HELP! How do I fix the peeling paint?

[Blaze]

Posting a thread in hopes someone will see it and know what to do as I only have a few days before I leave for Jamaica!

I just gave my tail (Mertailor latex & neoprene) a paint job this week and did a birthday party where i was in the pool for about an hour. Tail looked great but the new paint flaked off BADLY; as in kids were picking up pieces of me and bringing it to me lol.

I used createx airbrush paints (painted on with a brush) but was I supposed to prime the latex first to get oils off or something?

FYI I have used this stuff in the past to care for the tail as was suggested on here when I first got it: http://www.mcnett.com/m-essentials/silicone-spray#20414

Do I need to strip the tail and start over? If so, how?

Help?

[ShyMer]

From what I've heard, this is somewhat normal for repainting a latex tail. Did you mix with more Alex (I'm assuming that's what yours is made from) or heat gun your paint?
Too bad it peeled, I loved what you did with it.

As for prepping the surface, I don't think it's generally suggested for our purposes on mernetwork, but I do remember seeing something about that on the bottles. It might be worth researching to see what's safe to use for latex/Alex to clean the surface for painting.

When you do repaint, try to remove as much of the loose paint as you can before starting.

[Blaze]

I did not make my tail; as I said in my first posting it's a mertailor latex tail. I will try and contact him but at this point I think I am going to have to leave the tail at home; I just don't have time to completely overhaul it before we leave Saturday.

[ShyMer]

Yeah, I understand. What I'm saying is that your tail was likely made with Alex, seeing as the mertailor only used real latex in the beginning, if I'm remembering correctly. If your tail is made with Alex, it will start to turn white and un cure when in the water for long periods of time. It looks flaky and started to smell un cured. The other probability is that your tail is one of the partial silicone tails he switched to exclusively A while back, but I think you'd know if it was.

I'll try to rephrase for clarity- when you repainted your tail, did you use paint mixed with Alex/ latex or did you use undiluted paint? If you did not mix Alex into it, you needed to heat set the paint with a heat gun so it didn't just wash off, as createx is water soluble.
I hope that's more clear. Sorry, I'm a bit fuzzy today.

[Blaze]

I had no idea on any of that lol. Thank you for clarifying! I just did straight paint; I have never worked with Alex. Guess I will have to reasearch that now. Any suggestions on how to get the paint i put on it off without damaging the tail?

[ShyMer]

Ask iona, I remember that she had to do this every time she swam with her old tail. I think the thing would be that you would have to be careful to not further damage the tail.

[Sephina]

I've had to add paint to my mertailor on several occasions, including painting a full addition, as long as you heat set it well you should be fine, the paint shouldn't be peeling that badly. All you have to do is heat the tail/dry paint up with a heat gun then let it cool down, you should be good to go.

[Blaze]

I've had to add paint to my mertailor on several occasions, including painting a full addition, as long as you heat set it well you should be fine, the paint shouldn't be peeling that badly. All you have to do is heat the tail/dry paint up with a heat gun then let it cool down, you should be good to go.

Thank you SO MUCH!! You ladies really made my week!

[Blaze]

Ok, so I've repainted and 'heat set' the paint with my Hubby's heat gun; basically headed the tail until it was hot to the touch. Is there any way to know if I did it right & the paint cured?