air brush problems

Did you prime it before painting?

First... clean the plastic with a mild soap solution; rince it completely, and let it air dry. Then prime it. I use Alclad Primer, but there are a lot of good primers. Chances are someone else here will tell you the same thing.

That should solve your problems.

after posting this, i cleaned the plastic with some air brush thinner, and my model is down to bare plastic again. I will try to prime it tomorrow, then re-paint again. hopefully this will work...i have another model molded in the same color, i will try that first

thanks for your help

Be sure to wash in gentle detergent first. Oil from your skin is almost as bad as mold release agent. I have had luck with using a flat light gray primer to give the final coat some 'teeth' to grab hold of.

Instead of using detergent you might like to try Isopropyl Alcohol, it evapourates much faster than soapy water. But I have used both methods with success, just be sure to let the model dry thoroughly, nothing worse thank finding a litle bit of water traped in a corner somewhere, that will really give your paintjob problems!

Also, make sure your paint is thinned to the consistency of whole milk, if it is too thin, it will run and not cover properly.
Lee

Watch out!!!!!! Cleaning a model with thinner??????? If I where you, I won't try it again?
If you put your model in breakfluid for about 24 hours almost all the paint will be gone, and it's safe for your plastic.

Rutan,
Cleaning the model with thinner should be ok if the thinner isn't "hot" like acetone or turpentine. ALWAYS experiment first.
Cleaning the model first is very important - as the others have said, detergents, rubbing alcohol and the like can prevent "fish eyes", little spots where paint won't stick. You can't often see it, but finger oils can cause these fish eyes.
A good light gray matt or white matt paint are probably the best primers - a light coat on plastic that's been carefully rubbed with 1000 wet or dry helps adhesion with the primer.
Good luck,
Tree

i decided to spray the car with blue paint the next day and the car came out almost perfect. i am very happy with it. I have spent another small fortune buying the same model again because i really want a yellow one...a lotus esprit 300 sport is the model. if you guys want i can take a picture of it... i have not buffed it yet because the paint is not quite ready for that, but it still looks great.