Painting Over Packing Tape

[rdallaire]

I recently painted one of my planes (Bloody Wonder) and noticed that the paint came off very easily on the parts that were reinforced with tape.

I have a FT Blunt Nose Versa (waterproof) kit coming in soon and want to use tape to reinforce the wing joints but I also want to paint over it when done. Some of my planes seem to be fine when I minwax over them but I would rather not minwax the entire plane since I am getting the waterproof board.

Has anyone experimented with the best ways to fix this problem?

I am thinking of trying a few experiments to find a quick, efficient and good consistent way to do it.

• Control - clear packing tape on foam then spray paint over
• Reinforced packing tape on foam and paint over it
• Sand the tape a little bit and then paint over it
• minwax just the taped parts and then paint over it
• spray a clear coat on the tape before colored paint

Has anyone tried these methods or other methods?
Do I just need to do multiple coats to get the paint on the tape to stay?

 

[kacknor]

The simplest solution is to paint first. A little touch up may be required after, edges and such but it solves all kinds of issues. It's easy, parts are flat and masking is a breeze. Assembly is the same, but you see a completed air frame coming together and not something that still has work to do on. Best of all, no painting over tape.

JD

 

[lrussi750]

Lightly sand the tape to take the shine away from the tape. The paint will adhere better to the roughed up surface.

 

[kulens]

My trick with packing tape is to first add a layer of varnish (Minwax), on top of the tape, paint the plane and then add a second layer of varnish on top of the paint to protect your paint.

 

[troppo]

I dont know how this will react with foam but a coat of ETCH PRIMER will stick and give a great base for your paint, you can get acid etch or vinyl etch, i would think vinyl etch would be the better of the two. This stuff sticks like sh!t to a blanket and will give you a great surface (after a scuff with a scotchbrite) for your paint

 

[Michael Anderson]

I've found it alot better to use the "Brown packing tape" it bonds well to all FT builds it resembles the FT Brown foam and takes paint like a charm and even better with a little "scuffing up!" I suggest you Get it if you can! GL and happy building.