There is nothing worse than peeling your masking tape off from your latest spray job and seeing the paint removed with the tape, and I bet most of you know the feeling.
So I thought I would do a quick guide that I use and has served me well, as always this is not Gospel, but has never failed me in the past.
First lets look at the tapes abound, we all know and most of us have Tamiya tape, been used for years and is the weapon of choice for most.
But there are alternatives, In my case I love low tak auto tapes( what a shock I hear you say..lol ), which can be bought at most auto suppliers, you could pay about £4-£5 for a roll but you get 25M of the stuff, make sure it states Low Adhesive or low tak, if it doesn't say then walk away.
Okay we have our job ready, now its time to place the tape, most of you know about putting the tape on a sheet of glass and peeling it back to lower the adhesive on the back.
Try not to yank the tape off the glass,take your time, on low tak tape, most of the adhesive pulls away from the edges of the tape, which in turn leads to bleeding of the paint.
Place the tape on your model, and with a cotton bud rub the edges only, light pressure is all that is needed, and avoid putting to much pressure on the rest of the tape.This also helps prevent paint bleed.
Okay off you go and spray your job, try if possible to avoid banging to much paint on the tape, spray gentle of the edges of the tape, for good results you should be able to see most of the original tape colour after your spray job.
Now we come to the removal of the tape, get "when and how" wrong and the door opens for mr cockup.
Remove the tape within a few hours of finishing your paint job, the longer the tape is on your model the more time things have to go wrong. I avoid doing a paint job and leaving the tape on over night, I work to the few hours rule.
The tape sticks faster the longer it's left. The only other thing with tape that would cause problems is, if you apply paint too thick and let it dry too much before removing the tape.
Now I peel my masking tape off like this, with a slow pull:
The sharp angle and slow pull, helps minimise pulling the paint with it, as we are easing the tape off the paint rather than yanking or dragging it.
Now lets look at a disaster and try and find the causes:
Not a nice sight, but things happen, okay we need to know why.
1. We did not prime our model, hence giving our paint nothing to adhere to.
2. We did not wash our model, so in turn we are spraying our primer on to a greasy, surface, grease and oil are great aids to lifting paint or primer.
3. We did not let our base coat dry enough, eye dry or touch dry is not a real test to see if the paint has dried, surface paint dries quicker than under surface paint. I would advise a minimum period of 24 hours before masking.
paint that has not cured enough before being covered with the tape,prevents the solvents from the uncured paint from escaping to the air.
4.Yanking the tape, remember we are persuading the tape to leave the surface not useing force to lift it.
I hope this guide serves you well, and helps avoid those disaster moments, and thanks for taking the time to read this.
So I thought I would do a quick guide that I use and has served me well, as always this is not Gospel, but has never failed me in the past.
First lets look at the tapes abound, we all know and most of us have Tamiya tape, been used for years and is the weapon of choice for most.
But there are alternatives, In my case I love low tak auto tapes( what a shock I hear you say..lol ), which can be bought at most auto suppliers, you could pay about £4-£5 for a roll but you get 25M of the stuff, make sure it states Low Adhesive or low tak, if it doesn't say then walk away.
Okay we have our job ready, now its time to place the tape, most of you know about putting the tape on a sheet of glass and peeling it back to lower the adhesive on the back.
Try not to yank the tape off the glass,take your time, on low tak tape, most of the adhesive pulls away from the edges of the tape, which in turn leads to bleeding of the paint.
Place the tape on your model, and with a cotton bud rub the edges only, light pressure is all that is needed, and avoid putting to much pressure on the rest of the tape.This also helps prevent paint bleed.
Okay off you go and spray your job, try if possible to avoid banging to much paint on the tape, spray gentle of the edges of the tape, for good results you should be able to see most of the original tape colour after your spray job.
Now we come to the removal of the tape, get "when and how" wrong and the door opens for mr cockup.
Remove the tape within a few hours of finishing your paint job, the longer the tape is on your model the more time things have to go wrong. I avoid doing a paint job and leaving the tape on over night, I work to the few hours rule.
The tape sticks faster the longer it's left. The only other thing with tape that would cause problems is, if you apply paint too thick and let it dry too much before removing the tape.
Now I peel my masking tape off like this, with a slow pull:
The sharp angle and slow pull, helps minimise pulling the paint with it, as we are easing the tape off the paint rather than yanking or dragging it.
Now lets look at a disaster and try and find the causes:
Not a nice sight, but things happen, okay we need to know why.
1. We did not prime our model, hence giving our paint nothing to adhere to.
2. We did not wash our model, so in turn we are spraying our primer on to a greasy, surface, grease and oil are great aids to lifting paint or primer.
3. We did not let our base coat dry enough, eye dry or touch dry is not a real test to see if the paint has dried, surface paint dries quicker than under surface paint. I would advise a minimum period of 24 hours before masking.
paint that has not cured enough before being covered with the tape,prevents the solvents from the uncured paint from escaping to the air.
4.Yanking the tape, remember we are persuading the tape to leave the surface not useing force to lift it.
I hope this guide serves you well, and helps avoid those disaster moments, and thanks for taking the time to read this.
raying:
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