gun stock painting question

[tookeymonster]

I'm having problem getting painters tape or masking tape to stick to a synthetic stock even where the stock has been roughed up where I free floated it. I did clean the stock with denatured alcohol.

any suggestions?

[Berretta Man]

Contact Berretta Dave on this forum. He has down some awesome work.

[tookeymonster]

Berretta Dave does not exist

[berettadave]

He does if you only use in R!!! lol.

You said you are using painters tape. I've had issues with some cheaper brands. I use the 3m masking tape that's made for auto body repair. Also, 3m makes a product called "fineline" tape. It's expensive but it comes in very thin rolls and it's easy to use for following curves etc. Also, how rough is the stock. It may be too rough. A lot of synthetic stocks have a textured finish and it's hard to get tape to stick until it's primed. I usually sand mine with 400-500 grit before painting. Are you priming it? If not, I feel you will eventually have issues with the paint lifting.
Here's what I do on synthetic stocks: First I clean it with a silicone and grease remover. Prep-sol works great as do some other products. Then I sand it with the 400-600 grit paper. I then use the prep-sol again to clean any residue from the sanding. I then spray an adhesion promoter on the stock(for synthetic stocks only). You can get it at auto body repair places(comes in aerosol cans). I then spray an auto body quality high build primer(I normally use Transtar EZ sand primer) After that I wet sand(yes it gets time consuming) the primer using 600 grit until it's smooth. Then I normally spray my base color using a basecoat color. After that, I like to spray a thin coat of clear to "lock" in the basecoat color. Then I can sand it again lightly and tape off on the clear to make my graphics or whatever you want. The reason I spray the clear before doing the graphics is because if you mess up on a graphic, you can clean it off with lacquer thinner without destroying the underlying base coat. The lacquer thinner does not affect the clear like it would the base coat. After doing the graphics, I then clear the whole thing and color sand and buff it.
Of course, all the above is considering that you are using auto style paint. If you are using paint from a spray can, I will say that it will still help to use the adhesion promoter and primer. Your tape ought to stick to that with no problem.

Let me know if I you have any questions.

Dave

[tookeymonster]

Thanks! I will have to try it out and let you know.