Painting help needed.

[James Maynard]

First off I hope everyone is staying safe here from Covid19. Because of the quarantine I have once again came out of retirement from building models. I just spent a ton of money getting some semi trucks and trailers to build. Now to my problem. I can't get my paint to stick. I keep getting the results as seen in the pic. Any help would be appreciated.

[Ctmodeler]

30 minutes ago, James Maynard said:

First off I hope everyone is staying safe here from Covid19. Because of the quarantine I have once again came out of retirement from building models. I just spent a ton of money getting some semi trucks and trailers to build. Now to my problem. I can't get my paint to stick. I keep getting the results as seen in the pic. Any help would be appreciated.

What kind of paint are you using ? Also looks like the surface definitely isn't clean and free of oil etc

[cobraman]

Did you prime ?

[Plowboy]

You need to at least wash it with Dawn dishwashing liquid. Primer is also a very important step before painting. It makes all the difference when it comes time to paint. 

[slusher]

Looks like it’s fisheyes.  Wash your parts in dish washing soap and use a good primer like Tamiya. 

[gman]

Agreed- clean your parts with dishwashing detergent, you can further hit it with some isopropyl alcohol, then let dry somewhere where dust won't be an issue. A good primer before paint will help get you better results.

Look into Tamiya Fine Surface Primer- great stuff, but expensive. Automotive primers can work well too, but keep the coats light if you go that route to prevent the hotter solvents from attacking or etching your styrene.

 

 

[StevenGuthmiller]

Yes, that looks like a problem that could have been avoided altogether with cleaning, but above all, primer.

The paint is obviously drawing away from sections with impurities underneath and edges, and pooling in others.

In other words, the paint is sliding all over the place before it has a chance to begin drying.

The primer is there for the paint to have something to bite into.

 

Cleaning will eliminate much of the "drawing away" but you will never get the paint to adhere to edges without some primer for it to grab onto.

 

The type of paint that you are using may be a part of the issue as well.

 

 

 

Steve

[James Maynard]

Thanks for all the help guys. This is actually the first time in 30 years of building I ever had this problem. I have had the dreaded paint wrinkle alligator skin effect many times in the past though. Here is the same piece now. Still needs wet sanding. 

[StevenGuthmiller]

10 hours ago, James Maynard said:

I have had the dreaded paint wrinkle alligator skin effect many times in the past though.

That is likely "crazing" which is not actually the paint wrinkling, but the plastic wrinkling, due to a hot paint like an automotive lacquer being shot over a styrene surface that was not properly prepared to accept it.

Paint wrinkling is usually a result of incompatible paints being sprayed over the top of one and other.

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

[James Maynard]

Thanks guys for all the help. I've been at this hobby for 30 years and still learning new things. I finished this truck about a week ago. Plus another one. I just got the Mack painted this morning. I know the picture is a bit poor, but the Mack is near flawless painted. 

[gman]

That looks pretty good! With some better lighting in your photos, it may be even better than these photos do justice.