Base coat rubbed off?

[Milan@AU]

Hi all,

I have been a long time lurker on this forum and decided it was time to come out of the shadows and ask a question.

I have done around 15-20 models over the last 5 years and have been slowly learning better techniques as I progress.

I had never previously used a base-coat on my car bodies so after reading some tips and this forum I decided to give it a try on my latest model (Peugeot 206 WRC).

Funny thing is that after I applied 3 coats and left it to dry over 24hrs the base coat looked fine but when I touched it I could basically rub it off all the way back to the sanded body.....

Any ideas on what I did wrong? I'm using Tamiya X-21 (Flat Base) thinned to about 2:1 (paint to thinner) and airbrushed

Would be greatful for any advise...thanks

[bri g]

milan, the problem is not with your painting but with the type of paint. Tamiya flat base is used to turn gloss colors to flat and not as a base coat. Once dry, it turns powdery. Tamiya does not make primer in bottles so if you want to use a tamiya primer, you need to get the ones in the spray can. You can also use automotive primer (but read the FAQs first when using automotive paints)

[Milan@AU]

Ahh I see...thanks bri g

gee, I feel like such a dummy, better take another trip to the hobby shop I think

[bri g]

no problem milan, everyone makes mistakes. My worst one was, stripping a car body with paint thinner...oh yeah that worked great.

[Jay!]

Depending where you are in the world, you may want to look for "Mr. Surfacer," a liquid primer made by Gunza Sangyo. It comes in bottles.

And welcome to AF!

[Milan@AU]

Thanks for the welcome Jay

I ended up finding the Tamiya surface primer at the hobby shop and gave that a go yesterday. I touched it today and thankfully it didn't rub off this time.. thanks again bri. I'll give it another few hours and then I'll give it a sand.

Hopefully I can get a hold of a digital camera and submit my in-progress pics.

[djmr2]

so you were saying u didn't use a primer before the base coat?

bri g: have you ever tried to strip a model using gasoline! hahahahaha
well that was back in the days , when i first started.. no clue what i was doing.. the body of the model has a crazy ripple effect!

[bri g]

hey dj, can't say I've tried that, sounds just as bad though I was stripping white paint from a red colored body and I was happy when I saw white paint floating around...and then pink....and then red...and then the body melted into a blob. Yeah those were the days!

If you have any other questions milan, let us know everyone here will be glad to answer them for you. You'll be happy with tamiya spray primer, good stuff!

[twoninety]

Hehh

I tried removing the paint from the seats of my Mini with spirits (not the drinking type) and kinda melted the plastic.



It was supposed to be a two-toned seat but it was beyond repair so I sprayed the entire thing black..

:ylsuper

now it looks like well worn black leather seats.

:alien2:

[djmr2]

bri g: a blob sounds pretty nice too!!

so i've learned... Castrol Super Clean is the only way to go... works great!!

[daggerlee]

Milan, I made the same mistake you did when painting the engine for my 300ZX...

The instructions said to paint it chrome silver but I got silver chalk instead

[Milan@AU]

Yeah daggerlee, thats exactly how it turned out... just like chalk, quite embarrasing when I was showing someone my perfect "primer" paint job and it came off in my hands

Judging by the lessons learned here, I will remember not to use certain products when stripping paint.

djmr2, I meant primer, I tend to call primer base coat sometimes