I gotta vent

Another good idea is to rough the surface up a bit before painting to give the acrylic paint some "tooth" to hold onto. Lightly scuffing the surface with a green scotchbrite pad will leave small scratches so that the paint will adhere better. Acrylics need all the help they can get as they are not known for being great at adhesion. I say to scuff the surface, wipe it with rubbing alcohol, paint it, let it sit for 48-72 hours, then spray Future over it and let it sit another 48-72 hours to be safe.
Maybe this is overkill, maybe not.
I would get Swanny's opinion as he is the expert on Future and weathering and such
How about it Swanny?

Mike

I'm surprised that you're having trouble with the Testors MM Acryl paints and masking.

Just last night I was painting the alierons for my F-4. I rolled some regular masking tape into a tube with the sticky side out and stuck the kit pieces to a piece of heavy cardboard with the tape. I shot a coat of flat white on the pieces and then ran my wife's hair dryer over them for a few minutes (on the low setting). I shot a second coat and again did the hair dryer thing.

I then turned the pieces over and stuck the painted side down on the tape and taped them to the cardboard. Two more rounds of painting and drying and the pieces were ready for me to paint the red edges by hand. The total elapsed time was about 30 minutes or so.

The important thing was that the masking tape did not pull the paint off the pieces. In fact, I've done a lot of masking on this model and not had any trouble with paint coming up.

I did, however, spray the whole thing with Testors enamel flat light grey from a rattle can for a primer. I found the MM Acryl paints laid down very nicely over the enamel primer, but I let the primer cure for something like a week and a half before painting with the Acryl paints.

The parts I worked on last night weren't primed.

Maybe a good enamel primer will help.

Regards,

-Drew

Thanks for the tip about the alcohol. I will try that next time.

Steve

My last step, before painting the model, is to wash it with isopropyl alcohol. I take a wide, soft brush, dip it in the alcohol, and go over the lower surfaces. I then set the model down, and clean the top. Alcohol will remove body oils from the plastic, and evaporate on its own. I have an old needle file that I insert into the prop shaft opening (or other appropriate place), so that I don't have to handle it after its been washed.
Hope this helps.

I guess I need to find some of that as well. Yeah, the Testors Acryls make some of the smoothest finishes but like I said before I will no longer use them if I need to do any masking. In fact, it got so bad that when I was touching up the areas of paint that were lifted, with my airbrush at 15psi, it was blowing off more paint. Ahh the joys of modeling.

Steve

Testor's acrylics, while they are the thinnest and most even straight out of the bottle in the industry, are sadly also very delicate, due to their quality.
While I've never tried it, I've heard that very good results have been achieved with Micro Mark's "Parafilm-M" masking material. If I remember correctly, Micro Mark guaruntees that it won't lift off paint.

Steve,

Just Sunday I had the same type of problem. I have spent hours and hours masking and painting a Tamiya Spitfire. First I did the bottom and masked it all off to prevent over spray and then went of to do the upper surface with no apparent problems. When I went to remove the masking on the bottom it ripped off half of the paint.

I used Testors Acrylic as a primer. I, of course, (laziness, rushing, who knows why) did not pre-wash, so I figured that was it, but now I wonder...

I'm sorry it happened to you too. I figure I will be getting out the thinner and removing all of the paint to start over - after I wash it, and probably with enamel instead of acrylic.

Leon

I did wash the plastic and one of my first thoughts was something was still on the plastic. I did not wash it immediately before painting it. I washed it when I opened up the kit. Maybe oils from my fingers caused the problem? I have used Testors acrylics before but I have never masked them. Next time I need to mask I do not think that I will use Testors Acryls, they are good paints but I do not want to take a chance on a $37.00 model again.

I thought that when the local hobby store opened they would carry Tamiya acrylics but no luck. Only Testors, I must admit they do have quite a selection of Testor Model Master and Acryls. So I guess I am back to ordering Tamiya and Gunze on the internet. Okay, I think I have rambled enough.

Thanks again,
Steve

Hi Steve,
sorry to hear that, sounds like an absolute shocker. Ive never had that problem with Tamiya tape, in fact I swear by it. Did you wash the plastic before you painted?(Just with mild soapy water). Maybe some slightly greasy mold release agent was still on the surface and prevented the paint from keying on properly. Just a thought. (you probably did). I haven't used those paints although I do use acrylics (Tamiya). Apparently they (Acrylics) don't stick well if the surface has the slightest greasiness whereas enamels have more aggressive thinners (like Turps) which can cut through a slight greasy film and key to the plastic. Only thing I can think of. Hope it helps, good luck.

Regards....Snowy.

Pixilater,

Great looking paintjobs!

I guess I am going to have to start over on this one.

Steve

The only thing I can imagine that may have happened is the cure time for the paint. It starts to cure after four hours, and is usually fully cured after forty eight. The base coat may have shrunk while the top coat was drying.

I do things a little differently. I paint all the camo colors within four hours, and I mask with drafting tape.


All the camo colors on this plane were painted within four hours, including the masking on the wings. The yellow areas are undercoated with white (both Color of Eagles acrylic), and masked with drafting tape. The camo colors are Model Master enamel. All of this was done within four hours. I had no lifting of paint anywhere on the model. I swear by the four hours & drafting tape routine.
Hope this helps.

I have found a little trick with Tamiya tape.

When I mask I wear a t-shirt and stick the tape to the shirt for a bit, this reduces the tackiness of the tape and leaves enough glue to hold the tape onto the kit.

Also head to the arts-supply store and look for their masking tapes section, some good stuff in there too.
I get mine by raiding my wifes paint supplies, handy to have a live-in artist who can give advise.