OK so I've been having trouble with paint peeling off of a silver undercoat. I know, tough world. My question is, does it help any to shoot the base coat (that's having the problem with stuff above it sticking) with a well thinned coat of clear? This is for future reference since I'm already elbow deep with this mess. Would it help to shoot over the top of the top color with a highly thinned coat of clear to lock it down?

Just soem passing thought while I clean up the mess.

Yea, looking back I wish I would have shot a wet, well thinned coat of clear over the base coat. I did that over the primer, but didn't think about the top coat peeling from the metallic base. Sigh...

I have always heard, from the very first advice on painting model airplanes years ago, that silver has a bad, bad habit of delaminating....................  one reason some people do not use silver as a blocking coat, and Windy even pointed it out repeatedly on his videos (as he often had the problem, even expected it, it seemed).  I know it wasn't Sig Silver, but it was still silver and it doesn't seem to make a lot of difference.  Silver delaminates I guess!

Of course, I have the perfect solution to all your painting woes....... don't use so many colors and you won't have to tape off as much, lowering the chance of pulling up paint.  Seriously.

Mongo

Bill,

Yea, yea. Had I just shot a heavily thinned coat of clear over it, I wouldn't be having this problem. Sigh...

But tonight, I will shoot that coat over the whole thing since I still need to add some black and I don't want to peel up all the work I've done. It will be sorta alright.

Randy,

I always apply a thinned coat over the silver as a binder, sometimes even more then a thinned coat depending on wha t the rest of the finish is going to be. Even at that, I've learned to alwys use a little heat removing the masking.

Randy,

Oh great, come in with that now...

I peeled tape on the repairs tonight. Went fine tonight (of course). Unfortunately, it's a bit darker over the repairs; the downside of using candy colors. But it will pass, I guess. While the idea was pretty good, the execution left a lot to be desired. The penalty of doing something you haven't done before, I guess. Next one, I'll know more.

I love exotic finishes, but they have their pitfalls.

Sorry, I haven't been watching allot lately. Anyway, candies is one of the cases where I use allot of clear over the base coat, it adds depth. I wish you luck with the candies, I did the Gladiator in candy yellow and by the end of the first season it was so faded out I swore off, at least Brodak's candies. I've got a line on some pigments one of our local guys has been using and some of his stuff is pretty amazing and light, so maybe when I refinish the Glad, it'll be WAY exotic!

Randy,

Yea, I used House of Kolor Kandy Koncentrates. Excellent UV protection. I'm told it will not fade. Guess we'll see. Especially the blue. Heck, by the end of next year, it may just be a gray blob. But it looks pretty cool right now.

I'll be watching closely.

         I've had a similar instance as you explained with the base silver. My problem started in and around the wing fillet. I then had it happen at the intersection of the stab and fuse. I was using candy colors and I wasn't so quick to point the finger at the paint. I had switched from Prather microballoons to Sig's version. I felt that this was surely the culprit. I assumed I didn't rough up the fillet enough so that the paint could tooth in properly. Generally after I sand filleted areas I clean them with a swab of laquer thinner prior to painting. Later on, during some of the trim stages I had paint lifting right off the silver when the tape was removed. I couldn't recall ever having this problem before. I then had problems as others explained in the above posts that when doing repairs in the candy as it becomes darker due to the second application. I even tried to fade some silver beyond the repair prior to spraying the candy. The repaired area actually looked better than the rest of the plane. I would have to say this is credited to the depth thats now being acheived. I will surely try this on the next plane to spray a coat of clear over the silver. This sounds like very good advice. Ken

Just to follow up. After fixing (it seemed endlessly) the various spots that peeled, before I went on, I shot the whole thing with some 85% thinned clear. Problem solved. Surface is resistant to even high stick masking tape. man, once in awhile I wish I would follow my own advice.

Hmmmm, Go figure.