TOPIC:

I was watching Jonny Retros scorcher thread where he used trim tape to clean up rough edges and add details to his car.

www.tamiyabase....ge-10.html

I just painted my first model in a few dacades and thought I'd try something similar. He uses a discontinued tape. So I went to the local LHS to see what they had. They had expensive tape in the model airplanes section. And Pactra tape in the car section. So I tried the pactra stuff but it just won't do curves the same way that the discontinued kyosho tape Jonny used.



I realize that orange peel probably isn't helping, but this tape just won't turn sharper than the most gentle curves without twisting or wrinkling to compensate.

So any tips, or alternative brands that do do tight corners?

To see an example of Kyosho tape on the same curves, you can check out a pic from Jonny's taken from the thread I pasted at the top.



I'm using 1/32 and 1/16 inch tape in my pic.

Never used proper trim tape, but I suspect a hairdryer to gently warm the tape will solve the wrinkle problem. It's a good idea to leave the paint to go properly hard before trying to apply adhesive tapes/decals/masking (eg a week or longer) as the paint solvent will either not let the tape stick properly, or leach out the adhesive leaving a sticky mess behind (When masking) if the paint is still giving off fumes. The "Orange peel" is usually either too much paint-to-solvent if you're mixing your own, or more likely spraying in too warm conditions (The paint is semi-dry before it hits the workpiece). The slower the paint can dry, the glossier the finish. You could try not leaving so much time between coats (If you're using spray cans) so every new coat is 'biting' into the previous & softening it a bit easier. Another trick is, after laying a coat of paint, give it an immediate quick, light coat of thinner, this helps slow the drying proces & gives the paint a chance to flow & level out. Laquer is a good quick bodge for getting rid of orange peel too - if you lightly flat back the bobbly paint surface as best you can without going through it (Paint needs to be at least a week hard, use water & 600 grit wet-n-dry paper, or 320/400 if it's particularly bad), then give it 3 or 4 thickish coats of laquer, that should make the effect go away. Don't worry that the flatted paint looks dull, the laquer will gloss it up again.

i use 1 or 2mm pinstripe tape from the local car paint supply shop. you can buy low tack tape. it does curves nicely and peels off with a clean line. look at any custom motorcycle painter website to get the idea

TBH that's not a bad attempt by any means, Ant' ... the recesses on the bonnet are a real pig to do (along with the swoopy "W" curves on the engine cover).

I think the problems you're getting there are mostly down to the width of the tape - the black Kyosho stuff I used was 0.7mm wide, the white stuff I used on the green/orange body (after my "homemade" stuff failed from being too wide/thick) was Trimline brand - the 0.5mm line.

The other thing is where you're putting it - the other advantage of thinner tape is that it'll go on the "wall" of the bonnet petals, not on the bottom

Hi guys, thanks for the advice. I'm stuck with spray cans and made the mistake of using testors classic white. There seems to be a shortage of Tamiya paints which seem to have much higher pressure and finer nozzle. The Testors spray didn't have enough pressure to atomize the paint and splatted everywhere. Sanded it down and tried another can with the same result.

Probably should have used some automotive spray at that point. But I just gave up. Figure I'll buy another shell sometime and try some other colors. The blue was Tamiya and went on beautifully.

I'm going to sand down a little and try some other tape. There doesn't seem to be many options in the US, Great Planes striping tape might be worth a shot.

I've had that trouble with spray cans before - it's usually because the paint has settled in the can from sitting on a shelf for a long time. What I normally do is give the can a proper hard shaking for at least 2 minutes, then sit the can in a bowl of hot water (Just as hot as you can stand having your hand in, no hotter), then give it another 2 minute shake. Try that, usually works. Of course, best solution is stop messing about with spray cans & get a spray gun & compressor - it's much easier to get good results & you're not at the mercy of manufacturers changing their paint recipes &/or supplying poor aerosol cans/nozzles!