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Frankster

Blitzer Beetle decal and painting work

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Hi,

Looking to pick up a Blitzer Beetle.  How hard is it to install the decals?   Also does the painted TS nose cone orange match the decal orange?

Any tips would be great

Thank you in advance

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Decals go in without too much trouble. The trick is matching the nose cone color. After building two Blitzer bodies, this is my experience:

First time I painted the red plastic nose cone with Tamiya White primer followed with TS-36 Fluorescent Red. I also painted the inside black, which darkened the tone a bit. It turned out too "red" and not matching the stickers too well. I don't have any pictures unfortunately.

My second attempt was documented on my build thread. Long story short, TS-36 without black inside also turned too red even thought this was a Sand Scorcher shell (white pastic). More details: Blitzer Beetle

I now think that probably the best way to match the sticker tone, although I have not tried it myself, is probably:

  • Prime white
  • Spray TS-16 Yellow
  • Spray TS-36 Fluorescent Red
  • TS-13 Clear for shine & protection
  • Leave the inside unpainted

Not sure if the above will match 100% but it should be closer. Good luck!

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The BB nosecone is translucent and light shines through it, it becomes a bit duller/darker at night.

Just as OoALEJOoO says, TS-36 over TS-16 over white primer gets very very close.  It's the same type of vivid orange as the stickers, however the paint has more luster and depth to it than the stickers.   

I've also tried TS-96 but it's too light, it's closer to yellow than orange.  

Personally I think the unpainted nosecone looks just fine (the slight color mismatch is part of the charm of the car)

I painted the splash graphics and nosecone on my current BB but I plan to buy another blitzer for beach bashing and I'll just use the stickers and leave the nosecone unpainted for that one.  

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I think these look best slightly rough and ready.  Mine is totally unpainted and looks a little skunkworks which I think suits the car.  The nosecone is a slightly darker orange than the decals.  Mine is a runner so I'm not bothered about it looking 100% perfect and shelf queen-like.

Decals are fine to fit if you use the slightly soapy water technique so you can line them up.

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6 hours ago, Twinfan said:

 

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🤗 From the photos the color difference is negligible. Did you install the cone first or decals?

I see the wipers are orange. Is it the same part tree as the nose cone?

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The paint is ts36 over ts16 over white primer over grey primer (they are almost the same color but the decals do look a bit dull compared to the shiny paint, perhaps not clear coating would help)

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1 hour ago, Pizza Frog said:

The paint is ts36 over ts16 over white primer over grey primer (they are almost the same color but the decals do look a bit dull compared to the shiny paint, perhaps not clear coating would help)

bb1.JPG

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bb4.JPG

Awesome!

I am torn about doing it correctly or a simple decal job.  Fear is if I put in too much labour I will be too afraid to drive and damage the body

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5 hours ago, Frankster said:

🤗 From the photos the color difference is negligible. Did you install the cone first or decals?

I see the wipers are orange. Is it the same part tree as the nose cone?

I built it as per the manual, and the decals go on once the body is all assembled - rear lights, glass, nose cone, mirrors, wipers etc.

The wipers come in the same bag as the nose cone on a smaller tree.  They're probably the same tree in production then split for packaging.  The wheels are the same orange too by the look of it.

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1 hour ago, Frankster said:

Awesome!

I am torn about doing it correctly or a simple decal job.  Fear is if I put in too much labour I will be too afraid to drive and damage the body

Thats what I've done when I initially build my Blitzer Beetle. Due to the body the car has a high CG and at does not always land on its wheels, even more with a hot motor. Therefore scratches are inevitable. 

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21 hours ago, Frankster said:

Awesome!

I am torn about doing it correctly or a simple decal job.  Fear is if I put in too much labour I will be too afraid to drive and damage the body

I understand, that's always a problem for me, I spent a lot of time painting RC cars last year so the cars I've bought this year have all had pre-painted bodies.

My Blitzer is a light runner, it screams to be run, haha.   I'm actually going to be taking it to the beach today (if it doesn't rain)

Painting it was easy though, I just did a base coat of yellow, then painted in the orange bits.  I used tamiya masking stickers and  traced the decals onto them and cut them out and stuck them on the body before spraying it with black.   I didn't use an airbrush just spray cans.  The green bits are just painted with a brush.

The hard part was polishing the clear coat and fixing a few places where the paint bled through some edges.   

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