How to do a white body?

[fristajlo 45]

Would like to get some input from people more experienced than me in the art of paintwork. I think polycarbonate bodies painted in white always look horrible. Just looks like something is off, can’t put my finger on what it is but it doesn’t look white enough? Tried myself a couple of times and it turns out white but not the way I wish it would. Got the new Tamiya porsche that is supposed to be white and it too looks bad on official pics, professionally built and all. 
Are there any tricks to make a good looking white body except painting it on the outside?

[alvinlwh 5895]

I use Vallejo Premium white primer. Premium because it is made for RC and PC bodies. Primer because they are meant to cover the surface in preparation for other paints, so are thicker in the color sense, and usually sticks better and are more tough. While normally an airbrush paint, they can be brush painted on and since it is done on the inside, brush strokes do not matter.

The white roof is done in that paint.

 

[OoALEJOoO 3128]

Something that personally makes all shells (of any color) look like something is off is the fact that the thinness of the shell, even with paint, makes light shine through. This makes the car scream cheap, toyish, and just plain off. This is particularly apparent with bodies painted white. Maybe this is what you are referring to.

It has always puzzled me why nobody ever seems to comment about this, and time and time again, all over the internet and in tutorials people recommend painting dark colors first and light colors last with no final black backing. This makes white shells the worst offenders since they get only a single paint color.

I always back all my shells with black at the end. This eliminates any light bleed and gives the shells a nice, solid look with no light bleed-through. I can't stress enough how important this is with white shells.

I normally paint whatever color makes masking easier, then make sure that color is properly backed (usually white for non-metallics) and then back with black at the end. Note that specially for white shells, it is important to paint sufficient thickness in white paint before applying the black, otherwise you might get some dark areas. I've painted several white shells and a full single Tamiya PS-1 White has been sufficient for one shell. Then it takes about 1/3 of a can of PS-5 black to back since you only need to light coat.

An exception perhaps, is for racing cars where you really want to minimize paint since it adds weight.

Another aspect that makes white shells look bad is not doing panel lines. I guess the whiteness of the finish makes the lack of detail more apparent. You don't really need something fancy to do the lines. You can get good results with a 0.5mm black permanent marker and a flexible ruler to lean against to trace straight lines along the body curvature. A flexible ruler can be any strip of material that can bend. Sharper curves are generally small enough that you can do them unaided by hand. If you mess-up, you can always erase with a damp cotton/cloth with alcohol and try again.

Good luck  

**Edit** some examples of white cars I've painted:

 

[alvinlwh 5895]

22 minutes ago, OoALEJOoO said:

Another aspect that makes white shells look bad is not doing panel lines. I guess the whiteness of the finish makes the lack of detail more apparent. You don't really need something fancy to do the lines. You can get results with a 0.5mm black permanent marker and a flexible ruler to lean against to trace straight lines. A flexible ruler can be any strip of material that can bend. Curves are generally small enough that you can do them unaided by hand.

That is how I do panel lines on my Gundams although the pros call it cheating. 

[Mad Ax 9329]

I always back white with silver before adding black (in fact if you go silver, you don't need black, it just makes the interior look nicer).

I think the other big problem it Tamiya's white paint colour is not very nice.  It's a very pure white, like they used on fridges and washing machines before they went all fancy brushed aluminium colour.  Most white cars aren't pure white, they've got hints of other colours blended in.  If you had an airbrush you could try to mix in a tiny amount of something else to try to get a nicer shade.  I've got an airbrush but never got around to trying this since I don't do many all-white cars.  Maybe just a roof or panel in white, or a lot of block colour graphics to take the eye off the shade.

My Globe Liner (obviously ABS, not polycarb) is moulded in pure white and painted in Ford Diamond White (Halfords rattle can).  The difference between the unpainted body and the painted one was astounding, even before all the little details were painted.  The plain body looked like a cheap toy with that pure white colour, with the Diamond White (which isn't far off double cream) it looked real.

[alvinlwh 5895]

Just had a thought following what @Mad Ax suggested, maybe try Absima Paintz 3500038 Metallic White?

[markbt73 5316]

Yep, white, then silver, then black is the way to go. I've started backing everything in black, it looks more finished when you look through tje windows, even if there isn't an interior.

[M 800STD 586]

I use Core - White Knight with no backing.

Perfect!

[87lc2 2666]

As everyone else has said, back it with black and it will look great.  No matter what my first backing color is on a lexan body I back everything in a final coat of black.  Here is a recent white body I did, just PS1 white backed in rattle can black.  Makes it look better with clear or cut windows as well, would much rather see black inside than white or any other color. 

[Howards 457]

Lay the white down reasonably thick then back with gunmetal or silver or bright silver. Then black. 
 

Try blending in a pearl white for an extra dimension. 

[Juggular 4964]

4 hours ago, fristajlo said:

white always look horrible. Just looks like something is off, can’t put my finger on what it is but it doesn’t look white enough?

I came to the opposite conclusion.  I thought white spray is too white. Especially, if there are other colors next to white.  I feel nothing in life can stay as white as fresh snow. If you shrink it down to 1/10th scale off-white seems more realistic.  

Whenever I want to paint white, I just use "Pearl White (PS-57)."  If the color next to white is warmer color (like orange below), pearl white looks just white.  Pearl white by itself, looks like white in real life. (In the photo it looks darker than it is. When I used Pearl white for the first time, I was disappointed, because it looked like white).  So, that's my solution. I just use pearl white.  But if you don't like this color, you can try backing with silver like other members have suggested. (I should give that a try someday)

 

[Xeostar 815]

I agree with the backing with black comments. Here are a few, 2CV without black backing, it looks a bit weak and watery I think compared to the others.

 

[87lc2 2666]

Yea, the black backing gives the color depth no matter what the base coat is.  I back everything in black, yellow, blue, red, etc.  Silver in between is nice on a lot of colors, but they always get black.  If a lighter color like white or yellow be sure to have a good coat of color before going black, it will show easily without good initial coverage. 

[Willy iine 18806]

1 hour ago, Juggular said:

I came to the opposite conclusion.  I thought white spray is too white. Especially, if there are other colors next to white.  I feel nothing in life can stay as white as fresh snow. If you shrink it down to 1/10th scale off-white seems more realistic.  

Whenever I want to paint white, I just use "Pearl White (PS-57)."  If the color next to white is warmer color (like orange below), pearl white looks just white.  Pearl white by itself, looks like white in real life. (In the photo it looks darker than it is. When I used Pearl white for the first time, I was disappointed, because it looked like white).  So, that's my solution. I just use pearl white.  But if you don't like this color, you can try backing with silver like other members have suggested. (I should give that a try someday)

 

 

Agreed.. and you're great with those professional grade water colors for your drawings so I am glad I got this right.    Not polycarbonate, but when I painted the SandScorcher and my Comical ClubBug, I used off-white (hint of yellow hue for warmth).

My 1:1 cars have pearl in their whites.  It's a warm, rich color.

[Juggular 4964]

4 hours ago, Willy iine said:

Not polycarbonate, but when I painted the SandScorcher and my Comical ClubBug, I used off-white (hint of yellow hue for warmth).

My 1:1 cars have pearl in their whites.  It's a warm, rich color.

 

Hold on, are you saying this is Pearl White?  

I thought it would be good when warm colors are next to it.  I stand corrected.

Pearl white looks very good next to a cool color too!  

 

[Willy iine 18806]

10 minutes ago, Juggular said:

 

Hold on, are you saying this is Pearl White?  

I thought it would be good when warm colors are next to it.  I stand corrected.

Pearl white looks very good next to a cool color too!  

 

No not those, my 1:1 cars are pearl white.  

 

[OoALEJOoO 3128]

I agree that the PS-1 white is very white, but that is the reason I like it  It makes all the other details and colors pop.

I've tried backing with silver before black but have found this unnecessary if you instead put extra white before backing with black. Moreover, when spraying metallic paints, the overspray leaves metallic particles dangling in the air that I assume are more harmful to your health (assumption there) than non-metallics. For this reason, when having a choice, I avoid spraying metallics unless the color really requires it.

[Theibault 1535]

Your choice of white and back with silver. Easy peasy. PS, I personally disagree with ^, but to each his own.

[OnTheTrail 1152]

Something else to try if you're looking to get away from the "toyish" look is spray the outside with flat or semi gloss clear coat.   Granted if the car is going to take abuse, then this is not a good idea but let's be honest.  If these things are runners and going to take abuse, we most likely are not overly concerned with the toyish look as the're going to look "well used" in short time.  

While not white, here's an example of how dramatic a change it can make.

 

 

[fristajlo 45]

Thank you guys. Seems like I’m not alone with this issue. I’ll try backing my whites and hope it improves the result! Will also try pearly paint  

In my opinion the hardest is an all white body, partly white on some panels doesn’t seem to reveal the difficulty of getting it right. I think some of the pics posted here supports that. But good work guys, looks far better than my efforts so far👍🏻

[Busdriver 6209]

On 1/21/2022 at 3:40 PM, OoALEJOoO said:

always back all my shells with black at the end. This eliminates any light bleed and gives the shells a nice, solid look with no light bleed-through. I can't stress enough how important this is with white shells.

100% agree. I’ve just painted a metallic purple GTR shell. I backed the purple with  silver and although the colour was fab, despite having about 6 coats of paint on looked wrong. You could see shadowy parts of the inside. So I gave it a coat of black and hello beautiful. It really made the colour stand out and is completely opaque.

EDIT: sorry I realise this is not a white body but the science behind it is the same. As others have said white is bad but yellow that’s in a different league . 

[alvinlwh 5895]

3 hours ago, fristajlo said:

In my opinion the hardest is an all white body, 

Actually, whatever method you go with, just test it on a spare/scrape piece of material first. I find that white is actually OK to work with and yellow based are the worst, no matter RC or static model paint. 

I painted this in orange, backed it in black and it turned brown. In the model (and even house painting) world, yellow paint seem to be known to have the worse coverage. I had seen a number of posts complaining about it. 

Front how it should look like, back, how it looked like when backed with black. At least it goes with my "not quite box art" philosophy. 

[Willy iine 18806]

9 hours ago, fristajlo said:

Thank you guys. Seems like I’m not alone with this issue. I’ll try backing my whites and hope it improves the result! Will also try pearly paint  

In my opinion the hardest is an all white body, partly white on some panels doesn’t seem to reveal the difficulty of getting it right. I think some of the pics posted here supports that. But good work guys, looks far better than my efforts so far👍🏻

I used an acrylic based polycarbonate paint when I did my comical GH and Forg.  Both are white and only used white paint, no backing.  

They turned out a rich solid white.  And since everyone is posting random pictures, here are mine..  lol

Heck, the roofs on all my Mini Coopers are also just white, no backing..

 

[M 800STD 586]

Agree, if you want sharp colour, no backing is required on neutral colours such as black and white.

[InsaneJim69 1584]

2 hours ago, Willy iine said:

I used an acrylic based polycarbonate paint when I did my comical GH and Forg.  Both are white and only used white paint, no backing.  

They turned out a rich solid white.  And since everyone is posting random pictures, here are mine..  lol

Heck, the roofs on all my Mini Coopers are also just white, no backing..

 

Oof that Mini 😍😍👍 is that Brilliant Blue? 

James.