Painting model car bodies! Full instructions! (Yes, you have to use primer!)

[Guiddy]

I always start with body on any model, as the time spent primering and drying can be spent assembling the rest of the kit.

So to spray a solid colour I do the following...

The body has the mold lines removed with a set of needle pliers, before finishing the whole body with a rub down using 800 grade wet and dry paper. Just enough to remove any scratch marks and give the primer something to key into.
Make sure you file the mold lines off whilst having a picture of the car near by! You don't want to remove what ends up being a panel line!
Wash with soapy water and a new toothbrush (Buy it yourself and don't pinch anyone elses!!!)
Rinse and leave to air dry where it won't get dusty or bitty.

Now, purchase some acrylic based Automotive primer, plastic primer is even better.
Grey for darker colours, white if it is red, yellow or white as they are translucent and show what's beneath.
If you live in the UK watch Halfords primer as it doesn't like base coats over the top, it cracks!

Our Subaru here is going to be white, so for this Halfords acrylic primer was fine.

Give the body three coats of primer, the first one being light, and then leave to harden for 24 hours.
Check your filing was done well and that no finishing needs doing.
If so, have another go to remove any imperfections and add primer to that area 24 hours later.

Primer MUST harden for 24 hours to avoid shrinkage.

[Guiddy]

If you have done all that, and are getting itchy fingers, after a few hours you can scrape the primer out of the shut lines on the doors and bonnet etc. as we will be filling them with black paint on lighter cars to make them more prominent.
Do it carefully though, one slip and you have to get the sand paper out again!

[Guiddy]

There are 2 ways of spraying the body, depending on time. I usually start the body and all it's parts first when I make a kit, as it will take the longest time of any part with all the preparation and the drying time.
Because of this, I can take the best approach which is:

Ready the body, clean it again if you need to, but wait a good few hours after to let the primer dry out.
Shake your chosen colour for the full 2 minutes, and then, having blu-tacked the body to something appropriate as a stand, and holding the body at a forearms length away, start spraying a light coat, never stop moving the can over the model. Also, start the spraying action off the model in case of any initial spitting or the wrong colour being picked up! (It has happened to me!)

Give the body about 10 mins drying time, and do it again, though slightly heavier now. You want to constantly have the panel you are spraying catching the light, so you can see how much is going on. You want to lay just enough on so that it has a slight orange peel look, as that will dry smooth. If it shines and looks runny, too much!!!

If you have time, leave it at 2 coats, let dry for 24 hours, smooth off the paint with a light going over of 1200 wet and dry in a bowl of soapy water, and then apply another 2 coats after the body has air dried!

If you can't be bothered with that, apply 1 more, maybe 2 more coats, if you have been light, straight on top of the others. This will mean more work with the polish, but no problems.

Now leave this alone for a full 24 hours, and carry on with the rest of the kit!

If you catch a piece of dust or a spec in the paint, stop at that coat, let dry for 24 hours and then rub the offending bit out with some wet and dry and apply the other coats.

You must let primer dry. If not, though it may look ready, the paint bubbles as the air in the primer escapes! Major balls up time if that happens! Allow at least an hour for it to air dry after washing in water.

[Guiddy]

The body has now been given 2 coats of paint. This is shrinking now, and settling in, so looks quite dull. Tomorrow I shall sand it lightly with some 1200 and soapy water, and it will be ready for another 2 coats, the final 2.
After that it is a case of leaving it for a week whilst the rest of the kit is done, and then it is given a good cutting back and polish.
The longer you wait for this, the better the results, as the paint hardens and stays sharper as all the shrinkage is complete.

[Guiddy]

The final 2 coats of paint were put on the body today, and that will be left for a week now to settle in, before the fun part, the cutting and polishing begins!
Due to the sanding between coats the paint will be quite thin, so I will have to be cautious with this one!

The black was sprayed round the windows, using the mask supplied.
You really should spray this, the mask is likely to leak if you brush paint it as capilary action will pull thin paint in!

And progress on the chassis.

I masked the front section off and sprayed it semi gloss black, but I decided the rear suspension was too complex to mask, so this will be brush painted.
The exhaust was masked and sprayed up to the point you see, but the rest will also be brush painted, and detail/weathering added.
I used that superb chrome paint I have to do the rear exhaust box, and it looks great!

[Guiddy]

The interior was all sprayed today, using the airbrush shown and Tamiya paints.
It has been done using XF-8 and three mixes of XF-63, as per the instructions.
Test fitting some of the parts of the body has revealed the paint is quite thick, and so I think some filing will need to be done to get the lights etc. to fit into their holes, and I want to do this before I polish it incase it chips some of the paint off!
No problems otherwise, just a lot of patience needed for all the masking today!
I shall now get on with hand painting the rear suspension, and it is ready for the brakes and wheels tomorrow...

[Guiddy]

I'll give my views on the whole kit when I have finished it, but it isn't the molded seat that's the problem, it is the molded suspension on the chassis!
I decided to brush paint it, but I hate doing that and it looks crap!
I am going to put the second coat on with the airbrush, so it comes out much smoother!
In trying to cut down assembly time, all they have done is increased painting time for the REAL modellers!

I will be happy doing a normal kit again, with nice, spray painted suspension!!! Plus that way I can lower a car if I want. With the Subaru I am buggered!!!

The air vents have a chrome ring round them, but I did that using BMW silver, not my chrome.
But the brake rotors are that chrome spray, and spot on they are too!

[Guiddy]

OK, a full week has passed and it is time to cut back the paint on the body!

You need:

An old white, cotton T-shirt
Cutting compound! Made by Tamiya, T-Cut, Auto Glym paint restorer, anything like that!

Putting a little paste on the cloth, work away at the surface of the paint, rubbing, checking, rubbing, checking, until the orange peel effect has been replaced with a smooth, shiny surface.
Go in cirlces or back and foth, up to you! Also, doing it with the cloth wet will make it shinier and smoother if you need it!

DO NOT KEEP RUBBING BACK TO PRIMER OR PLASTIC!!!

You will do it, I promise you! But it is all about learning! Only you can learn how much is too much!

Use cotton buds for tight spaces or grooves!

When you are statisfied with the results, you can polish it with normal car wax and polish, or modelling wax like that made by Tamiya.

[Guiddy]

I have taken a few shots, one of the interior, showing the little details such as hazards light switches, and the catching two tone interior, sprayed using an airbrush and Tamiya tape for masking.
All straight forward, and you get a lovely etched surround for the gearstick gate!

[Guiddy]

And this is how I do my black lining!

First clean out the door gaps with the back of a scalpel, carefully!

A very washy Tamiya gloss black is made, and using a thin brush, a large blob of the runny stuff is placed at the middle of a door shut, and immediatley you see it run up and down the door gap! Add more thinners if it stops, further down if you have to, then leave to dry!

You get little marks where the brush was dabbed, and when dry, these are lightly polished of with cutting paste or polish!

[Guiddy]

Excellent! I have at this very moment just finished it!!!

Here is the final result...

I must admit, I enjoyed today, everything went smoothly and it was the fun bit, those final touches!

The car is wearing a set of the latest British number plates! I don't fully understand them yet, but I know what you see is possible with the new layout!

Colour? That was an easy one! For a start I have GT3 on the PS2, and this is the colour I thought suited the WRX best in that game! Plus I loved the pink STI stickers on the front lamp covers, as they are black if you go for a blue colour! It gives it that real 'Nintendo' look in pink!

The chrome WRX sticker on the back was a lovely touch, I hope Tamiya include details like that in all their kits now!
It also had a chrome gear lever gate, interior mirror and external mirrors.

I did the model as the British WRX STI should appear next year, with clear windows all round (We don't go for this tinted rear quarter look!) and no rear wiper (Don't know why not, but just not!)

I hope you enjoy the photos. This one is to show just how shiny you can get that paint!

[Guiddy]

Another shot outdoors!

[Guiddy]

This one shows just how sharp the black lining on the doors comes out with that method.

[Guiddy]

For metallic colours, most of the technique is the same, except you will add about 3 coats of lacquer over the top of the base metalic colour (which should look dull!)
This can done 24 hours after the basecoat colour is applied.
Then you polish the lacquer the same as you do a solid colour, i.e after a week of drying time.

Do not add lacquer to solid colours, there really is no point!

[Guiddy]

When the model is all complete, just polish once more to get rid of the fingerprints and marks, and stand back and enjoy!

PM or email me if you have any questions! We are all here to help!