Blistering primer

[psberetta]

Ok,
I've had this fiberglass helmet for right at a year and have been to freeked out to paint it. About a month ago I started to do a layered job on it. Well to make the story short I primed, shot silver, dull cote, drew ALL the damage on the dome, masked with mustard. BAD IDEA to use mustard with dull cote........stained all the nice silver damage yellow, name brand mustard I might add. So, sanded it all back down, primed, shot silver, drew on all the damage on the dome, masked with Winsor and Newtons cool.......taped off the dome and sprayed the cheeks.......the paint blistered, Ummm WTF ?

So I pulled of the tape used to mask off the dome...AAARRRRRGGGGGG :angry !!! That pulled the paint off the dome. (sigh , insert VERY bad four letter word at the top of your lungs).So again I sanded it all down and primed it AGAIN.
Now the PRIMER is blistering !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :facepalm :angry uke .
I'm asking for help cause I'm lost.
What do I do now. The primer is blistering in the same spots as the paint before and in NEW spots.

TDH......your my only hope
-Tim-

 

[Jun Garros Fett]

I am going to take a guess that the area where the paint is blistering has some mold release residue or something on it. Oil based and wax based mold release agents will cause paint to blister or peel like that. Even oily sweaty fingerprints will cause it.
I would recommend lighty sanding down the area once again to remove all paint or primer and wipe down the area with something like windex or rubbing alcohol to remove any oily residue that might be there.

I have built many resin model kits over the years and have run into this a few times. I have also used a mild abrasive cleanser like Comet cleanser to clean parts before painting.

Also allow at least a day between coats of paint so it can properly dry.

Hope that helps ya.

 

[Dha Syntir]

Maybe the primer is bad for some reason, perhaps it's aged or not the best quality. Sand your buy'ce wherever you'll be primering/painting, then clean with something-I use denatured alcohol most times, although it can mess up certain types of plastic so use caution when cleaning with it. After it's clean, wait until you have a warm day with lower humidity so you can paint and let your helmet bake in the sun for a few hours so it's good and dry before you spray another coat.

You mentioned that you had trouble with masking tape pulling up the paint etc. I did too. My first problem was that I was rushing and wanting to get too much done too soon and I hadn't left the paint cure before I put masking tape on top of it. My second was that I was using the el cheapo garden variety masking tape. I ended up buying the expensive blue masking tape that hasn't pulled up any paint on me yet-knock on wood...It's adhesive isn't as sticky as the common masking tapes-perhaps you should try something like that. I got mine at Wal Mart, it's called Scotch-Blue Painters Tape for delicate surfaces #2080. It's a bit more than I'd like to pay for masking tape but it works great for delicate jobs like we're attempting with decorating our armor etc. That's my thoughts anyway, I hope I've helped more than I've confused.

 

[psberetta]

Thanks for the pointers

I think its going to workout this time......elbow grease, sanded the helmet down to the gel-cote....cleaning and a new can of primer (still has fingers crossed) and looks good

 

[pennywise]

I am going to take a guess that the area where the paint is blistering has some mold release residue or something on it. Oil based and wax based mold release agents will cause paint to blister or peel like that. Even oily sweaty fingerprints will cause it.
I would recommend lighty sanding down the area once again to remove all paint or primer and wipe down the area with something like windex or rubbing alcohol to remove any oily residue that might be there.

I have built many resin model kits over the years and have run into this a few times. I have also used a mild abrasive cleanser like Comet cleanser to clean parts before painting.

Also allow at least a day between coats of paint so it can properly dry.

Hope that helps ya.

This is sound advice. I've used warm soapy water to clean the parts too.