Best way to paint a body and separates parts

Hi guys,

I want to paint my new revell's viper, but the main body comes in 4 parts : the body, front bumper, rear bumper and hood. What is the best way to paint them, should I glue them together, paint everything and separate them after that or paint each part individualy?

Thanks!

First you want to semi build it, i mean put it together without painting or gluing it to see if it fits properly, sometimes you have to paint the bumpers seperately because the chasis won't fit if the whole body is assembled. See for yourself, hood should be painted seperately. Don't really know because i haven't built this kit.

Don't glue it all together. You could tack it in place with some gummy stuff. But don't use a glue that is permanent. When I paint a model, I paint the parts off of the main body. I backtape the pieces to a verticle object(empty paint can), the way they would sit on the model. For instance, you would have the rocker paneld horizontal so the paint would dry down in a natural position.

Frank X.

For 'tack welding' the parts together, try Aleene's Tacky Glue (In the gold bottle) or Super Tacky Glue (In the white bottle with blue label), both available for about a buck from a craft store. It's like a white glue, but it dries flexible and actually holds very well: It can support a whole rally car chassis by just three tiny attachment points for the roll cage.

I use it to tack cars together for test-fitting and it can even be used to glue windows and other clear lenses, and it peels off fairly easily (But larger amounts that have been sitting for a while can actually hold very strongly).

Don't glue anything yet, make sure everything fits first before any paint.

Fun tack (for putting up posters) works well to hold some parts in place. Bumpers and hood can be taped in place from underneath, so that they can be disassembled again.

You should use a good primer on the Viper if you are going to use any automotive paint. If you are using hobby paints, you can probably get away w/o primer.

For the hood and side covers, you want to make sure their undersides and their mounting locations are painted first. Paint the areas where the hood and the side covers fit first, and at the same time paint the backside and edges of the hood and side covers. Once the color is uniform, let them dry. Once dry, they can then be taped/mounted into place so that you can paint their upper surfaces along w/the rest of the body and bumpers and mirrors all at the same time w/the same number of coats. This way every piece will match, and you won't have bare areas that need color. If you paint everything separately, you'll likely have different colors on different panels.

thanks a lot for your help guys!

I still don't know if I will start this one right now, I have 10 models to build ;-)

If you can fix the part without problems later on, then fix it now, but if it will hinder the build, such as problems gettng the body on the chassis leave it off. Just count your paint layers, and the colours should match fine. I always attach the parts after painting with CA, as removing a bit of paint on both edges to get bare plastic to use plastic cement is a pain..!! CA glue is easier, as it makes a good join without removing paint.

I always attach the parts after painting with CA, as removing a bit of paint on both edges to get bare plastic to use plastic cement is a pain..!! CA glue is easier, as it makes a good join without removing paint.

Unless you put too much on and it can then prove to be a right royal pain in the arsenal!

i usually glue together before painting and paint with the hood on because then everything goes on in a natural position. if not glued together then find someway to stick it together with like tape or something. and if you use CA then apply it with like a toothpick or something, because if there is too much it will leak and you can get foggy parts and whatnot.

i like gluing as much as possible ahead of time. that way i can sand excess glue away, and i dont need to worry about mucking up the paint job when i'm gluing the parts after they are painted. make sure you can still get everything to fit right though before you glue it.