sharpie under primer

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watermelonman

watermelonman

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I made some red sharpie marks on a tube and it keeps surfacing after layers of white primer. What is the deal with that? There is no way it is visible after all these layers. It must be a chemical reaction pulling it back up to the surface. I mean, I think so. Right?

Is this going to be an issue once I hit it with real paint instead of primer?
 
Yep, you might need to cover the ink with a layer of shellac to seal the ink, not totally sure it will work but the original BIN primer formula was a shellac base that was used for sealing stains and stuff under paint so it may work. I would try regular Bullseye Shellac first, nice thing about shellacs are iirc they play with other paints similar to lacquers, great as base layers but due to the hot solvent use light coats over your already applied primers, if its a lacquer primer you shouldn't have a problem as shellacs solvent is alcohol.
 
I've had the same problem on a build once in the past. The ink managed to make its way through filler primer and white primer, but not the final coat (Gloss White). Rusto for all 3 paint layers.

Big thing to remember:
Do NOT Use A Red Sharpie!


​
(safer still, don't use ink)
 
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It can be used to your advantage. Writing bleeding through can give a weathered look or like things leaking for a scale effect.
A similar effect painting a pattern of different colors then painting the whole thing with fluorescent.

M
 
I have had the same issue with red, black,silver markers..... of course if you wipe your tubes with alcohol or lacquer thinner before painting....like you are supposed to, it will remove the culprit marker lines...lol

Which I do now!

Yes it will be an issue with finish paint. [it was for me anyhow]

I bit the bullet and removed all paint & marker lines with lacquer thinner, & re-did my project. Only took about 20 minutes on 3in rocket.
 
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blackjack2564 said:
I have had the same issue with red, black,silver markers..... of course if you wipe your tubes with alcohol or lacquer thinner before painting....like you are supposed to, it will remove the culprit marker lines...lol

Which I do now!
Click to expand...

And CJ was a commercial painting contractor iirc :)
 
Your a good man CJ, I think I can safely say we love your in depth build threads and rocketry construction and flying knowledge.
 
I've used silver and black Sharpie markers to mark off my last two rockets (one a FG 3" Punisher and the other a X-15 with black ABS plastic shrouds) and used Rustoleum gray Filler Primer on both and didn't have any issues with bleed through. I don't think I've ever used red sharpie, but I may try a test next time...on a red rocket of course. :wink:
 
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An easy fix to the Sharpie bleeding through primer and paint problem is to simply wipe on a thin coat of thin CA, right over the primer and a little past the ink mark all the way around. After it dries, lightly sand the CA and keep priming.

This little patch of CA completely blocks the ink from continuing to bleed through. Just do not sand all the CA off.

If you hit the CA with a light spray of CA accelerator, you can get back to sanding and priming in just a few minutes.

This also works on crayon marks on the wall in children's bedrooms.....;)
 
tab28682 said:
An easy fix to the Sharpie bleeding through primer and paint problem is to simply wipe on a thin coat of thin CA, right over the primer and a little past the ink mark all the way around. After it dries, lightly sand the CA and keep priming.

This little patch of CA completely blocks the ink from continuing to bleed through. Just do not sand all the CA off.

If you hit the CA with a light spray of CA accelerator, you can get back to sanding and priming in just a few minutes.

This also works on crayon marks on the wall in children's bedrooms.....;)
Click to expand...

Good to know about the crayon marks too! Especially since I have 3 kids age 6 or under, usually I just use BIN primer or mask an area and shoot it with some Bullseye Shellac then paint over with the original color coat.
 
shellac, shellac, shellac !!! And don't make the mistake again !!! fine line pencil for everything all the time !!
 
If you don't have shellac, but there are women in your house, a coat of clear nail polish might work as well.

Not sure how that would react to the solvents in the paint though.
 
terryg said:
Try grey primer instead of white.
Click to expand...

I had been alternating layers of grey and white. Every grey hides it, and every white brings it right back to surface!

Lacquer or thinner would have been best, but I am on a tight timeline for this paint job and had previously laid down several layers of primer. I sanded it down to the point of removal for most marks. One, I either forgot or eventually decided it could live as a witness mark for alignment when installing shear pins, at least if it survived the finish paint.

blackjack2564 said:
Yes it will be an issue with finish paint. [it was for me anyhow]
Click to expand...

For the record, my gloss black Rustoleum 2X Ultra seems to not let it through. I should get a better look at it in daylight tomorrow.
 
Peartree said:
If you don't have shellac, but there are women in your house, a coat of clear nail polish might work as well.

Not sure how that would react to the solvents in the paint though.
Click to expand...

Doing that will not stop the sharpie from bleeding through. The nail polish is basically paint and solvent.
 
hornet driver said:
shellac, shellac, shellac !!! And don't make the mistake again !!! fine line pencil for everything all the time !!
Click to expand...

If I did not have shellac on hand and had CA on hand, my (proven) solution would be CA, CA, CA......:)

Works well and feathers into the primer after a couple of sanding passes.
 

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