When to remove masking tape?

[Ahajmano]

Airbrushing lacquer onto primer and a base coat for two-tone body. When do you remove your masking tape? when the newly applied paint is still "soft" an hour after last application, or 24/48 hours later when it is cured and more brittle? always wondered which method produced cleaner lines.

 

I am using zero paints and tamiya masking tape.

[martinfan5]

I usually wait about 5 minutes ,  basically, I clean my airbrush then I come back and remove the tape,  and really, if you are air brushing your paint  on and not doing full on wet coats, you can remove pretty quickly after you are done.  You DO NOT want to wait the paint has cured( even that first stage of curing), you risk pulling up/chipping the paint.

You really done want to leave the tape on any longer then need be, more so on fresher paint,  if left on too long, the paint/clear will start to adsorb the sticky from the tape

[StevenGuthmiller]

As soon as possible.

As soon as the paint is dry enough to safely handle, (usually less than 15 or 20 minutes if you're using lacquer) I remove the tape.

It can get very difficult to remove cleanly and without damage as it gets dryer.

But be very careful removing it while the paint is still somewhat soft.

 

 

 

Steve

[Bainford]

I completely agree with the above answers. I remove shortly after the paint begins to set up. 

Edited May 3, 2019 by Bainford

[Ahajmano]

So it didn’t turn out so great :/

tore the seam between the masking and the body when I removed the paint. I waited about 10 minutes. Any tips for next time? I’m going to sand the seam to make it more even. Maybe I just applied too many layers of paint. 

[Anglia105E]

If this is any help to you..... I always use what they call ' Best Blue ' masking tape these days, rather than regular masking tape. I used to leave the best blue tape on for 24 hours and then remove it very slowly and very gently. Seemed to work fine but more recently I remove the tape less than 12 hours after applying the second paint colour. Just the other day I applied a two-tone paint scheme to a 1:24 scale Rolls-Royce and the line between the two paint colours came out fine. With regular tape you get the bleeding effect under the edge of the tape like your photos show, whereas the best blue tape doesn't suffer from this problem.

Here in UK they sell the best blue masking tape at Wilko and also at Halfords which is an automotive supplies store. This type of tape doesn't cost much more than the regular tape. The blue tape also seems to bend nicely around curved lines, such as over a wheel arch for example. You could probably remove the tape after 15 - 20 minutes as others have said on here.

David

[StevenGuthmiller]

Tamiya tape!!

And if you're worried about it happening again, you can lightly run a #11 X-acto blade along the edge of the tape before removing it.

But, I've never had this problem using Tamiya tape.

 

 

Steve

[Tommy124]

Can't go wrong with Tamiya tape, but to me the problem shown above looks like the surface to the white paint was not smooth enough to allow for proper masking. It also helps to apply light coats in the beginning which will help to further "tighten" the masked edge. And I recommend to warm up the tape a little using a hairdryer at medium temperature setting before/ while removing it. Makes it much easier...

[Tom Geiger]

As Steve and Tommy said,  Tamiya Tape. Yes it is costs a bit more than regular tape but it's worth it in results.  You can use it for that critical edge, then cover the remainder of the body with painters blue tape.  

Also, another tip is to spray a coat of clear after taping, but before spraying the second color.  The reason is that if you have any gaps for the paint to bleed through, it will bleed clear and seal it up!  

[crazyjim]

Agree 100% with Tom.

[Ahajmano]

Thanks guys. So I am using Tamiya tape for sure. Combination of the tape for curves and the regular yellow Stuff. The tearing you see if bits of paint that was folded on top of the masking tape. It is “tearing” the paint when I remove the masking tape, and pulling bits of paint off the masking tape. It’s not removing paint from the body, but rather grabbing bits of paint from on top of the tape. Ah well. I could try the knife recommendation next time 

[crazyjim]

How is that tape for doing?  Is it really worth the price?

[MrObsessive]

Just a guess, but it appears your paint is drying quite a bit (completely hardened) before you're pulling the tape off. As others suggested, you don't want to wait but so long before pulling the tape. I'm not familiar with that brand of paint, but my guess is that it's dry within 15 minutes or so. That might be your window to when the tape needs to come off.

I've used Tamiya tape in the past for stripes and never had an issue. Here's a Mustang GT that I painted the stripes on as I wanted nice white stripes and none of the bleed through that some decals give.

The white paint was Krylon and IIRC, it was maybe within the hour that I was pulling off the tape. One other suggestion.............when pulling off your tape, try to pull it straight back and not straight up. Pulling it up can lead to the issue you had. If it were me, I might want to try the same paint technique on a junk body and get a good read on when the best time would be to remove the tape.

Hope all this helps!

[Ace-Garageguy]

Couple of points...

1) The mention of the paint being taped needing to be absolutely smooth with no orange-peel is spot on. A final sanding with 1500 grit will ensure that. It should also improve adhesion of the second color.

2) it also needs to be absolutely clean. A wipe with 70% isopropyl alcohol will ensure that.

3) Burnishing down the tape carefully will minimize edge bleed.

4) A lot of "blue" tapes are not solvent-resistant and will allow edge-bleed.

5) That's why I use this green plastic 3M "fine line" stuff made for real cars. We can't risk edge-bleed on expensive flames or graphics, and this stuff has always done the job for me. Though I'm not familiar with the Tamiya tape, I imagine it's a flexible plastic that follows curves well like the 3M stuff does. (The purple 3M fine-line stuff , and the green paper fine-line tapes don't work well for models)

6) As Bill Geary mentioned, HOW you remove tape is critical too. You want to fold it BACK on itself, so the edge is shearing the paint as the tape comes up. Pulling UP away from the surface can definitely cause lifting and jagged edges, especially if adhesion of the second color isn't perfect.

7) Some urethane clears, on the other hand, might need to wait a little longer prior to untaping. Pull the tape when the stuff's too wet, you can get "stringing" or "crawling" along the edge, even if it seems to be dry to the touch.

8) As with all painting procedures, thoroughly TEST all the materials and techniques you're using on something else, BEFORE trying them on a model you care about.

 

 

Edited May 3, 2019 by Ace-Garageguy

[Ahajmano]

Thanks for all the feedback! Especially Bill's detailed response. 

So I believe I followed all of the directions provided by bill. I have a good understanding of what happened now, and some improvements I will make in the future. 

1) I definitely need to sand the surface with 1500-2000 grit in the future! I was not diligent enough on this.

2) the tamiya yellow paint is phenomenal. I never have any problems and always peel it the way Bill described. I even use heat sometimes to soften the tape and paint a little. 

3) most of the flaking effect I experienced is from the "tape for curves" which is the same material as electrical tape. It is smooth, and the paint does not adhere to it. Therefore, if the paint thickness is too great it does not do a great job of "sheering" the paint. If grabs clumps of paint from on top of the masking tape. This is really what is happening here. The flaking you see is not bleeding under the tape and it is not pulling away from the surface of the model, but rather grabing chunks of paint from on top of the smooth surface of the electrical tape (masking tape for curves).

I will spray a thinner paint layer in the future for these types of seams.

I also never have this problem with the acrylic tamiya paint using this masking tape. 

[Funkychiken]

One other comment to add here is that you shoudl rub down the tamya tape well after application - especially around raised or lowered profiles and contours around the body. sometimes paint will seep under the masking tape edge if it's applied too heavy - and the tape has not been rubbed down well.

 

just make sure that the base coat was cured well first - or it'll peel off when you remove the tape...

[peteski]

On 5/3/2019 at 12:26 PM, MrObsessive said:

 

I've used Tamiya tape in the past for stripes and never had an issue. Here's a Mustang GT that I painted the stripes on as I wanted nice white stripes and none of the bleed through that some decals give.

 

I see that you use Parafilm-M Bill - that is great stuff, especially for protecting large areas!

Edited May 29, 2019 by peteski

[MrObsessive]

16 minutes ago, peteski said:

I see that you use Parafilm-M Bill - that is great stuff, especially for protecting large areas!

You betcha! Excellent stuff and I've been using it for years!

[martinfan5]

One other thing you can do that I dont think was mentioned ( excuse me if it was) ,  coat the mask line with a clear coat,  not a full on wet coat, but just enough to help seal the mask line.

[935k3]

I think the real culprit here is the blue paint is not adhering to the underlying white paint making it lift easily. What paints are you using?

[retired & glad]

7 hours ago, martinfan5 said:

One other thing you can do that I dont think was mentioned ( excuse me if it was) ,  coat the mask line with a clear coat,  not a full on wet coat, but just enough to help seal the mask line.

That's the way I learned many years ago. Just use a good smooth edge tape also.

[Evil Appetite]

Also dont pull the tape off vertically...pull it back on itself, more or less parallel to the body.