Priming and Painting Small Parts

[itchya]

Hi everybody! Now that school is over, I can finally build my first model car! YAY! I've been reading the FAQ and the tutorials for a few weeks now and it provided great help, but there are still some questions I need to ask. Here I go:

1. I know that the body of the car and the interior needs to be primed before it can be painted, but what about the small parts such as seats, steering wheel, rims, etc?

2. Should I take the parts out of the parts tree when priming (if nessasary) and painting small parts?

3. How many coats of paint do you need if you are painting the small parts by brush?

I guess these might be common sense questions to some of you, but I have no experience in building cars at all so please help me out. Thanks!

[supratuner]

if youre painting seats and that kinda stuff by brush, you usually dont need more than one coat just as long as it covers up every thing, and gives you the desired effect

taking the parts off a tree is up to you, but usually it is a better thing to do, cuz when u do cut the part off after u painted it, there will be small spot where theres no paint.

no if the part is really small like a shift knob or some thing to that matter id leave it on the tree when painting especially if youre not organized such as myself, or you have pets that like to get into youre stuff

[nis.k.a.]

I only use primer for the body. I've never had a problem spraying on direct plastic for the interior and small parts.

[ProSStreet]

One brush coat should be just fine. I only prime the body. Thats just me, others probably prime a lot more than I do. I take everything off the tree before paint. That way i can glue up things before-hand and remove mold lines.

[itchya]

Thanks for the help guys, sorry for my late reply. I started priming the body and well...I think I screwed up bad. I found out it's actually much harder than it seems. Part of the body had too much primer while the bottom of the front and back didn't even get any. The worst thing was that there is this huge scratch on the door which I have no idea how it got there! Can you guys give me some suggestions? Here are some pics:

[joelwideqvist]

Originally Posted by itchya

I found out it's actually much harder than it seems.

Well you had to find this out sooner or later so why not now?

Originally Posted by itchya

Part of the body had too much primer while the bottom of the front and back didn't even get any. The worst thing was that there is this huge scratch on the door which I have no idea how it got there! Can you guys give me some suggestions?

What to do know is to take a wet/dry sand paper and sand the areas with the scratch and where you got bulks of paint. When you are satisfied with it you go to the tutorial and check for the basic painting tips. I guess that you use rattle can? Then the best tip I can give is to start outside of the car body and move over it and don't stop spraying until you've past the plastic. Do light strokes and don't be afraid if it doesn't cover the first time. Better with more mist coats. To hit the areas in front and rear you may try to turn the body around 90 degrees, could work.
Regards
Joel

[OrangeR]

Hi and welcome!

Don't know if you have looked at this:

http://www.tamiya.com/english/scale/beginner2/index.htm

Maybe ilustrations are to cute but in general the information is very good, there's even a video of how to paint a car and by the look of your picts I guess you didn't use the proper technique.

Better sand the car with a fine grit paper to even it out before primer again.

[mike@af]

It looks like you put way to much primer on the sides, and then something touched it.

Do light coats, and paint somewhere where you can get all the way around the body. Quick light coats does the trick. Also, what primer are you using?

[Howielong]

Also put the body onto a hold soda can or old paint can so you can get it into the air to spray around the bottome easier.

[blueboost]

you may be able to wipe that "smudge" of primer off with a cloth soaked in thinner. be very careful and only use as much thinner as necessary. then do what these guys said, it doesn't look like you need to bath it in brake fluid. sand/wipe w/ thinner, should be able to pick up from there. good luck let us know.

edit: by the way I never prime any small parts like shocks, pedals, steering wheel, shift boot, dash etc..

[D[X]P]

Welcome to AF guy.

[Afrofent]

Welcome to AF Itchya.

[GvEman]

welcome to af! you have had many tipps here...
but i have another one...
take to spooks(ithink it is called) from a bike wheel tape them togeter and shape them and make them wide as the body wola you have a verry good stand that your model stays on

[D[X]P]

Originally Posted by Afrofent

Welcome to AF Itchya.

thug

[proosen]

Another thing to think of is that you should put the primer/paint in thoose hard to reach places first. Like the grille and other crevises, this is because if you put the paint on the main areas first you will have paint build up trying to get the paint in thoose hard to reach places. Hmmm...am I making any sense. Anyway, good luck on your project.

Niclas