am so ready to throw this in the bin.

I had a nice, beautiful paint job on her. Shiny, rich colour and smooth. I let it cure for 5 days straight, then masked it up today, spray some alternate colours and with much excitement, pulled the tape off just now and am ready to cry.

Tamiya masking tape has truly f*&k ed my paint job up.

Its gone from this:



to this:






I am using all of my will power not to bin it. I am hoping someone has an idea on how I can fix this cluster &#%k?

Don't despair.  It's f**kin' annoying but it's not the end of the world.

What is the red paint?
Are the marks adhesive residue or has it marked the top surface of the paint?

If its adhesive residue the sticky stuff remover might work on it.  That stuff is orange oil based and should not damage the paint (although try it on a small area first).
If the paint is marked then a gentle polish might work.  However, before polishing you want the paint to be completely gassed out.  Sniff it.  It shouldn't smell of solvents.  If it does it needs longer.  Can you mark it with a fingernail?  This is where a dehydrator comes in handy. 
Also be aware that some polishes can react with some paints.  I've had Meguiars car polish soften enamel paint making it slightly sticky.

As a last resort before stripping it, satin clear coat might hide the marks if they are just on the top of the paint.

The more I look at the pictures, and the more I think about my many paint disasters in the past, I think you didn't leave it for long enough.  Five days might seem a long time but sometimes it can take a few wet coats to get a good shine and so takes longer than you expect to gas out.

What Fred said, but an additional thought struck me: if it's top layer damage rather than sticky residue, could you call it weathering/wear-and-tear and paint the rest of it accordingly? Just a thought...

That's an interesting point there Fred. I honestly thought 5 days, of which 3 were over 30 degrees, would be sufficient.  I also thought, maybe I should have clear coated the red first as well before masking.
Now that I've had a solid nights sleep, I can work out how to fix it. It appears to just be residue but paint has lifted in a couple of spots. I may just strip the whole lot off and start again

I have seen your work, you can recover from this   

Quote from: buzzbomb on March 14, 2024, 08:34:35 PMI have seen your work, you can recover from this   

What BB said!
Please don't go to that sort of extreme; it's redeemable in one way or another, and once it's gone it's gone - no amount of second, third, or umpteenth thoughts will rectify it then. (I Know This Now...    )

If it's still giving you the "poos", put it aside for a while and take several breaths, maybe take up a couple of other projects.

I won't bin it - if anything, I'll just strip it right back and start again, I just am not sure I have enough base colour to do it is all.
I was super upset at what happened but as Brian, yourself and everyone has said, its fixable. I'm just peeved that I have too.
I showed the pics to Max @ Metro and he suggested  a couple of citrus based products that may help, but he agreed with me in so far as I should've clear coated the red first.
It was a stupid, rookie mistake and one I won't make again

And sometimes hot days bake the outside, slowing the escape of gases from the inside, especially with gloss paints, which out-gas more slowly than matt paints anyway.

I found some citrus cleaner but it didn't work. Also, the tape has actually impressed itself into the paint. So, with that, I have done the only thing possible:



It's all good though. Version 2.0 will be better, smoother with a chance now to add some slight variation to the black

It's always good to sleep on it before pulling the pin on a trip to The Tank.

Mate, I will be the first to admit to jazz hands. I had a sook, and now that Im well and truly over it, things are progressing again. I've already laid down a nice base coat of Tamiya gloss black, and it's looking better than the first attempt already.
Lessons well and truly learnt 

I just finished spraying the wings and they are looking awesome





This time around, I will clear coat them before I even think about masking

It's very RED now!   

Yeah, but look at the lustre of said red 

Quote from: Madhatter on March 16, 2024, 12:25:40 AMYeah, but look at the lustre of said red