white paint on red plastic

Hey everyone! I am currently building a Tamiya Enzo FXX. I want to paint it pearl white. The problem is, the plastic is red....UGH! Any ways around this? I don't want the red to ghost through. So, maybe spray grey primer, then white primer then pearl white? Please help me!

-Chris

Im pretty sure just white primer will be good, make sure you spray enough coats though. Grey primer, white primer will work, but then you have to cover the grey primer, so i figure its a waste of primer. Also if you intend on using white pearl, i would spray white first then the pearl white, just how i would do it. Different people will tell you otherwise, its just on their preference.

Im pretty sure just white primer will be good, make sure you spray enough coats though. Grey primer, white primer will work, but then you have to cover the grey primer, so i figure its a waste of primer. Also if you intend on using white pearl, i would spray white first then the pearl white, just how i would do it. Different people will tell you otherwise, its just on their preference.
Sorry, I don't agree. Grey primer, white primer or white base (e.g. Gunze) and then paint is the only safe way to go.
IMHO primer is NEVER a waste of time or money - especially on the body. It's dirt cheap compared to the pain involved with possible problems and fixing them.

White is one of the hardest colours to get right. Especialy if you're putting it over red plastic.. you don't want a pink enzo Fxx? (altough it would be original). I agree with Klutz, grey primer, to find and correct problems, white primer to get a good white starting point. and then a white paint to be absolutly certain to get an even white.

Thanks guys! I wasn't completely sold on the grey, white then pearl white. Now I am! I suppose I could use a Pure White over the grey primer then pearl white. I will be using Tamiya spray btw.

In my experience in this situation the best course it to use a gray primer first. It will cover the red plastic far quicker than white primer, using less and thinner coats. After the gray only a coat or two of white primer will be needed compared to many more if only using the white primer. But give it a test run and see what works for you, different paint and techniques will make you mileage vary.

Red and yellow plastic pigments sometimes "travel" through the paint coats and show up on surface creating this "ghosting" effect.

What I do when I want to paint a red plastic in white (just did it in an almost ready Ferrari 550) is to primmer it with grey automotive primmer, then apply a silver metallic automotive paint (with the smaller silver pigments you can get), then apply the white automotive paint.
The silver metallic paint has very small aluminium powder on it and the aluminum solid powder acts as a barrier to the migrating pigments form the plastic, so they get stuck below the silver.

Hope this helps.

Francisco

something I've noticed on a couple of my models.
Spraying white primer on grey primer gave you a slightly different colour than just spraying white primer. Both were white but the one on grey was never as bright as the just white.
Something you might want to experiement with.

white primer (gunze mr. base white)
you can polish it and clearcoat (it white enough), or then use white. best modelling white color is gunze C class Super White IV. it best covering and the whitest white color available

I heard I could use Tamiya Gunship grey as a primer. Is this true? Ugh, I don't think my FXX is gonna be white anymore! haha. Too much trouble...Might just do a metallic black or something. Any thoughts?

-Chris

I heard I could use Tamiya Gunship grey as a primer...Any thoughts?
Just one. Just use regular Tamiya primer and not waste time looking for alternatives :D

Gunship is way too dark. Color wise you would want something closer to Light Ghost.

Buth neither would do particularly well as primer. For primer, you want primer.

Spray grey primer first, no matter what your plastic color or intended body color. It's just best to work with grey as it's easy to see and correct flaws in it. Use as many coats and as much of it as you need. Then use white primer to lighten the color, and then start applyiong white paint.

Do it this way and you will have no trouble getting a pearl white Enzo.

MPWR...Thanks for your input. Tamiya makes a grey primer correct? I'm gonna check out my local shop tomorrow and see if they carry it. I have a boat load of white primer...so that won't be a problem! hehe... Will light grey tamiya primer work? Or do I need regular grey?

-Chris

Tamiya makes two primers for plastic- grey (a light grey color) and white. They behave the same, but fixing flaws on white is hard. Theoretically they're interchangable, but it's easiest to start with the grey and get the body perfect, then just use the white to cover it. Grey primer is the perfect medium to work out any and all problems with the bodywork (take a look through my 850 and 993 threads for more of this). Fix everything, make it shiney, spray the white, make it shiney, then move onto the paint.

Some of the guys I've spoken too seem to think the white is finer than the grey. I was thinking of them as the Tamiya version of surfacer 500 and 1000, but I'm not sure. I kinda think the grey does cover fine scratches better and could well be a bit coarser. It is beautiful to work with for sure. And the white goes down like glass if you spray it wet, so smooth that paint almost slides off it. So I'm confused - are they the same grade, or not?

I painted an S13 in tamiya pearl white, and found i needed a white base coat first,otherwise, the plastic colour ghosts through it, i think white primer would work better...personally