I officially hate acrylics!

Model Master Acryl sucks, I could never get it to stay on. I had better luck with Polly Scale, but I would still get peeling from masking. And that was after a wash, Mr. Surfacer primer, and wearing gloves while handling the thing.

Needless to say I only use enamels, and no more problems.

MikeV wrote:

I am real close to putting this kit under the tire of my truck and crushing it!

jhande wrote:

Glad to hear it's at least going to survive a thrashing under the tire of your truck LOL.

MikeV wrote:

I could still do that, make a diorama and say a SAM got it.

Mike,

I have had this happen before and have found a simple solution.  I use 3M blue tape and I found that using the type made for delicate surfaces works best.  I have also found that using a little forehead oil to take off some of the tackiness.

After cutting the tape, I just put it on my forehead for a few seconds then put it on the model.  After coming up from the basement one evening with some tape still on my head, my wife thinks I am crazy!

Also, I usually let the first color cure at least for one day before masking.  I have used this method with good results and only use acrylics.

I have a two word cure to what ailes you.

Enamels.

Lacquers.

I don't know what to do with it now Jim. Maybe I will strip it and paint it as an Israeli F-16A as that is a more interesting paint job then the boring "normal" F-16 colors.

Nah.  A little bit of alcohol on a Q-Tip and a couple of minutes rubbing will blend the edges of those spots right in.  Spray over it and you'll never see it.  Rub the bad spot out, and as you widen the area slightly the edges will feather right in.  I've been having a terrible time with some Model Master Medium Green.  It keeps cracking very badly, and I've had a lot of practice using that technique the past couple of weeks.

On a related note, sort of, I sprayed some PollyScale Dark Green a little while ago.  About 15 minutes later I realized I had part of the pattern wrong, taped over it ("It" being part of the paint I had just sprayed 15 minutes previously), sprayed some PollyScale Tactical Tan over the area I messed up, pulled up the tape, and started over.  No problems at all with just a few minutes of drying time.  Note that I don't reccommend this as common practice, but I was in a position that if it pulled up the paint I was really no worse off.

Mike, don't forget to try that Tamiya this weekend. Are you going to use it with laquer thinner as some have suggested?

E

H3nav wrote:

Mike, don't forget to try that Tamiya this weekend. Are you going to use it with laquer thinner as some have suggested?   E

MikeV wrote:

H3nav wrote: Mike, don't forget to try that Tamiya this weekend. Are you going to use it with laquer thinner as some have suggested?   E No way! Why would you use lacquer thinner for an acrylic paint? I will try my 91% isopropyl alcohol/filtered water 50/50 mixture to thin it and see how it does. If I don't like the results then it's back to enamels.

Mike, I was referring to a post by Greg back on 12-27-2004 about thinning Tamiya acrylics with lacquer thinner. I believe your original reply was that it would defeat the purpose of geting away from the fumes and such. But Greg swore by it and said the paint flowed and leveled nicely. I may try it when the weather gets better for outside airbrushing.

E

True guys, I did post the use of laquer thinner with the Tamiya.  It was just a test run inspired by another modelers results.  I currently use the Denatured Alcohol exclusively.  It has proven to be a very excellent plastic prep, thinner and airbrush cleaner for Tamiya acrylics in my experience.  ARC will be publishing my article on my lasted effort, an F-14B (AA-102) from VF-103, "Jolly Rogers", painted again, entirely with Tamiya acrylics! (Photo below)  I no longer use any enamels or laquers, for all the reasons I mentioned in a prior posting, in response to MikeV's "Acrylic -VS- Enamel" thread.  

MikeV, don't give up!  Ditch the MM Acryl and go Tamiya.  I would follow MusicCity's advice for correcting the area, save for the other damage in pulling off the tail (snicker) and finish the model.  After sanding the area smooth, and if you want to finish things up this weekend armed with Tamiya acrylics, here are the paint mixing formulas for the base colors you'll need for your F-16 color scheme.  I presume it wears the "Hill scheme" base colors.  Good luck my friend! Here are the equivelicies:  Oh... FYI, the photo of my model below is meant to be a source of inspiration, not to toot my own horn.  More to demonstrate what Tamiya acrylics can do for your models, I know I'm sold!

F-16 base color(s)  "Hill scheme"

Tamiya Acrylic equivelencies: 

FS36270- XF-20 (* Add a few drops of X-2 if it is too dark to your eye) 

FS36118- XF-24

FS36375- (15 drops/ parts) XF-2, (3 parts) XF-24 and (2 parts) XF-66 

Sneak preview:  My lastest build, AA-102, VF-103, Operation Enduring Freedom, 2002 "low-vis" scheme. Painting and finishing using Tamiya acrylics.

And you're always welcome Mike.  That will surely be a striking model when complete..can't wait to see it finished.  Ok...well, don't leave us all in limbo here, what did you decide?  Enamels or acrylics??? LOL!  It was a hard decision for me, like yourself and others I'm sure.  I had enamels in my blood, so to speak, ya know?  It was hard during the transition not to grab that dependable bottle of FS "whatever" from the rack.  Well, at any rate,  good luck with whatever you decide and lets see some in-progress pics when you get an opportunity.  Later. 

plasticmod992 wrote:

And you're always welcome Mike.  That will surely be a striking model when complete..can't wait to see it finished.  Ok...well, don't leave us all in limbo here, what did you decide?  Enamels or acrylics??? LOL!  It was a hard decision for me, like yourself and others I'm sure.  I had enamels in my blood, so to speak, ya know?  It was hard during the transition not to grab that dependable bottle of FS "whatever" from the rack.  Well, at any rate,  good luck with whatever you decide and lets see some in-progress pics when you get an opportunity.  Later.

I settled on Denatured Alcohol due to a difference I noticed in the atomization, spraying characteristics, and the final appearance of the paint once dried on the model.  The difference was, when thinned with 91% Isopropyl alcohol, the paint film was extremely dry, almost chalk dry, if you will.  And when I went over a previously sprayed area to fill in, say a camo outline, I experienced blushing, as if the spray from the airbrush was rewetting the dry surface film.  It looked very odd, and again very, very, dead flat.  The result early on with this, was frequent poor adhesion..even Tamiya masking tape seemed to pull the fully cured paint film right off, dispite a very clean bare plastic surface.   This prompted me to try 70% Isopropyl, with more water content.  While it thinned the paint fine, atomization suffered, due to, I suspect to the surface tention of the water in the alcohol, and in some cases, even with retarders added to compensate.  My demands were high, as the mix had to spray finelines for my 1/72nd scale jets.  I then pulled out FSM's old book, "Painting And Finishing Scale Models" authored by Paul Boyer, 1992.  I went to the chapter: "Using acrylic modeling paints", where he experimented with popular acrylics and their thinners.  Wooh, to my surprise, Paul tried *Denatured Alcohol, (pictured on page #59 of the article)  Paul mentioned he tried denatured alcohol as well as Isopropyl  for some of the acrylics he sprayed, namely Tamiya.  So I paid a meger $2.99 for a Quart at the home store, gave it a shot, and alas...... it worked very well!   

This time, the paint seemed to mix more thouroughly  and atomize finer than other alcohols.  Fine line spray was emmediate, easy to achieve, control, and maintain.  And lastly, the paint film had the same characteristics like that of enamels when the spray contacted the models' surface.  The freshly sprayed paint stayed shinny or "wet" for a few moments on the models surface and slowly dried to an  even, smooth sheen with no blushing or "dead flat" appearance.  Glosses stayed glossy and flats were slightly satin, to my surprise.  I didn't have to use retarders either. The denatured alcohol seemed to re-wet any dried paint on the tip, if any, from the airbrush's needle- just like enamels and mineral spirits.  The kicker was that, adhesion was excellent, far superior- after letting the paint cure for as little as an hour, even faster cure in my home-made drying oven.  Masking tapes didn't budge it.  So this was the experiences that lead me to settle with Denatured Alcohol.  If you can get your hands on these older FSM books, do so...they retrained me in scale modeling.  Hope this inspires!