I need more help with masking...

[TheChronicOne]

OK, I'm using water based acrylic right now and when I peel the masking tape off It takes bits of the NEW paint off.. not the paint under the tape, but the paint between the tape....In this case I'm painting red strips onto a metallic fuselage. Naturally, I mask the fuselage then paint the red but when I take the tape off , here comes the new red right with it and it makes for jagged edges...  I've resorted to using an exacto to run down the edge of the tape to make it come off cleaner with hit and miss results. I've let the paint set up pretty good but not fully cure by any means. Is that my probem? If i wait for it to dry thoroughly will it still do this??

Thanks.

[zenrat]

This is why I hate masking.

I tend to pull the tape off as soon as possible.  Before the paint is dry if I can.
If you are painting directly onto the plastic this could be an adhesion problem.
Do you wash the parts before you build the kit?  It's recommended to do so (washing up liquid & warm water) to remove any mild release residue but I never bother with injection moulded kits unless they feel particularly greasy.
It could also be due to grease from your fingers being on the plastic from handling the parts.  Again, washing will help.
You could lightly sand the parts before you paint but that risks removing any surface detail.
Or, you could prime the parts before you paint them.  I always do this as as well as aiding adhesion the primer gives a better surface for painting acrylic paint onto that bare plastic and less coats are needed.

Or, is the metallic surface you refer to paint?  If it's car paint (what I use when I want an NMF finish) then the problem would be that the water based acrylic doesn't want to adhere to the underlying paint.  Try using enamel, it should stick better.

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks for the tips... yeah it's. uhh.. water based acyrlic on top of oil based enamel... I'd bet money that's where Im going wrong. I did everything else with the priming, sanding, and washing, but I didn't sand the silver color paintany before I put the acrylic on. Whoops! Lesson learned.

[zenrat]

If you're happy with the finish of the silver in the places where you are not going to put red stripes then I wouldn't sand it at all as you risk screwing it up.  I'd get some red enamel.  Tamiya is good.

[TheChronicOne]

If you're happy with the finish of the silver in the places where you are not going to put red stripes then I wouldn't sand it at all as you risk screwing it up.  I'd get some red enamel.  Tamiya is good.

Thank you. I will in the future use the proper paint.. lesson learned...

It actually turned out OK. I weathered the piss out of it to make it all work and it turned out pretty good for a novice modeler.  Stay tuned! I'm close to taking pictures and posting it here.