Yer, I got it off Jesse, but i thought i'd emailed you about it, spotted 2 silly spelling mistakes, just pointed them out for you and commented on how brilliant (as usual) it was.

It was:

Section IV: Specialty Paints
What is it,
It should be noted that Alcad II is available

Glow in the dark
line of paints which as even more intense then the Xtreme Glow paints!


Ah, the top one has been changed, but not the other.

PaulC2K

Hi Nil,

I live in England and use the French car company, Peugeot's paints. I go to the local dealer and ask for the leftover paint. There is always some left over as they need to mix slightly more than is required. I take in my own clean jars from old paints and ask them to fill them up for me. The price should be low as they cannot mix it with a fresh batch and therefore it is useless to them. Hope this is a help to you,

L.Larry. :thumbsup:

Larry,

That is a great idea!

Thanks!

Heres my latest bodyshell, its a HPI GS400 (200mm) and its a test run of a shell im planning on running for one of the regional tournaments coming up this weekend, ive got the same design on a Yokomo Stratus (190) but with Holographic paint rather than silver, and im going to see which i like best, I'll be taking this Holo shell along even if i dont pick that design for my other shells, and hopefully speak to one of the peeple from the UK Car Mags and see if they'll get a pic of the paint in the magazine, bit of extra coverage wont go amiss!

L. Larry:
Where about in the UK are you?
As my username suggests im in Manchester, live anywhere local?

Hope you all like the car, i'll try and get pics of the holo version once its done, got 4 shells to do in 4 days along with run-in a new car and pack everything up and get ready, im terrible at that, im the messy person at the track, you all know the one, the guy who needs 2-3 tables because of all the junk he brings with him, thats me!! and it takes days to get all that rubbish into a pit box!!

PaulC2K

Looks good Paul. And a good choice of body too :p

James

just testing some new stuff.

never ever buy a crappy digitial camera

Hows it going? Long time, HUH? I finally got my spraying down to using the right pressure for the right paint....I am finally spraying at 60+ PSI. and with great results.

picture

Originally posted by PaulC2K
Yer, I got it off Jesse, but i thought i'd emailed you about it, spotted 2 silly spelling mistakes, just pointed them out for you and commented on how brilliant (as usual) it was.

It was:

Section IV: Specialty Paints
What is it,
It should be noted that Alcad II is available

Glow in the dark
line of paints which as even more intense then the Xtreme Glow paints!


Ah, the top one has been changed, but not the other.

PaulC2K

Can I ask where you are getting those glow in the dark paints?

You most certainly can.....

Oh right ;) There made by a WONDERFUL company called Spaz Stix Inc, They have a wide range of fancy paints (dont do things in halves!) including the Glow in the dark paints there is also Color change, UV Reactive paint (Ultra Violet), Chrome and a Stronger version of the glow paints called Radioactive.

You can have a good look around the www.SpazStix.com website, there is a gallery on there, its under construction but half of it is working.

I'll point out now that im doing there website, so feel free to comment on things you dislike about it (seriously!), im in the UK, but the paints are based in the US, and i dont actually work there (the traffic is terrible from here to there! ;)) but i do speak to the top dog Jesse who is on here frequently.

I've been meaning to get the whole gallery up, but im in need of photos for the 'Spaz Stix pix' section most of the cars on the site are ones ive done for myself or friends!! :D
And one of Haunted Mysts is on there too, a damn nice one it is too!

PaulC2K

By the way, Stunning paintjobs guys!!

PC2K

I figure this has to be the place to get an answer to my question. I am looking for replacement bodies for my XXT and having problems finding them at my LHS (they don't carry Losi). My question is basically what bodies will fit on that truck? Lots of bodies out there for the AEs and such. You even see them more readily advertised for the XXXT. Can anybody tell me what makes them different? Is it body mount position, shocks position requiring bulges in different places, style? If a given body can be made to fit is it a question of trimming body postsor what?

I know I can order one up from the manufacturer but I would like to know my options. Thanks in advance!

Keep painting!

PaulC2k,

I live in the midlands but I would have thought that you could get the paint from any Peugot garage. I've got the full range now and it comes to about 20 different colours including a couple of two tone ones. I don't know whether any other car companies use the same paints so you'd have to ask around.

Hope this has helped, Larry.

I have two airbrush setups I have never used & was wondering if they are even worth trying with the new water based lexan paints for lexan car bodies.

1) Badger 350 single action
1) Testors (Aztek) A320 single action w/propellant

I can convert them to CO2 powered.

Should I scrap them & get a better new airbrush , or with CO2 can they work well for car bodies?

Thanks

Mike

We had a guy at our Off Road track mount a XXXT body on his XXT. I t fit very well too. You just have to make sure you take your time getting holes in right spots...

Originally posted by GiantScale
. . . Should I scrap them & get a better new airbrush , or with CO2 can they work well for car bodies? . . . It depends on what you want to do with them. The gas you use is inconsequential, as long as it is pressure regulated, reasonable temperature, and dry. Since the investment for CO2 operation would be there regardless of the brush you use, I'd get the CO2 rig and try them out. I used my Badger 350 for years until the washer in the air valve dried up; it's not replaceable.

Hey everybody......haven't been around much...........

RENBLAST-nice work man! You have come a long way grasshopper :D

Giantscale- the Badger 350 was my firstbrush, and will give you great results til you get the hang of painting car bodies. Co2 will work great too.

Chris- Ren is right, the XXX-T should fit pretty well or Try Dahm's
Racing Bodies....tell em' J.S. sent ya


HM- lol............. get a better camera! nice work !

Charlie is definitely got it going on................

Thank You very much. Here is one for myself for NORRCA NATS in Columbus Ohio....

Thanx guys!

I have been looking at those Dahm's bodies. There are some sweet ones! Just found a stock SSt body at my local track so I am good for the moment but I will keep all in mind!

Ren- dude! those colors rock! very sweet scheme. What paints are you using now?


Chris- good luck, if I run across one of the XX-T's in some old stock I'll let ya know.

Nil......... it dried up? man, guess I need to drag mine out and see if it's still ok!

Thanks Again JSB.. :D I am using the Fascolors and the Createx still. I am getting ready to build an RC shed out back and will probably change though

Nice work Renblast.

I'll give the badger a try.

What psi range am I shooting for here for my regulator??

Is there a site (URL) I can read instead of asking newbie questions?

Thanks

Mike

The pressure depends on how thick the paint is, how thin a line you want, how far away you want to hold it, your personal preferences, etc. I'd start with 20-25 psi and play with it on something that isn't critical, and plan on the first couple of bodies being simple paint jobs. Use masking tape, and tryfading, but plan on the fade not coming off real well at first.

Like driving, it takes practice to get good. (From one who is too impatient to do either well:))

Found a body at the track hobby shop! (heck, I found the track which I didn't know existed:) ). Now, the question is where one can get appropriate headlight and grill decals. The standard Losi package comes with nothing. Well, it does have window masks but they don't come close to fitting!

Darn whatever key I pressed that fired that last one off..

So, to continue, If I can't find headlight decals easily (I really wanted to run the body this weekend so time is way short), Can you guys give me some ideas of alternate detailing for the front end? I don't have a functional airbrush right now so I am pretty much stuck with spray cans and tape for this particular body.

Chris. I know you can get them at ...www.rlhobbies.com. Or if you are pretty good at masking and ctting you can paint them in. Good Luck

Depending on the configuration, you may be able to put a strip of masking tape across the headlights, rub the outline with a thumbnail, and cut on the headlight outline with a sharp X-acto knife. Remove the headlight area and mask around the first strip, then spray.

Silver looks good, but a light yellow can be a standout color.

You can do the window masking similarly, but remove around the window instead. This often results in a better fit than pre-cut masking.

Has anyone tried masking over water based paints? Someone told me that they did this and the paint came off with the masking tape. Will Liquid mask to the same thing?:(

Yep, liquid mask will lift the paint worse than tape( laquers hold up better). If it's been clearcoated though, the tape might not lift it up.

Renblast: Very nice paint jobs !!! How long have you been painting bodies? I am new to the scene. Do you have a url where I can view more of your work?

JSBodies: Thanks for the information. I will pass it on. And I am looking forward to trying it myself. I have never done a paint job where you mask off after painting. Sounds interesting and I just have too find out what it's all about now. There is one thing that I don't understand. What is the advantage of Liquid Masking over vinyl or 3m tape?

Well, I experimented and it wasn't too bad! I decided that I wouldn't be able to mimic "real" headlights so I cut four circles of tape and placed them prior to painting the truck. The front is flor. yellow backed with white. When that was done I peeled the tape and sprayed candy blue (to mimic those funky lights people have today) Came out looking real cool but I didn't have quite enough white so there is a hint of the blue showing through.

Not bad for a rookie! Thanks for the input.

Spaz,
This is just my experience, but this is what I have found.

Liquid Mask: Pros, Lets you mask the whole body at once easily. If you have a steady hand, you can draw and cut just about any design into it. Never leaks (unless you pull it up and then try to put it back down. Cons, if you don't put enough on, its a bear to get up. Hard to make symetric designs in it. Harder to make straight lines in it then with masking tape (though I've just cut a strip of excess lexan off the extra on the uncut body and it seems to work nicely.

Vinyl: Pros, Expensive, but works and is the best of all worlds if you have a vinyl cutter like a Sticka. Even if you don't, it makes it easier to mask symetric designs since it usually comes in larger sheets. It does nice clean lines (a good alternative for lines is electrical tape since it seals nicely and cuts a clean edge. Cons: Don't conform as well to complex curves as LM. There are some thinner vinyl sheets that are brittle. Some vinyls leave a residue when you pull them up.

Masking Tape: Pros, its cheap. Cons, Some people like it. I hate it. It leaks easily. When you use a hairdryer to speed up the drying, it lifts.

I've had little problem with paint running under masking tape. Two precautions reduce this: First, make sure it's down. Run a thumbnaile all the way around the edges. Second, put a light coat on first to seal the edges.

Hair drier lifting: This has never happened to me. Maybe I don't get it hot enough.

Spaz- taping ovr a painted area is usually done to fix a mistake, and I don't think any one here uses any techniques involving mask over paint. At least I don't. With liquid mask, your only limits are your imagination and masking tape limits the complexity of graphics you can do. For instance, the body painted below could not have been easily done with masking tape due to the amount of color changes and detail of the graphics involved. The easier 2 and 3 color design's can always be acomplished with masking tape and lot's of patience.
The biggest thing with liquid mask is to remeber to score through it only and not into the lexan body which will cause it to break at the score line. A "feel" for the depth of the knife as it cuts through the mask is something that you'll develop over time and is needed to be sucessful with liquid mask designs.



www.jsbodies.com/showtruck02.jpg


www.jsbodies.com/showtruck03.jpg

JS & HM: Thanks for all of the information. I am starting to grab onto the concept now. I do have another question. Do you spray the entire shell down and then cut your designs as you go? Or just spray certain areas?
Thanks.

Spaz- yes. spray or brush the whole body with 2 coats of liquid mask allowing them to dry completely. draw your design on the outside of the body with a fine point sharpie ( remove it later with denatured alcohol ) and cut out the design completely. be careful to cut through the mask only! Peel the darkest part of the design off and paint your darkest color first working to the lightest color last. an old airbrush needle works great for picking the liquid mask up as you paint.

hope this helps!

JSB: Thanks !!! I was really hoping to get to try this out over the weekend. Not looking likely. I will test my skills in a couple of days and let you know how it turns out.

www.renblastgraphics.com (http://www.renblastgraphics.com)

Thank You for the compliment...

I have been painting for about 4 yrs and 1 yr Good :D

Renblast: Thanks for the link. I especially like your latest design. The Patriot Rebel. Great work. :thumbsup:

Taping over the painted areas is usually reserved automotive stuff. You can also tape over painted areas on RC bodies to help keep the weight down.

Mask around anything that's silver because the silver RC paints weigh a ton. Sometimes I mask over white instead of backing it before I finish flames or pin stripes next to the white.

I read back a little about some people having a little trouble with masking tape bleeding through...If you use the green 3M tape available at any automotive paint shop it won't bleed as long as you use the back of your fingernail to press the tape down.

Liquid mask is only the way to go if you're really good with an exacto. Any mistakes will look like scratches when you're done.

Here is one I did for a guy who like M&M's. He gave me a picture of his old one. The old one was all stickers. This on I painted for him.......

Nice work!

Looks good!!

Renblast: That is definitely a one of a kind !!! I haven't seen anything like that before. Nice Job !!!

What will a 200mm body on a 190mm car look like?? I am thinking of a viper body.

James

Since you're only talking about 5 millimeters on each side, the difference isn't much. What it looks like, though, is largely a matter of taste as long as you don't race someplace with tight tech standards.

Ren- sweet................:D I like M&M's !!!

Thanks Nil. Thats what I was thinking.

James

Thanks for all the compiments.....:D

workin hard at it......