Painting the Buggy Champ

[CamplinP]

I was wondering if you guys used different paint for these hard bodies vs. lexan. Is there any different prep. I was thinking it may be more like auto body. Thanks guys!

[RedScampi]

Lexan paints will come out flat. I'd say it's more like styrene model paints. Be sure to use a good primer whatever you do.

[Brandon G]

Use the Tamiya paints for plastics. (part # starts with TS-?) They have the gloss you are looking for.

I am needing to do paint for the same type project. Is primering necessary with the Tamiya paints even if the body is scuffed with scotchbrite before spraying?

[RedScampi]

Good question. I was thinking more about the plastic crazing from the reaction with the paint than I was about adhesion. I ruined a fair number of models back in the day because I didn't prime the plastic.

[shodog]

briefly, use tamiya TS paints and yes you should prime. here is a paint tutorial I made for scale 4X4 http://www.j2drc.rchomepage.com/Scalearticles/paint%20guide.pdf that outlines the process on a High lift body but the same principals apply to the buggy champ body

[budhatrain]

that's a great write up- you should sticky that and put in the paint section- good job!

[shodog]

that's a great write up- you should sticky that and put in the paint section- good job!

The thing is I don't know of any RC10's with hard plastic bodies

[budhatrain]

I see your point! But it's a good walk-through and it's not totally off subject or out of context

[slotcarrod]

that's a great write up- you should sticky that and put in the paint section- good job!

The thing is I don't know of any RC10's with hard plastic bodies

Yea shodog, make it a sticky in the paint section! The paint section applys to all brands not just the RC10 right?

It's a great demo you did, and the F350 looks very nice, but then your stuff always looks good!

And Halgar.... By "stuff" I mean RC stuff!.... Pervert!

[SteveK]

briefly, use tamiya TS paints and yes you should prime. here is a paint tutorial I made for scale 4X4 http://www.j2drc.rchomepage.com/Scalearticles/paint%20guide.pdf that outlines the process on a High lift body but the same principals apply to the buggy champ body

Great tutorial.

Tamiya's spray paints are the one line of spray paints that you actually CAN spray without priming, but you should anyway. A lot of guys swear by the cheap Krylon stuff, which is about 1/10th the cost by volume of Tamiya or Testors primer. Actually a lot of model guys use the hardware store paints for a lot of the basic colors; black, silver, etc. The British guys swear by "Halford's Appliance White" (it seems like 90% of all rally cars are white).

Lacquer-based Lexan paints won't work at all; they are go on flat and can craze or crack after they cure. I don't know about Pactra's acrylic, but Parma's Faskolor is supposedly a 'do everything' paint, and it should work, but it will still dry flat and need a glossy clearcoat, so don't bother. Tamiya's polycarbonate paints are not easy to find, and so expensive it's not even worth experimenting with (great for painting Lexan with plastic detail bits though, especially since all their paint lines match each other, and the decals included in many kits).