Tamiya tape lifting paint.

[Jagdtiger1]

Hi all,

 

Apologies if this is in the wrong subject.

 

I'm currently making a 1/450 shinano and when lifting up the tamiya tape after having masked for painting I'm finding that small flecks of paint are lifting with it. Even if I don't press the tape down firmly it can peel the paint.

 

No primer, Mr hobby lacquers sprayed on. I've tried the old trick of taping your trousers or arm to reduce to tack, but this just makes the tape hairy and still lifts paint.

 

 

 

Any help and suggestion would be appreciated.

 

James.

Edited December 8, 2022 by Jagdtiger1

[iainpeden]

I've never had that problem but two thoughts come to mind. First, did you wash the sprues to wash off the release agent? Second, those spots all look circular for which I have no suggestion at all.

[Bertie McBoatface]

Water or other liquid splashed on the drying or dried red paint weakened the bond locally allowing the tape to pull it off?

[Bertie McBoatface]

35 minutes ago, Jagdtiger1 said:

No primer

 

Oh I just noticed that you already found the problem. 

[Mike]

I'm late to the party for the most part, but I'd say there's something like grease  or silicone dropped onto the surface before painting, which priming usually exposes before you put the tape on.  It's got to be pretty slippery to dissuade MrH Lacquers though, so it'll need a good clean if you intend to paint it again.

[Jagdtiger1]

Thanks all,

 

I did give it a good scrub under the shower with soap just before painting and did my best to make sure I only held it on places that won't be seen after completion.

 

15 minutes ago, Bertie McBoatface said:

 

Oh I just noticed that you already found the problem. 

Interestingly, I had the same, albeit less severe, problem when I painted a 350 USS New Jersey. That was primed with halfords grey then painted with tamiya acrylics and paint was still being lifted.

 

 

I was thinking it might be to do with the length of time the tape has spent on, but even if its only been on for a few hours it can still lift. That happened with the flight deck.

[Ngantek]

The perfect circular shape strongly suggests to me that drops of something was spilled on the surface before application. Or that it wasn't properly dry of water perhaps?

 

Another outside possibility might be that they correlate to ejection pins on the inside, bit the mixed pattern and size seems not to be the case.

 

I've not had problems with gunze lacquer adhering to cleaned styrene in the past but priming is not a bad call if you're having problems. 

 

As for detacking the tape, you're more trying to remove tack than trying to deposit lots of new dirty foreign material onto your model so I would definitely suggest not tacking on a hairy part of your arm and definitely not on jeans. But it's certainly a good idea any time you're concerned about paint lifting.

 

The usual concerns about leaving the paint long enough before applying tape apply of course. This shouldn't be long with Mr Color but overly thick coats and cold temperatures will of course extend this.

 

Hope something there helps!

Andy

 

 

[Casey]

I would go with unwashed sprues, lack of primer and greasy fingers. Did you applied this tape while holding model without latex gloves?

 

Also tape removal method is important, to more use shearing force than pulling it off.

[Jagdtiger1]

Thanks Andy and Casey,

 

The room I do model in is North facing, and usually cold. So moisture in the air could be a possiblity. I certainly go through enough of those unibond tablets!

 

Is there any sort of surface that's reccomended for detacking tape? I'm guessing any clean surface would do?

 

The tape was applied whilst wearing latex finger cots to hold the model. and it gets removed very slowly at a 45 degree angle.

 

I think I'll have to do some experiments to see just what's causing this.

 

Thanks again!

[Mark Harmsworth]

The circular aspect of this is weird and is what grabs my attention. That does look like drops of something preventing the paint adhering.

 

To be honest I have never used gloves (no criticism intended) but I do clean the plastic with isopropanol alcohol on a cotton bud and then prime before painting. 

 

My method of applying masking tape is to stick a length on to a kitchen tile and cut to size. Removing from the tile seems to remove some (enough) of the tack. 

 

Good luck

Mark