spraying the underside the same color as the body

Hey All,

Why do people spray the underside of their models the same color of their car bodies?

I think it's stupid because in reality, no car that I have seen has the color sprayed underneath.

Am I wrong?

Regards
Wolvy

I think it's stupid because in reality, no car that I have seen has the color sprayed underneath.

Am I wrong?

yes.
what colour a car is underneath is depends on the car.

Exactly. Depends on the car. For example, most Mercedes have the wheel wells sprayed the color of the car, and the overspray continues on the underside, but the most recent Mercedes have a lot of plastic panels and insulators underneath that you can't see the overspray anymore.

That said, I doubt any car has a perfectly painted color coat on the underside, so modelers shouldn't be painting the underside completely.

Some race cars have a body color underside when the whole thing is painted together, but it's rare...
I never painted underside with body color, even when I siuspected it could be the case. Paint economy...!! :)

Well, i think it's dumb cause no-one ever sees the underside in real life anyways.

I like to research the subject of my model. Getting it as accurate as possible spurs me on to completion. BTW, very few places on a car are totally hidden from prying eyes. I don't detail anything that won't be seen but even still that adds up to only about 5% of the model. I don't bother detailing the inside of a non-opening trunk for example. But the headliner? You bet!

I've found in photo research that the parts of the engine bay in the Mercedes SLS and Ferrari California (cross members, for example) that Revell recommends painting black are actually body color. It helps to know how the car is constructed. I've watch National Geographic's Ultimate Factories, which helps a lot in researching.

Dpends on the car and how old. Pretty much all cars have overspray somewhere. On older cars the overspray was/is on almost half the chassis. If i was you just research the car your building it so you can build it to your own preference.

I totally agree with all the comments. I just dont understand why people spray the entire underside. cause we all know that that is just not normal.

Well, i think it's dumb cause no-one ever sees the underside in real life anyways.

right, but for the most obsessed by accuracy there are some pics from building process that can show how it is, I especially think to a pic of the 307 WRC while it's on the painting frame which is something that makes the full body and underside turn while being painted like a chicken on a barbecue !! :icon16:
must have the pic somewhere on my hard drive... :sly: this is the one that shows me and teached me that some part of the underside could be body color...
You sometimes can also guess it when rally cars roll !!! :lol:

I tend to look at build threads for restorations or rebuilds to see what they have done 1:1 scale, most will overcoat the underside with a protective stone chip guard or similar flexible paint so I tend to paint matt black on the underside of mine to replicate that, concourse trailer queens are a different matter though, these cars tend to be from a time when factories wouldn't do that so the whole body is painted one colour but they're never driven anyway so there is no need to protect the paintwork.