I’ve always used just regular masking tape up until my last build where I switched to acrylics and started having problems with paint getting pulled off. Is the Tamiya brand masking tape more gentle than regular tape or just more expensive?
I have found it to be a little bit of both!
It is a little less sticky. I like it for masking clear parts, for its ease of removal. To make it even less sticky (same goes for regular masking tape), stick it to the palm of your hand a few times.
what acrylic paint are you using? make sure the paint has properly cured. some paints even when 100% cured have no bite.
tamiya’s tape is low tack.
Frog Ta****pe !!!!http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/cm/goodhousekeeping/images/IC/FrogTape-Delicate-Surface-s3-medium_new.jpg
I purchased some Frog Tape, and in the spirit of ShurTech Brands’ risk avoidance, I ran a Consumers Reports-style torture test:
I cut some tape into sawtoothed masks and applied it to unpainted plastic, lacquer-primed plastic, and (as a nod to the product’s origins: painting wallboard) raw card stock. I pre-wetted (just running a wet brush around the sawtooth edges) half of my samples.
I brush painted all the surfaces in two colors (a thin, flat yellow vs. a textured “rust”) of acrylic plus one (Pactra RC83 Polycarb Fluorescent Racing Red, flammable, contains ketones and other nasty stuff) chosen to “punish” the tape.
The day after the first coat dried, I put down a second strip of Frog Tape at right angles to the first layer of flat paint to see if the adhesion would tear-up the base coat. (I can’t think of any reason anyone would do this normally, but I wanted a torture test.) I painted over the second mask and let the whole mess dry thoroughly.
Now what DIDN’T I do? I didn’t run my test masking a compound curve. I didn’t do any spray enamel or airbrush work. And (BIGGIE!) I didn’t test any other masking medium.
The results: The tape came off easily and almost pristine! The worst was the wetted tape on raw plastic (my aggressive brushstrokes got under one of the sawtooth edges) and that was still much better than the last time I masked a straight line. The dry and wetted tape on lacquer produced indistinguishable, top-of-the-line results.
The real surprise was the rusty glop on card stock; I’d expected a broken line, and what I got was laser-straight, clean where I’d masked, ugly as homemade sin where I didn’t.
And in the adhesion tests there was no pull-up. This stuff is GREAT!
All MM acryl including primer.
In addition to what’s already been said, Tamiya tape is also thinner than regualar masking tape - which helps prevent paint build up & “steps” at the edges.
I use 3M for delicate surfaces. Much cheaper and still the same basic rice tape. Just light blue instead of yellow.
There’s your problem. MM acrylic are really prone to lifting under tape, no matter what precautions you take. Like what was said, de-tack your tape first on a clean surface and hope for the best, or change paints.
What Nathan said. I’ve been using Tamiya masking tape over Tamiya acrylics and a Tamiya lacquer primer no problem. MM acrylics are much weaker in my opinion and I wouldn’t be surprised if Tamiya or ANY masking for that matter ruined a MM acrylic paint job, even with primer. I’ve never had great luck with MM acrylics, even when I used the MM acrylic primer.
I pull the tape as soon as I’m done painting the color I’m using… While you can get away with letting ti dry first, it’s best to pull your tape off before your paint dries, which gives the edge a chance to “level off” and avoid ridges in the demarcation line…
But that’s not always possible. Masking off a white fuselage band before spraying the underside color, then a three-part topside camo? Unmasking and remasking that band multiple times would be awful.
I use Tamiya tape frequently, but I also make extensive use of post-its to cover big swath areas, keeping the pricier tape to mask the edges where it really matters. So far the stuff hasn’t let me down yet.
You talking like the USN Three-color type of camo? Easy-Peasy… I seldom, if ever, put stripes on before the overall painting is done…
I paint a plane the same way it’s manufactured… It comes out of “the paint-shop”, it’s ready for a clear gloss and any stripes that may be needed, then gets decaled and flat-coated… Then begins the weathering process…
I’ve painted invasion stripes and fuselage band first a few times, and decided that I was tired of the paint lifting off them, or having “ridges” where the stripes/band are from tape that’d been on too long and have to wet-sand them out… I also paint most of my stuff with a rattle-can if I can get the right color in MM or other rattlers… I save the air-brushing for the “delicate” work, like mottling, or for armor that needs feathered-edge camo colors… I may have acrylic and enamel on the color coat too… It depnds on the camouflage color…
I shoot the bottom, let it cure some, then mask the demarcation lines and wing/stab undersides, shoot the second color (intermediate blue in this case), let it cure a bit, then mask that area, and then shoot the top color… I’d add the band then, after the paint has fully cured…
I bought Tamiya tape for the first time a few weeks ago… It’s ok, but pricey… A strip of 3M masking tape is easily “subdued” with a quick trip to my forehead to “un-sticky” it…
Meanwhile, while that’s happening, there is another kit that needs my attention (which is why I have so many WIPs)… I too, make use of “post-it” notes for mask ing large areas…
paint the band FIRST nimrod, ie the whole general area unmasked, then tape it over and leave the tape on till the end, along with the canopy stuff.
Buy the 3mm Tamiya tape, cut it down the middle with a razor blade and super wiggly so you don’t get confused about which edge is the good one; do your edges and infill with the cheaper stuff,
My buddy A/Jim, first model he made and this was only a couple of years ago, masked the area to paint his anti-glare panel on the nose of his 1/24 P-51, then covered the rest of the a/c in Tamiya tape.
Used to do that, but it left ridges, as I said above… After all, the tape had three coats of paint over it in places…
Actually, I was referring to this:
I actually prefer putting invasion stripes on last, but solid bands and things like the yellow lower cowling on the Fiat I spray and mask first. I’ve found I get ridging if I go the other way, because it takes way more paint to give a mostly-uniform white, yellow or red.
Maybe it’s because I use an airbrush vs. a rattlecan, and prefer to put down the thinnest coats I can that still do the job. Whites and yellows especially can’t pull it off as well as any camo color.
Special case is with NMF, when I put everything over the metal finish.
If you’re getting ridges where your tape lines are, its because you’re spraying the paint on way too thick. Just use thinner, lighter coats. However, if using rattle cans this is impossible and leads to the ridges. In my experience masking RD bands or other stripes first then painting the camo works out the best, and sometimes my masking tape will be on for weeks at a time, depending on how many camo colors there are and how long it takes me to finish the model, and I don’t have a problem with ridges.
It definitly is more gentle the regular tape. And worth the price. As said by other, there are some substitutes possible. I use Kips tape as a substitue.
Give Tristar Tape a look. Works, looks, and feels just like Tamiya and is half the cost.
Thad
i did this… with 3m Blue painters tape/
:550:0]
I use MM Acrylics and have never had a problem with masking pulling the paint up.
