Help - Painting Clear Body Panels - Tamiya 300ZX Hood

i recently got a nissan 300zx turbo model and i will be painting it flat back tomorrow with gray primer. i have a problem with the hood its clear and has no hinges. im wondering if i should glue it on too the car for painting. tape it or paint it seperatly. since it has no hinges im gussing you have to take it off to see the engine. so im wondering since its clear will i have a uneven match of paint since its see thru.

As long as you prime both body and hood with gray primer, you'll be fine.

If you skip primer, AND also use a translucent color like yellow or metallic, you'll probably have unmatching body and hood, but you're using flat black for the body color, and it's very opaque, so you shouldn't worry about the problem.

If you really want to be extra safe paint both sides of the hood. If you are never gonna take off the hood then just glue it onto the body and spray away.
If you are planning to take it off now and then or leave it off completely, then I suggest the following:
If the paint is metallic: Count coats of paint and take extra care of direction of paint.
If the paint is normal flat black: just count the coats and you should be ok!

HTH,
Steve

I've built more than a couple of those, ZX's and other clear hood kits. I've found the easiest way to deal with the clear hoods and make them match is to paint the underside of the hood the same color as the rest of the body is molded in. Then paint or prime all the body parts as usual. Sometimes the underside of the hood is painted another color and I have yet to get any color change on the top this way. And I leave the hood separate as I like engines... - Mark