Well, here we are again........... post all your painting questions, tips,and answers here. This thread is for Pro's and Newbies alike, so ask away.

First of all, thanks for offering your help!

My questions:

What do you use to mask inside the body (tape, liquid, etc)?

How do you mask the different designs inside these bodies? I've painted a couple bodies myself with simple two-tone designs, and I found it rather difficult to place symmetrical designs inside my body. I'd like to know how the really good painters manage to get such great designs masked inside these bodies.. (I used good ol' masking tape from 3M. Bled very little (for my first amateurish tries).)

Any masking tips would be great!


Thanks,

-jlt

Jaket,
I've done hundreds of bodies, with liquid mask and masking tape. Either one works out fine, some guys really prefer the liquid mask, but for economy's sake for the 3-4 bodies a week I do, I prefer tape. 3m masking tape is great; one of the brands I use, along with cheap econo stuff I get at the dollar store, and pricier "artists tape" I get at the art supply store that I use for intricate details. For the designs, I mark the outside of the body with a sharpee pen, tape up the inside, then hold it up to the light and cut along the lines. Use a brand new Xacto blade, use light pressure, and take your time. Intricate designs require lots of careful planning, it's well worth the time. And you'll never have a bleed under problem with the masking tape, as long as you press down the edges, and use very light coats of paint, especially the first 2-3 coats. I'm sure you'll soon get a reply from JS, take him for his word, he's the best, and sets the standard that I'll always use as my goal.
Tim

What do you use to get the marker off the outside of the body? I have never painted a body before and I have one waiting to do.

JWoolz-I remove sharpee pen marks from the outside of bodies with lighter fluid (Ronson yellow bottle or Zippo) or denatured alcohol (not rubbing alcohol) They come right off with either one of these, but USE CAUTION when working with these chemicals, they're both extremely combustible, and the vapors are nasty. I get all the overspray off with something called EZ Liftoff, a solvent which is available in most hobby shops, it also does a great job of removing sharpee marks. This is also very flammable stuff, take a look at the cautions on the label before using it.

Thanks so much for the help. I'll try and post pics of my first try in a little bit!

Hey Tim! you spend way too much time painting!lol........

Jaket- Welcome aboard! What Tim said pretty much covers your question......... I also draw all of my work out on the body, but here's a great tip- Draw your design out on tracing paper first, it's semi transparent. Then you can have the same design on both sides of the body by simply lining it up inside the body where you want it, and then tracing it on the outside with a sharpie as Tim described. This is really helpful with flame designs and such that you want equal on both sides.

JWoolz- can't add anything to what Tim said..... except welcome aboard too!


I have been running ragged lately, and will continue to be scarce here. A special thanks ahead of time! to Tim and all the other regulars who field questions from everyone.


finally got to try the Alclad chrome paint too.... it's great!

ever have a paint job compermised by a fish eye? here's how i fixed mine. with my airbrush in my right hand and a HEAT GUN in my left hand (cranked up on high) i heated up the lexan and immeadiately ghost coated the spot. i repeated this till it was filled. there was a little blemish but nowhere near what it looked like before i did this. other wise the paint will not stick or fill the crater.

ACK!?! I need help. I've been in the hobby for years but I just started airburshing with the new water based Faskolor paints and I haven't aribrushed anything in over 12 years!?! So I basically forgot everything. . .

I'm using a double action Paasch airbrush and D500 compressor.

How much are you watering these paints down? It seems like I can't get them to come through unless I use full power from the compressor. But I think that is causing the tip to dry out too fast because I literally only get to airbrush for about 6 seconds before I need to clean the tip and needle. It's so much of a hassle I'd rather be using a spray can again. But I know I'm doing it wrong so far and I just need some assistance to get this to work.

I remember reading quite a while ago that you don't have to water these paints down, but I just can't see these working unless I do. But how much watering down is needed, and how long can you guys go before the paint stops spraying nicely?

I know this question has most likely been answered a long time ago, but it would take hours to sort through all the messages.

Any help would be great, thanks!
Ben

Hey Tim and JS!

Thanks for advice. That makes a helluva lot more sense than some of the things I was thinking!! :)

I'll have more questions later. Thanks for a thread to ask!!

-jlt

Bencolor-Never had to thin Fascolor, it does come out of the bottle a bit thick, but I use a minimum of 40 psi with it, preferrably around 60. I do have to do a thorough cleaning of my airbrush (a Pasche VL)between bodies,(taking it completely apart and using acetone and a pipecleaner) but never betwen coats, usually just water or Badger airbrush cleaner betwen colors. (Fasglitter is a different story, instaclog) Maybe try a different combination of needles and tips to see if that might alleviate the problem. If you continue to have problems with Fascolor, try the new Pactra water based paint, it's very thin, and sprays more like conventional paint. I like the thickness of the Fascolor, as I almost always use the detail cup, and the Fascolor tends not to spill out as easily.

JS- Great tip on the tracing paper, take it easy man, I've been letting the rats win the race lately, but got to get 3 bodies done for the Philly hobby show by this Friday, only got one masked so far, oh well. Also got prototypes for EDM bodies done for 2 types of car. God Bless you and hang in there.

I'm using the largest tip I have right now, #5, I believe it is. I have a few more that are smaller. I'm using the VL airbrush as well. I'll mess around and see if I can get it to work, but so far, the paint has been clogging up just several seconds after I'm spraying... I also do not have a pressure gauge on my compressor so I'm not sure what PSI I'm using, are there any inexpensive gauges that you know of?

Bencolor-Any store that handles plumbing or welding supplies should be able to hook you up with a pressure gage and all the fittings needed to hook it up for well under $10. If it's a purpose built airbrush compressor, (Pasche, Badger etc) it will only put out about 20 psi.

Hi guys,

Its been a while since I Posted, but i've been keeping an eye on you all :D
Thought Id show off my latest body, It took me bloomin ages to complete and took only a couple of races to trash it :( the pics are taken after that 2nd day, but a closer inspection show a completely different picture. Oh well, guess its back to designing a new one again, at least thats something to look forward to.
The Flame-like mask is from XXX-Main, the chequered rear was done using Liquid Mask and masking tape (dont ask!) the other details are on the pic.
The Alclad chrome is a delight to work with! Ive only ever used Faskolor, Is the pactra range the same stuff as alclad?? Wouldn't mind trying it.

PaulC2K

Picture never added itself, strange....

I am about to paint my first RC body. It is a buggy. What is the proper way to paint the wing? You are suppose to paint the under side of the body, but the way the wing is in the mold you are not painting the underside....hmmmm

Dano-Cut the wing out, tape it to a scrap piece of wood or cardboard with the downside facing up, and paint away! If the flat look of the vertical portion of the side dams turns you off, you can either sticker it up with some decals, or take the more complicated way of wing painting-(I do this only if a customer requests it because it is tedious)-Mask the upward facing side of the horizontal part and the outsides of the side dams. Then paint the insides of the side dams, and the downside of the horizontal part as I have described in the first part of this post. Then you'll have shiny sidedams on your wing.

TimWeber1,

Any problem getting the decals to stick on the paint of the vertical sides of the wing? How well does the paint hold up?

Da King-great idea
Dano-the decals will stick like crazy

Paul- nice work! how well did the chrome hold up?

Tim- thanks again! I'm not taking any more orders till may, that backed up on work. But we got the store open, and will soon have pic's of it on our site. Still no races though, but they'll come back.

Kingpin- great idea!

Ben color- tip dry is a problem with the parma paints, especially at higher psi. Try to thin them just enough to spray through the brush at 40 psi, usually a teaspoon of water will be enough.


Hello to everyone- trying to get caught up on things, but it's almost madness right now. If not for the peace of mind from the Lord I would probably lose my mind. I hope to spend more time around here soon.

Unil next time!may the Lord bless and keep you!

Well I painted my first body this weekend. All in all it turned out pretty good, and I am happy with it. I did get a bit more ovespray on it then I hoped for.

Is there a place where someone could get templates for paint schemes? Such as flames or other graphics.

T3rookie- not sure about templates. but you can pick up great masks from Parma and XXX-main. They have al kinds of flames and other cool designs too. They are available at most hobby shops, or by mail order.

JSB, does this answer your question??
actually, it looks worse there, on the outside it only noticable if you can see something behind it, otherwise its still reflective.

Going to be trying the Prismatic blue-green and blue-UV tomorrow morning, just got to pick my compressor up after a repair on the regulator.

PaulC2K

What did you do there? I have used a ton of chrome (lots of requests :thumbsup: ) and have never seen anything like it. How are you applying it? And what are you backing with?

Right, I did about 4-5 coats of Chrome, then backed it with Fasblack, then fascoated it for good measure (used my finger to apply it, dont trust it in my airbrush!)

Perhaps the actual question should be not what am i backing i with, but what am I hitting it with :hat: (thats a dunces hat btw!)

I've still got to pick up the compressor today, i'll start paining at about midnight, through till 3-4 in the morn!

PaulC2K

I haven't tried this yet,i am really scared to but will Easy-Off Oven cleaner take the paint off of Lexan Bodies without hurting it? I know it works on styrene model kits..........silverback2:wave:

Whatever you say. I just have never seen anything like it and I use Chrome alot....Tyr washing and rincing ALL the soap out of the body before you paint it :D :lol:

Just took another look a that picture, If you look at it, theres a complete patch, a rectangle. Well, I usually add Fibre-glass tape to the underside of bodies, can you guess on that picure, where the Fibre-glass tape went, bet you can. Bonnet & Bumper, it pulled quite a lot off, maybe its carried on going round, the areas which had already pealed of have gradually got larger. The other areas (like near the mount holes) are fine, as is the back end which has no chrome.

The tape would have stayed on, but in my first ever outdoor meeting it started raining and the tape started to peal off, so i took it off rather than risk it entering the drive belt

PaulC2K
(started writing this 4-5 hours ago!! talk about getting side-tracked!)

That looks weird. The only other thing I see is amybe the Fascoat had something to do with it. I haven't done anything yet in chrome and sealed it with fascoat. The only time I use fascoat is when I do Nitro cars and trucks and haven't done anything chrome on gas yet.(maybe I won't by the looks of that).

Ive been using the fascoat really as an extra coating, for protection against the bodywork, I dont want it to scratch and that felt like it helped. The odd thing is, its stretchy like liq mask when its peeling off.

Im gonna start on the next body in the afternoon (miss morning, ive seen most of it already!) Has anyone tried the prismatic paints yet?
I've practiced on Cola bottle strips, the base makes a usefull object for testing with as its contours show the paint in different angles.
The Blue-UV looks good but its not a strong effect, the green-blue is more obvious as the green glitter is in-your-face, but the blue isnt strong. Both seem to be pretty weak in there second colour, yet some pictures i've seen suggest otherwise. Ive been backing with black as white looks terrible, cant see much!

I'll post pics of the cola bottle in the evening if anyones interested in see it. Might be tricky to get the colours on photo as its hard enough getting it by eye!

PaulC2K
sorry for any spelling mistakes, 4 in the morning & my eyes have gone!

I haven't tried this yet,i am really scared to but will Easy-Off Oven cleaner take the paint off of Lexan Bodies without hurting it? I know it works on styrene model kits........silverback
:D

Silverback2: :confused:
I've no idea!! I'd doubt it'd work. Not on a laquer paint. In saying that, this is the first time i've used it, but i'd imagine that it would eat away at the lexan.

PaulC2K

I haved used to Blue / Green also. I did a practice piece of lexan with about 6 differant colors. the only one I liked but wasn't strong on the blue lilke you said was doing it in black. If you do it in dark blue you get more blue but it doesn't look that great.....I will keep on posting for I am trying most of them as I go.... On my own bodies that is that way when they are jacked up I can't get one of those sad faces saying (well thats not what I really wanted):D

Paul- see what you mean now.... are you letting the chrome dry overnight before backing it? also, what kind of body prep are you taking before painting?


Renblast- welcome aboard!

You guy's keep it coming on the Alclad paints, we are still experimenting with them also.
I have only had time for one chrome body myself so far, but I like the stuff!

Normally, id prepare the body by washing, then using a brillo-pad (not sure what you'd call them, like wire wool for washing.) but knowing that i was using the chrome, i gave it a miss, otherwise the effect would have been lost.
Im pretty sure the tape took it off now thinking about it, the rest of the shell is clean and looking good. Pity really.

I've taken pics of the cola bottle with g-b & UV-P but the Smartmedia rader isn't working. I need to restart the PC to get it to work and im chatting at the moment!! sorry. I'll try again tomorrow if the pics look good, i'll post them.

Well, the pictures turned out pretty pathetic, so I wont bother uploading them, It just emphasises the main colour.
But....
Today at the trackside shop, they had a Mazda RX7 done in Green-Blue Fade to Blue-Ultra Violet, and put simply, it looked stunning!!

The blue in B-G was clearer to see once put onto a larger surface area, although the Blue-UV doesn't stand out as much as hoped for. The G-B is more of a glitter effect, the B-UV is more subtle and perhaps the rear of the car didn't show the effect as nicely as the bonnet did. Its possible. Anyway, Ive got a lovely scheme planned so i might be quiet for the next few days as im going away for the easter Weekend, Ice Hockey Play-off finals are calling :D :D

PaulC2K

Haven't seen any posts here in a while, I guess everyone is painting away. James, how's it going with the new shop? Hope all is well with you, my brother. As for me, finally getting a chance to work on my own RC stuff as I'm getting 3 cars ready for the upcoming dirt oval season. One new Taurus EDM body is completed for my Intimidator, and another is under construction for a new prototype dirt oval chassis I'm also working on. A question on the Alclad paints to you guys, how are the fumes, and does the paint contain lead as I have heard rumor of? Thanks guys, feel free to ask any old painting question, getting lonely here in the Painting Q & A section.

Tim: I certainly hope it doesn't contain Lead!!
I didnt use a mask to do the front of my bodyshell, didn't seem to bad, perhaps the 'Plastics' version contains lead if any do, i dont recall reading any warning on the tiny packaging to suggest there was any. Hopefully i'll get round to doing a new shell this week.
If anyones interested (doubt it!) but my Ice hockey team made it to the final but got beat on penalties after being 3-1 up and the opposition scoring with 2:10 on the clock!! oh well, I didnt expect them to even make the semi's so the final the next day was a bonus!

PaulC2K

Tim...... staying too busy! The shop is doing ok, customers are starting to return again. the first race went well even though we counted the old fashioned way. I'm so backed up on painting, any new orders are now being taken for the last week of may so I can get caught up!


Be careful what you pray for, God is just too good!


I sure hope there is no lead in the allclad paints!

Someone did an amazing body and posted it onto HPI's website it was stunning, it was Chrome backed with blue. the blue was clear to see but not in your face, Ive put the link onto the bottom.

I've check the packaging of the Alclad Chrome and the UK stuff doesn't mention anything about lead

* Avoid prolonged breathing of vapours
* Harmfull if swallowed!
and thats pretty much everything.

PaulC2K

Just checked HPI's site, they removed all attachments about 3wks ago, I've emailed the person, and i'll uploaded them if i get a response.

Just won the "Concours Challenge" at American Raceway in Englishtown NJ over a BIG field of entrants, I'm walking about a foot off the ground! Did up a Protoform Alpha (it's a white elephant, nobody ever buys Alpha bodies) with blue Fasglitter and lime green flames outlined in flourescent red/orange. I'm really getting a handle on the Fasglitter, and I was the only one there that used it. I was positive that a guy that had a car with Alclad chrome flames would win, but I guess the judges liked mine better.

You can get a great pearl lime green color by mixing a little bit of green with Fascent yellow, adjust the amount of green till the color is to your liking.

With the Fasglitter, my technique is to remove the needle from your airbrish completely, turn your compressor up to 80 psi, and hold the body far away, at least 2 feet. You only need a very light coat of glitter to get a great efect, using lots of coats only mutes the backing color. I generally use the silver Fasglitter as it's neutral, and can be used with any backing color without any effect on color.

Tim Weber Congrats on the concourse win.Glad to see the FasGlitter is working well for you.We use a Badger 250 here at work all we do is pop the cap stick the tube down the small hole of the bottle.No Muss No Fuss easy clean up with hot water.
Mr.Parma :)

My win was due in no small part to your products, they've provided me with the material I needed to take my painting to the next level!!!
Tim

hey guys,
i have been spraying out of a 9 gallon tank, it seems to work fine but i also have a 3 horsepower compressor to fill it, witch i can also spray with. Witch one is better to use?

also what psi should i spray pactra (the ones that you thin with laquer thinner)

and finally what is the best thinner to paint mixture for the following

blue streak -
metalic blue-
pearl purple-
flourescent yellow-
indy silver-
white-
black-
red-

sorry for all the questions, i just started airbrushing, my first body came out okay but it had all hard lines:(






http://www.printroom.com/EditAlbum.asp?album_id=63700&curpage=1

Concours challenge winner

can i use anything besides laquer thinner to thin pactra paints?
it seems like i use a bottle a paint job, between cleaning my airbrush and thinning.
i would like to just use the thinner to clean up, is the possible?
i heard i can try alcohol instead of thinner.

steve

Steve,
Not sure what to tell you to use for thinner, you might want to experiment with different things. Keep in mind that you can buy various thinners at Home Depot or Lowe's in quart cans for a fraction of what it costs for small bottles of it at a hobby store. If you're going to try alcohol, make sure you use denatured alcohol, the rubbing variety isn't worth much for thinning, as it's over 50% water. I steered away from the Pactra once the Fascolor came out, the fumes from the stuff were more than I (or my family & pets) could handle, as it would stink out the entire house, and who knows what the cumulative effects on my body have been from using it for 10+ years. If you prefer Pactra's colors, they now make all the same shades in a water based variety, with practically no fumes at all, but I still use a mask when I paint, and would recommend you use something better than a nuisance mask (preferrably something with a charcoal filter)and gloves, as you don't want to repeatedly get this stuff on your skin, it does seep through your pores, and your liver has to work overtime to get it out of your system, especially the case with anything that you inhale.
Tim

tim your camera doesn't do that body justice. blury pic

Hey all, hows painting?

Tim, congrats man! I haven't competed in concourse in years myself, but still remember the satisfaction that comes from winning!
Now I paint concourse bodies for everybody else to win with.
Check out this modified buldozer body I painted. It was actually done for one of the guy's who drives the bull dozer truck.

www.jsbodies.com/madbull.jpg


Until next time!