ShurTech Brands Frog TapeContributed by John Lee (Contributed - by John Lee - 05/26/08)
Brief: Construction: While I love rocketry, the finishing of rockets has always been my downfall. I don't particularly enjoy the process but am "forced" into it because I like the looks of unfinished rockets even less. Part of my dislike stems from bad experience. No matter how careful I try to be, I always get a mediocre paint job. Recently, while posting a build thread on TRF, somebody mentioned a product called Frog Tape. The thing that stuck in my mind is the claim that it allows no bleeding. I was not convinced, but the next day, I found myself at Home Depot for something else and saw the tape. I bought it on impulse. That night I tried it on my Squirrel Works Firebird SST.
I am pretty sure I painted it too soon after the previous coating and was pretty sure that some paint would be lifted as a result. When I stripped the paint, I was amazed to find the lines crisp and perfect. It had not lifted any paint nor had it allowed any bleed. It looked...professional. That was a new experience for me and I had to show everyone. Even my wife, not a fan of my rockets, commented on how clean the lines were. From that point on, I was sold. I have since tried it on several other projects. Each time it has performed flawlessly. On the most recent, I worried that might not be the case. As I sprayed on the blue paint, I saw what seemed to be a lifting along one edge of the tape. I resigned myself to having to correct it, blaming myself for not inspecting the tape more thoroughly before I started to spray paint. When I lifted the tape, though, there was no problem. The lines were as perfect as could be asked for. There may be other ways of masking, but I am sold on this product. I would pay whatever the asking price and count myself lucky to have found it. On looking back though, it is not too terribly much more expensive than other products. The roll is expensive but the tape is thin and there is plenty on the roll. For me, this has turned a process I dislike into something that may someday become fun. Now if only there was a better way to seal balsa... Overall Rating: 5 out of 5
What You Can Do
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The first thing that I noticed was the tackiness. It seemed much less tacky than even "low tack" tapes I have
tried. Even so, it had no problem staying in place. Neither did it have problems being lifted and realigned. When I had
my masking in place, I pressed down the edges and hoped for the best, not expecting anything more than I usually get. I
painted the rocket and waited.
M.E.M. (June 3, 2008)