Masking color order technique?

[aurfalien]

Hi there,

I'm about to embark on my first real masking for airbrush/spray can.

I'm planning a red body with aluminum side skirts, air dam etc...

Shall I paint the entire model red and mask to then paint over the certain red areas to be aluminum?

Or visa versa meaning paint the entire car aluminum and then mask to paint most of it red?

Also, is lacquer better then acrylic for masking?  I'd hope to not pull paint of the body while removing the tape.

I'll be using Tamiya yellow masking tape.  But I also have there thin white tape as well.

Thanks in advance.

[BigTallDad]

Paint the lighter colors first, then mask them off for the darker colors.

Dark colors cover light colors better than light covering dark.

[dublin boy]

Acrylic car rattle cans don't  pull up with the masking tape, haven't tried enamels for years, but they do tend to pull the primer and colour coat off when even Tamiya tape is removed.

Normally I'd say spray the lightest colour first,, but a silver/aluminiun should cover masked red  bodyshell parts without problems and should be easier. Clearcoat and polish!

Just my take on it.

Edited September 18, 2017 by dublin boy

[Snake45]

Paint the lighter colors first, then mask them off for the darker colors.

Dark colors cover light colors better than light covering dark.

That's the general rule, but this case could be an exception.

It's very possible that the aluminum paint will cover the red well enough that you can paint the red first, if you prefer (I.e., if it would be easier to mask that way).

Sounds like a good time to do a spoon test. Paint one plastic spoon with your red, another with your aluminum. Then mask half of each off and lay on the other color. Did one order work better than the other?

Edited September 18, 2017 by Snake45

[aurfalien]

That's the general rule, but this case could be an exception.

It's very possible that the aluminum paint will cover the red well enough that you can paint the red first, if you prefer (I.e., if it would be easier to mask that way).

Sounds like a good time to do a spoon test. Paint one plastic spoon with your red, another with your aluminum. Then mask ask of each off and lay on the other color. Did one order work better than the other?

Hi,

Nice idea, will do.  It's time for me to get serious so I shall adapt this test technique.

Thank you.

[aurfalien]

Acrylic car rattle cans don't  pull up with the masking tape, haven't tried enamels for years, but they do tend to pull the primer and colour coat off when even Tamiya tape is removed.

Normally I'd say spray the lightest colour first,, but a silver/aluminiun should cover masked red  bodyshell parts without problems and should be easier. Clearcoat and polish!

Just my take on it.

Hi,

Wow, I thought it would be opposite were lacquer provides better adhesion than acrylic in general.

I'm contemplating air brushing Vallejo vs rattle can Tamiya.  Testing is in order.

[aurfalien]

Paint the lighter colors first, then mask them off for the darker colors.

Dark colors cover light colors better than light covering dark.

Hi,

I noticed that when it comes to silver related colors, they seem to coat over darker ones w/o much issue.  I think it may be because how pigment rich they are, unsure.

But it would be easier to mask over red then silver.

[StevenGuthmiller]

Under normal circumstances, I mask for both colors.

I figure there's not much sense in spraying half of a body one color, only to cover it up with another.

It takes a little longer to mask this way, but it saves on paint & you can spray which ever color you want, when you want.

 

Steve

[Jim N]

If it were me doing this paint scheme, I would follow Steven's advice.  The difference being for me is that I would paint the red, mask it then paint the silver.  The problems I have had with some silvers is that the masking tape would pull some of the pigment off.  It would not pull an entire layer of paint like some of us are accustomed to, but would pull off perhaps a little bit of the paint here and there leaving a silver painted area, but it was very splotchy.