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How Long After Painting Do You Take Off The Masks?

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Hello tipsters...

I have ripped paint a couple of times in the past when removing the window masks from lexan shells.

I am quite an impatient painter :) and will normally only leave the shell about 2 hours between coats. The latest project has 3-4 coats of white, 2 coats of silver and 2 coats of black, these coats where put on over a 36 hour period. I am wondering when best to pull off the window without risk of ripping the soft paint underneath.

Cheers

Paul

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Run a sharp blade gently around the edge of the tape before you peel it up (pointed hobby scalpel). This will score the paint and give it a weak spot to tear at instead of out into the body where you don't want it to. Don't scribe the blade too deep or it may show through from the outside of the body.

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Run a sharp blade gently around the edge of the tape before you peel it up (pointed hobby scalpel). This will score the paint and give it a weak spot to tear at instead of out into the body where you don't want it to. Don't scribe the blade too deep or it may show through from the outside of the body.

Thanks for the tip Mark, it worked no rips ;)

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who waits 2 hours... don't you have a hairdryer?? ;)

usually wait a few hrs or overnight after last coat, mainly 'cos its too stinky gassing off still

but with sedan shells, final colour is PS31 Smoke anyway... and all the masking is gone by then

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What'cha paintin!

We want pictures!

Pleasssse! ;)

It is so tempting but I want to finish the whole thing before the next post. Its a porsche and it looks OK at the mo, but the end result must be 100% finished or I will let my self down, no more half finished projects :lol:

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It is so tempting but I want to finish the whole thing before the next post. Its a porsche and it looks OK at the mo, but the end result must be 100% finished or I will let my self down, no more half finished projects ;)

You can finish a shell in a few hours.

Always wash your shell with washing up liquid, dry off with a lint free cloth or tea towel and give it a quick hair dry this removes any releasing agents from the mold

Masking is key, use a good tape that wont bleed (B&Q blue masking tape i found is good) give the tape a good rub especially on all the edges when placing

To help you create a design you can cut paper shapes out and stick them on the outside on the protective film or use a permanent maker on the protective film (always check you shell has protective film before doing this) if you make a mistake the permanent marker should rub off easily with a little elbow grease

Spray 4 to 6 very light coats and hair dry in between. In between each time you hair dry give the tape a rub down with your thumb and fingers on all the edges.

Once you have done all the coats you need (back with white or silver it really lifts the paint job and reduces transparency) carefully peal the masking tape down & away from your spray edge. e.g. A vertical line of tape, you spray on the left side you would peel down and to the right! This breaks the paint away from the masking tape rather than the tape peeling the paint away from the shell which shouldn't happen if you use the tips above.

Hope this helps

Later

VV

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who waits 2 hours... don't you have a hairdryer?? :huh:

:)

Like Willy my masking tape/film/fluid comes off about 10 minutes after the paint has gone on, thanks to Pactra paints and using a hair drier.

To get avoid lifting the paint pull the masking tape back over itself, so you are folding the tape over and tearing the paint along the edge rather than pulling up which tries to pull the paint off the body. For something like window masks that have a good few layers of paint I would also run a blade around the edge to break the join before peeling.

Of course being painted on the inside it is pretty easy to touch up any mistakes afterwards.

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