Howdy All. Recently a friend and I returned to armor modeling, and I have a question regarding vinyl tracks. He is building Monogram's M48 Patton (I know, not the greatest kit, but a cheap one to get him re-acquainted with the hobby) and he is at the paint stage with them. He washed the tracks well, and then scrubbed them with alcohol and let them dry. He applied two light coats of Model Master Flat Black (spray can), which seemed to lay down fine. After letting them dry overnight, we noticed that the paint had gone glossy, and was sticky to the touch. It would come off on anything the tracks came into contact with. He soaked them in a 50/50 mix of Superclean and water, and scrubbed the old paint off. He then tried to apply a light coat of semi-gloss Krylon Fusion to them, and again, it layed down beautifully. The next day, however, the same problem occurred. I must admit I am at a bit of a loss. I have built quite a few tanks (albeit 15 years ago) and never had this reaction with vinyl tracks and enamels. My friend is just starting out, and is using basic materials (read, spray cans)...

Would stripping them down, and giving them a heavy coat of Future, before paint work? As I said, I am not sure how to advise him......And he is not all that cracked up on acrylics....

Any ideas? Thanks for taking the time........

Thor

The solvent base of his paint is reacting with the vinyl of the tracks. Acrylics are really the way to go as long as he realizes they won't tolerate much handling after being painted.

I've never tried Future as a barrier coat, that might work well if the enamel adheres to it. I see no reason it won't.

G

G-

Thanks for the reply. I kinda figured that might be happening. Too bad R/M did not take a page from Tamiya's playbook in regards to the type of poly-vinyl used for the flexible tracks. I even just used some Model Master enamels over some Italeri Panther tracks, and they cured fine.

I am gonna have him strip the old paint off with Superclean, and we will try and base paint them with black acrylic. Once cured, we will then coat them with a heavy coat of Future to prevent lifting when the subsequent washes and drybrushing ensues. At that point, I will have him coat the model with Model Master Clear flat....Should do the trick....Will let ya know how it comes out....

Thanks Again for confirming my suspicions. Mucho appreciated....

Thor