front & back bumpers

I am pretty new to car modeling. Can somebody gives me some advices regarding painting the body?

I am working on a plastic kit of RX8. The front and back bumpers are separate pieces from the body itself. I have already layed the primer coats this morning and I will wait a few days to let it harden. My question is, when I spray paint the body and bumpers, do I first put them together and spray them as one complete piece body or do I spray them separately?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thx.

I personally would paint them separate.

Welcome to AF! I'd keep the parts on the body to achieve overall equal lay of paint on the parts. Good luck.

Sorry to disagree but I would paint them apart, unless you can glue them on before hand.

If you can't glue then before hand, due to chassis needing fitting before bumpers can be attached, paint them apart and just count your layers. Reason it that if you put them on the body the paint forms in to the join and when you break them apart you run the risk of paint flaking off, chipping or leaving a bad join line mark.

It will look bad, so save the problems and paint them apart, and when attaching DO NOT use plastic cement.

Use CA glue (Tamiya CA is the BEST as it's formulated for plastic) and use small amounts.

Good luck

if it's possible, I glue them before. Easier to correct mistake before paint.

welcome to AF! just like blubaja i like to attach the parts beforehand.

thank you for the suggestions.

Another question. When I glue the painted parts together, I now understand that I must not use the cement on the painted surfaces. How about the clear glue? When I glue the headlight lenses and taillights, can I apply the clear glue directly onto the paint and the clear plastics?

Thx

thank you for the suggestions.

Another question. When I glue the painted parts together, I now understand that I must not use the cement on the painted surfaces. How about the clear glue? When I glue the headlight lenses and taillights, can I apply the clear glue directly onto the paint and the clear plastics?

Thx

Well you "could" use plastic cement if you removed paint from the two surfaces first.. Risky and messy, so I would't do it, that is why I said don't.

White glue would work, but it won't be strong, and Tamiya CA glue works on painted parts, and actually doesn't melt the paint too bad..

Tamiya CA glue is also fog free... It's perfect for model building. Everyday CA glue is MUCH stronger, and fumes badly.. It can "sometimes" leave white marks, so in a nutshell if you can get some, use Tamiya CA it's easier, safer and cleaner and stronger then white glue.

I attach parts after polishing(count layers!): It's really more easy finish each part and mount all. I prefere 2part glue (small amounts by Microbrush applicators) also Tamy CA is good and fix some CA bugs but basically epoxy glue have some elaxticity, CA is strongly rigid: if you need to carefully warp your body to fit chassis 2 part is better. You can also strip color from junctions and simply use plastic cement

Is this the Tamiya CA glue you guys are talking about?
http://www.1999.co.jp/dbimages/user/hobby/itbig/10028380.jpg

Is this the Tamiya CA glue you guys are talking about?
http://www.1999.co.jp/dbimages/user/hobby/itbig/10028380.jpg

IMHO that dispenser is cr*p!! The glue inside may be good but .... mine clogged up all the time and it was impossible to squeeze out small amounts :(

For me it was one of those gadgets that looks good in photos but bombs on the work bench.

Just my opinion.

BTW I glue big bits together first, if it doesn't intefere with assembling the model later. Otherwise seperately and also small body parts likw wing mirrors sepereately.

HTH

I will take you guys' suggestion and glue the part after I spray paint them.

In regards to the side mirrors. As mentioned, I should also paint them before attaching them to the body. Should I paint them before I dettach them from the tree? I have no idea how to spray paint such small parts if I take them off the tree and not gluing them to the body.

IMHO that dispenser is cr*p!! The glue inside may be good but .... mine clogged up all the time and it was impossible to squeeze out small amounts :(

For me it was one of those gadgets that looks good in photos but bombs on the work bench.

Just my opinion.

BTW I glue big bits together first, if it doesn't intefere with assembling the model later. Otherwise seperately and also small body parts likw wing mirrors sepereately.

HTH

just use microbrush applicator or toothpick

Test fit your car with the chassis plate in place, even glue the bumpers on with white glue and see how easy it is to get the chassis plate in and out. If possible, the best way to do it is to attach the bumpers before paint, then to put the body down on the chassis plate later, almost every car I've put together has worked this way. Doing it in this order will ensure that the body and the bumpers are the same shade, ensure that they fit together properly (imagine painting, polishing, fitting the interior and chassis, only to find out that the bumpers warped since you test fit them at the start of the build and won't fit now! Or worse, that they were off all along!) Installing after paint is a great way to ensure frustration. For mirrors, I like to remove them from the sprue, attach them with a DROP of CA to a chopstick of even a piece of scrap sprue, paint, and attach to the body with white glue. I've been taught (and now agree) that white glue is best here, because even though it's not the strongest joint, it will not damage the paint under where you attach the mirror and is therefore easy to repair when it is inevitably knocked off (and it WILL happen no matter WHAT glue you use and how careful you are).

Good luck, and choose whichever route you think best.

Great. I will use the white glue to see if it can hold tight enough. Since it doesn't demage the paint, I can always re-glue them if the parts fall off.

I think I can put the back bumper on to the body and paint and then put them together on to the chassis. Unfortunately, I can't do the same for the front bumper for this car kit. According to the installation instruction, the front bumper is almost the last thing to put on. I will double check to make sure though.

Thank you for the input so far.

I think I can put the back bumper on to the body and paint and then put them together on to the chassis. Unfortunately, I can't do the same for the front bumper for this car kit. According to the installation instruction, the front bumper is almost the last thing to put on. I will double check to make sure though.

Don't sweat it too much :)

As far as I remember, when I made my Boxster I could attach the front bumper before painting the body but not the rear one (or maybe it was the other way round ;) ). All kits are different in this respect. I just put ticks on the instruction sheet to keep score of coats done.

Chances are you won't be able to tell any difference unless you lose count of coats. I've noticed that I have a tendency to make coats comparatively "heavier" on smaller parts so maybe watch out for that, too.

Whatever you do, make sure you test fit everything before you start painting. It's a b**ch if you have to start sanding parts that have already been painted :). Your primer coat will show up any faults taht should be fixed before final painting.

Good luck! Will you be posting a progress thread?

I have primered the body so far. I have sanded the primer at the area where there are some running, some of the area after I sanded show the plastic color, so I may have over sand that particular area. I am not sure. The primered body has been rested for 48 hours for hardening, so I will put on the color coats tomorrow. I will take the pictures with the primer and the pictures with the color coats. I will start the progress tread if I have time.

Thank you again for the advice so far. Hope the paint will show up nice. Although I know it is hard to get the painting job right the first time, I will really hate to go out and find more primer and paint again. Plus, I don't know how to strip the paint and primer off if I messed it up. Someone mentioned CSC, but I couldn't find it in any hardware store or Kragen. Does other degreaser work as well as CSC?