Alclad Primer

[lasermonkey]

They switched to  bottles (also 120ml) some time ago but now only do 60ml bottles, which is a shame.

[Chewbacca]

Reading these reviews, I'm obviously doing something wrong then.  As reported in my 

WIP, I am normally a big fan of the Halford rattle can but I tried Alclad for this as it seemed to be THE recommended primer for all resin ships.  Firstly washed all of the resin parts in soapy water to remove any release agent.  Sprayed two coats on - I was using the grey and it seemed to go fine.  Nice smooth, solid coverage as reported on here.  Sprayed two coats of Vallejo top coat over the top and then went to mask for the boot topping.  Cut the Tamiya tape to roughly the right length, pressed it down on the model board to de-tack it and while I aligned the first end on the bow, the rest of the tape naturally just rested on the model.  No pressure applied whatsoever.  As I lifted it up it took all of the paint with it down to the resin.  So I tried a little experiment and took some household masking tape (cheaper and wider) and gently spread it over the ships side on the other side which was at this point unblemished.  Again, no pressure at all, and when I lifted it up it was the most effective paint stripper I have ever seen.  Entire ship's side stripped in one go; no grip whatsoever from the primer on the resin.  I cleaned the rest up and went back to Halfords.  This time after the primer coat I repeated the household masking tape experiment and it came away completely cleanly.  Took some fresh masking tape and this time burnished it down hard.  Again when I removed it it was absolutely fine.

 

I didn't try to completely strip the superstructure though purely because of all the complex shapes involved and to be honest, i thought the issue was probably over-handling of the hull after I'd washed all of the resin release agent.  with hindsight I wish I had because a month on into the build I'm now getting examples of paint lifting and cracking on the

 

So I concluded one of three things:

 

1.  I have obviously done something wrong in the preparation though I've done nothing different to what I would do normally;

2.  I have a duff batch of primer

3.  It's actually not as good as every says it is

 

Given that I don't think I believe 3 and I haven't read anywhere else of other people having problems with a particular batch, I guess it must be down to me but since I have absolutely no idea what I've done wrong, I'm reverting to Halfords and have several bottles of quite expensive Alclad primer now just gathering dust on the shelf.

[Greg B]

Resin may need a good scrub, especially if there is a lot of release agent on it. Never had an issue with Alclad lifting!

[Julien]

I use bleach to clean resin.

[Head in the clouds.]

I purchased one of the new bottles of 60ml white primer and had problems with it lifting on my current build, although I have never had a problem with the grey primer as yet but still on an old 120ml bottle. This was onto Airfix plastic so should not have given a problem, again I questioned myself but another modeller of much greater experience and skill than I had a similar issue.

The only way I got round it was to use 'several times' used masking tape for the repairs.

Again, some test are the order of the day before I give up.

[Chewbacca]

7 hours ago, Greg B said:

Resin may need a good scrub, especially if there is a lot of release agent on it. Never had an issue with Alclad lifting!

Thanks.  Thing is, the Halfords gripped without problems