Harley's painting tip #47- Backmasking
Backmasking can pull off layers of paint, undoing hours of work. (!@%#$*&$@*($)
This car has upwards of of maybe 15 layers, through 8 paints. The problem is that some of the paint I have used here was waterbased, and others whatever the hell tamiya paint is made of. Unless the paint has taken quite a few days to dry, and as long as the paint went on in lots of thin layers, the chances of this happening are minimal.
In my case here, the paint that went on last, the black, has come off with the masking tape that was covering the headlights so they remain clear. A hairdryer or heat gun is a great way to speed up that drying time for all those layers, but it can also have an effect on the glue in the tape In my case here helping the tape stick to the days old paint, and taking a large portion with it when peeled off. The damaged area is bigger than the tape, as the paint holds itself togrther.
This has happened to me a couple of times in the past, and it is a bastard of a job to match the paint up when you have multiple colours. So, how to minimise damage and repair?
First, If worried it will happen, take the tape off very, very slowly. If the paint starts to peel, get a knife and litghtly cut along the tape edge. Once the tape is off, you will see the damage extent. There are two options for repair.
1. Cut out all the paint that was affected or stretched, and repaint.
2. You have to move quick, get a heat gun and heat the damaged area. Get a round pencil end or similar and push the paint down onto the shell, working towards the hole.
If done properly, the paint won't look too bad from the outside in these small areas.
For the big bit, go back to the brush. If your paint was in a can, spray some into the lid and get it from there. Don't do heavy layers and let dry in between. If you can put a sticker on the outside, it will cover the damage.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have some paint to repair.