I finally got around to adding parking lot lines to my passenger depot. I used 1/16” Tamiya striping tape (I assume usually used it painting RC cars, planes, trains, etc.). Easy to work with but unfortunately it is lifting in places. Some is put down on Woodland Scenics road plaster and others on homosote. In both cases surface is painted with Woodland Scenics asphalt top coat paint. Anyone have a fix? I was thinking of maybe some sort of clear sealer? Would bottled Dullcoat work? All ideas will be considered! Thanks all!
If that is the tape that come in the gray and clear dispensers it is pretty tacky stuff. it is all that I use to mask scale models and I have never had any problems with lifting. However, my models are painted with a good coat of semi gloss paint. Your surface is most likely to rough and or flat. Spraying a gloss coat along the edges of the tape horizontally to seal it between the tape and the surface is also a trick model painters use to ensure no bleed. However you would need to paint the yellow or white for the stripes first, put the striping tape over that, spray the edges then spray the top road color vertically over the taped portions.
If you are putting the paint over the road plaster a good think coat of gloss yellow should be enough to not give you any bleed through along the edges though. You could try sealing the plaster with a coat of canned gray primer first.
When I made my roads the asphalt top coat was not available so I just used a good gray semi gloss spray paint and used the above method to paint the stripes. I then used a brush to weather it and make the tar crack filler so common on Texas roads.
Steve B
I painted my road with a rough coat of Rust-O-Leum. Then I used yellow "Line-O-Tape" and dullcoated it and it sticks quite well.
Steve B and Willy6, I should have been more clear about what I am doing. I’m using the Tamiya tape as the actual stripe, eliminating painting. If I can get the tape to stay flat I’d be happy with the overall look. Most is sticking well, just a few places where it’s lifting. Trying to find a way to seal the edges that would act as a “glue”. Thnx for your comments, as well as Mel’s
I get it now. You could also use a bit of Pacer Canopy Glue in the areas that its coming up. Great glue and dry's completely clear.
Thanks Steve, I obviously didn’t think of that. I’ll give it a try off layout first to test. Thnx much for the idea!