I am attempting to do some stencil work on an alt - hood, fenders, doors, etc. What have you used to keep the stencil in place while spraying? I purchased and attempted to use Krylon Easy-Tack. Long story short - it was a failure. It didn't stick. In fact, it bubbled up some of my paint! That was my only idea so I am left w/ nothing.
I don't use stencils usually. What I would do instead is lay a layer of regular masking tape, use a xacto knife to cut out my shape, peel it up, then spay as normal. Once that dried, I would take up the rest of the tape.
Yup, that's what I do too. Nothing as versatile and reliable as masking tape when it comes to that kind of stuff.
That's what I did for the stripes on my current WIP alt, but I didn't do the cutting on the body, as I was afraid to scratch the plastic.
I'm figuring I'll pull a section of masking tape, cut on it, and attack it to the part w/ more tape if necessary.
There's also this stuff: http://www.microscale.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=MI-7&Category_Code=FINPROD&Product_Count=2 It's sort of like a liquid rubber that is easily cut and easily removed once you're done masking. It gives you a lot of versatility in shapes. Don't use it with Acrylics though, because it'll melt. Lacquer (Mr. Color or Krylon type stuff) or Enamel will be fine.
I usually use masking tape as well. For odd shaped areas where masking tape doesn't fit too well, I use silly putty.
It came out really splotchy. Some areas were great, some areas were...well...not so great. I'll see what I can do to touch them up by hand. If that fails, off comes the paint for a new base of white and another try.
There are some things you have to look out for. With masking tape, I always make sure its pressed down as hard as I can get it, I usually go over it with my thumbnail to make sure its down and no space is available for it to leak through. This is especially true for areas around panel lines. The other thing is to spray a a very very light coat over the area, let it get tacky, then spray the rest. One heavy coat can lead to leaks too.
This is very good advice. Also...make sure you have masking tape meant for models, or at least painters tape. Regular old masking tape won't make the perfect lines you're looking for.
That would likely be my issue. Thanks to that advice, I think I'll just strip what I have and try again. I have tape that is meant for hobby uses and what not that is meant for delicate surfaces (so as to not rip up paint that is already on the figure). Is this masking tape for models available in most hobby-tpye shops? I've never looked for it before. Never had a need since this is my first time working w/ stencil.
I just use normal masking tape. I think you either didn't press it down good on the edges, or you sprayed too thick a coating. the racing stripes on my new alt was done with 8 super thin coats...
When you do the thin coatings though, how long do you give it to dry before the next coat? The kryon has that bit about under 24 hours or over a week..But supposedly dries in 15mins..
Don't know if this helps or not, but, for most of the line-work I do, I use Pactra pinstripe tape. A lot of the model RC guys use it for striping on their cars. It adheres to TFs really well, especially Krylon Fusion-covered surfaces. I haven't done much work with using stencils on TFs, though. Sry.
I imagine if your tape is meant for hobbies than it is the same/similar to the stuff I use, but yes I get my stuff at a hobby shop. I was stunned how the first time, and every time I use it, I get dead straight lines without too much effort. Again though, as others have said, many light coats. BTW... Krylon goes on quite thick. After using Tamiya sprays I won't even look at anything else.
Tamiya also makes a pretty good yellow masking tape that makes nice clean lines. It's pretty much what I use on edges and I'll use regular masking tape to cover up large areas that I don't want painted. I've also used regular old Scotch tape in the past with decent results. The biggest thing to be careful of is sealing the edge. Also, when taking the tape off, pull the tape away from the new paint to minimize the chance of lifting the new paint.
