What to do when masking tape peels off paint?

[Helper Monkey]

I have an interior door panel that I have painted. I used my airbrush to prime with AK Interactive white acrylic primer thinned down with a little Golden Air Brush Medium. I then coated it with Tamiya flat white acrylic and finished off with Golden Phthao blue Green Shade.  When I went to remove the Tamiya masking tape it removed a layer of the white paint. 

I am going  to attribute the problem to the fact that I probably did not wash the model properly beforehand. I believed I may have used a 50% rubbing alcohol but from what I have read on the boards I should have used Dawn or  something stronger to prep it and then used the alcohol.

Basically, how should I proceed from here? Sand down the part completely, rewash, wipe with alcohol, prime, and paint again or something else? I am at a loss as to my next step. Is there some kind of stripper I can use to remove the acrylic? I  assume most strippers will ruin the plastic too.  Has anyone used an acrylic Brush Cleaner such as this one?  http://www.jerrysartarama.com/discount-art-supplies/brush-washers-and-cleaning-supplies/brush-and-hand-cleaners/ez-air-acrylic-brush-cleaner.htm?utm_source=googlebase&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping&gclid=Cj0KEQjw35-vBRD3qKz8hPezlIIBEiQAOeKNrk_4GJQS8OLPW0nB6jqkMO1pBOe12cUcEewJwQYM3g4aAgfs8P8HAQ. I have used that on synthetic taklon brushes at full strength, let it soak for a few hours and it softens up the acrylic paint to allow it to be washed out of the brush with soap.  

 

Here is a image of what happened.  I have to say that the Phthalo Blue Green Shade turned out wonderful.

[High octane]

I would just touch it up with some brush painting, and call it a day. Who's gonna see it???

[fseva]

Hate to see a fellow modeler going through the same problems I had when attempting to make acrylics work, in producing gorgeous paint jobs that I saw online and in magazines. The only thing I can tell you about your problem is something I discovered early on... Just because an acrylic "feels" dry, it does not mean that the paint has "cured". To get fully hardened (cured), you will need either more patience (wait for a few days) or a food dehydrator, and if you're really impatient, I have heard that a portable hair dryer will cure acrylics as fast as blow-drying your hair. But the paint MUST BE completely cured in order to resist the pull of masking tape. Hope this helps!

[fseva]

Oh, and I forgot your original question... I would strip the part using some safe degreaser, such as Simple Green, Super Clean, or Purple Power. Acrylics should respond fast to these "strippers".

[Toner283]

Another good paint prep solution is to use comet powdered cleanser, water and an old toothbrush. That will allow you to get into all of the small nooks and crannies to give a good "tooth" for the paint to adhere to. Works great. Also makes sure that all skin oils etc are removed 100%.

[StevenGuthmiller]

Personally, I would mask off the blue area & then sand the white a little & then re-shoot the white. 

Seems like the easiest solution to me.

 

Steve

[AzTom]

Personally, I would mask off the blue area & then sand the white a little & then re-shoot the white. 

Seems like the easiest solution to me.

 

Steve

Ditto:  A low tack tape may help.

Me, I would use Dupli-Color primer or other solvent based.  I have never had luck getting acrylics to stick real good to plastic.

[Helper Monkey]

The white was cured, I sprayed it about 2 or 3 days before the blue and the primer was about 1 week before that.

Like I said it blamed it on poor prep work. I will probably also sand it with a fine grit like a 800, to rough it up a bit. I was thinking of using some Golden GAC-200 which is suppose to increase film harness and promote adhesion to non-porous surfaces. 

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I ended up testing the acrylic cleaner full strength on part of a parts tree to see if it would melt the plastic. 6 hours later the plastic was fine and it did not feel as if  the cleaner softened the plastic at all. I then added a bunch to the bottom of a container and diluted it with some water. I stuck the parts in and let them sit for a few hours.

When I removed the parts, I discovered that the blue was peeling away. You can see it in the photo below.

I then took a very stiff hogs hair stencil brush and scrubbed the parts under warm water. The primer and the Tamiya both came right off with minimal effort. Now the plastic did stain a little blue in a few places but that is because the blue paint was a phthalo blue and all phthalo pigments have a high staining rating. One reason they are such great pigments. They have a high tinting strength. 

I am now going to sand them a little bit with a fine sand paper, re-prime them using my AK Interactive primer and add a little GAC-200 to it. then Blast it again with the Tamiya flat white. I think I may mix a few drops of the GAC-200 into the tamiya too. Once it finally cures I will tape it again and paint the blue. 

I will post the results When I Finish the paint. 

Edited September 8, 2015 by Helper Monkey