spray booth. I’m currently working on a couple of Monogram F-4J’s - one in 1/72 and one in 1/48, in Vietnam era livery.

The specific problem I’m having is that the paint under the masking tape that I use to mask (Tamiya masking tape - various widths), sometimes lifts off leaving bare plastic when it is removed after painting another color. Here is a photo of a particularly nasty example of this phenomenon, where I had masked the previously painted white sparrows in order to paint radome tan on the noses and a band towards the back of the missiles - shown is one missle still masked and another with the masking tape removed showing the bare plastic, along with the last piece of tape removed showing the paint sticking to the tape: http://www.acadigital.com/models/maskingfun.jpg

I have tried various techniques to prevent this, including washing the models with dish soap before starting and spraying a thin layer of future after the initial coat of paint (which seemed to work a little better but is a pain). This is driving me nuts - please help! I’d be happy to provide more details if you need them.

Thank you,

Allen

2

I use acrylics exclusively and they are great for ease of use and washup, but they suffer from poor adhesion. If I know I’m going to be doing a lot of masking I use a primer. Tamiya makes an excellent one, and for aircraft I use the Tamiya AS-12 Silver, the idea being that it duplicates bare metal. You need to use an enamel or lacquer based primer as it “bites” into the plastic.

3

I used Tamiya Acrylics almost exclusively and primer seems to help a lot. Also, make sure the paint is has cured properly. I’ve heard of some people spraying a clearcoat in between the different colors as well, although I don’t do that.

4

I use MM Acryl also. Testors recommends using black vinyl electrical tape for masking. It has lower adhesion then Tamiya’s tape or blue painters tape. I use it to mask regularly and have had almost no problems with paint pulling up.