Painting Tips Please

[Tessa Maloo]

Hey there im just after any painting tips for tamiya hard plastic bodies. Ive done my first go at spraying 2 colours on my tamiya hilux shell. I used good quality 3m tape to mask of areas i didnt want to paint and then painted the first colour which was dark. after removing tape i had a few partial spots of seapage from the paint. I used tamiya painting masking tape to tape over new dark colour and masked off large ares with paper and tape. After lighter colour applied (white i again removed tape and had a few small seepage marks but somehow tape spray had got under some pepered areas. Again i used tamiya tape tpo re mask light area and sprayed over original dark area to fix spray that had got under paper area. after removing tape from 2nd area that was white area agian i had minor seapage marks . Is there firstly anyway to remove slight darker overspray on lighter colour?

Is brushing over my only option apart from respray ?

Also the tape i removed from the white area has left tape marks on the painted white. Not so much gum as such more ghostly lines of where tape had been if that make sense.

Any suggestions?

[twisty]

The hardest thing is not to rush it.The paint needs to really harden off before masking for a second colour,thats probably why the masking tape has lifted slightly and also why deposits from the tape has left ghostly marks,the masking tape sticky might of eaten into the fresh paint.

I see you have 2 choices,

1,leave it to harden properly and cut the paint back with very fine wet n dry paper,then touch up the bleed and ghosting,then a few coats of clear when you are happy with the preperation.

or

2,strip it whilst it`s still soft and start again.

Others might have some ideas?

Best of luck.

[Bluefoot]

When you are masking - run the back of your fingernail along the edge of the tape to make sure it is firmly pressed down. That should eliminate the edge bleed. I always use Tamiya masking tape - it is designed for this very application.

When covering large areas - use plastic wrap (I use gladwrap). Paper can be porous, especially if you are using newspaper. Cover right around and tape up any gaps. Don't leave any openings that paint can drift into - that stuff gets everywhere.

As Twisty says - take your time, don't be in a hurry to get the next coat on. It can take several weeks to finish a body properly.

[Tessa Maloo]

Hey Twisty yeah you right. Is hard not to rush it. I had 5 days over easter and prob got to eager and just tried to acheive tio much to quickly. Am thinking that your suggestion of light sanding with fine wet n dry o remove ghosting marks in white paint.

To Bluefoot yeah thanks also for your response. I need a bit of paitents. i initially used 3m tape before any paint ad been appleid the shell. After my first layer of paint went on i have been using tamiya tape. It does work alot better. The only real areas ive since had trouble with seapage is where the guards roll up and out. The straight edges are fine. The glad wrap idear is a good one and hadnt heard that before. I will give it a try next time round.

Thanks to you both for someone whos sorta new to this as although i have done in the past it never hurts to be remined of the basics and paitients. I know the questions on varying topics can get monotinous but i thankyou both for being paitient with my questions.

[terry.sc]

Best advice to give is that you have a read of Shodogs hard body painting guide.

http://www.j2drc.rchomepage.com/Scaleartic...int%20guide.pdf

[Tessa Maloo]

Hey Terry.sc thanks heaps for the Shodogs tip. Wish i had read before starting. lots of common sense but is simple an easy to make sense off and if i had thort about it instead of rushing it. Cheers.

[HunterZero]

Hey Terry.sc thanks heaps for the Shodogs tip. Wish i had read before starting. lots of common sense but is simple an easy to make sense off and if i had thort about it instead of rushing it. Cheers.

Another good tip is once you've laid the tape (avoid handling the tape edge you're painting to with your fingers! Use tweezers) and run your fingernail along the edge, spray a couple of thin layers of TS-13 clear first to seal it. That way, if anything is going to bleed under the tape, then it will be the clear and you won't see it.

When spraying colour, start with mist coats, don't try to cover it all right away. Then spray slightly thicker coats so the paint just starts to gloss up on the body, then STOP. Any more paint and you are risking paint runs.

When spraying and masking, it's best to wait at least a few days between coats. You can then use polishing compound to remove any overspray, or with careful masking of the top colour after all colours are dry you can even reduce or correct bleeds. Or, spray your first colour then a layer of clear, let that cure, then mask and paint the second colour, which gives you a bit of extra paint layering to polish out any bleeds when you sand/polish.

If you're working with metallics, you can't really polish them, and you must use a clear coat - if you sand metallic paint, you'll need to paint another thin coat of colour to restore the nice finish before clear coating.

When sanding, be VERY careful of raised edges and corners. Paint tends to be very thin there, and sandpaper will knock off the colour there in no time. I usually mask the raised edges when sanding. Polishing compound is even better as it allows you to go slower, and remove sanding marks.

When spraying the clear coat, it's best to either do it immediately after you finish spraying the last colour coat, or wait for a couple of weeks for the paint to fully cure. I've heard of clear coat cracking or crazing if it's not done this way due to the paint curing at different rates.

When painting multiple colours on a hard shell... Spray the lighter colours first, then the darker colour over that.

And remember - paint hides nothing. Your result will only be as good as the preparation.

You can practice painting on some scraps of plastic, or buy a cheap 1/24 kit to learn the ropes.

You can always strip the paint and start again - but that starts to get expensive in rattle cans.

- James