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Painting over red


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I have a Ferrari, molded in red, that I'd like to paint another color.  I plan to use spray can lacquer, starting with Tamiya white primer.  Will this primer be enough to keep the red plastic from showing?  Any hints, tips, or advice gratefully welcomed.  Thanks,

 

Jim

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What color are you planning to paint it? Unless you want white, or a pale yellow or pale blue, you shouldn't have any problem. 

But if you have doubts, a coat of cheap Walmart black primer followed by your Tamiya white primer (or even Walmart white primer, if you can get it) should work fine. 

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Use GSI Creos' Mr. Surfacer White 1000 Spray.

image.jpeg.0dcee01f1d7faddba2bd6b2ad9c7233c.jpeg

It's 100% opaque and prevents any bleed-through from colored styrene, especially red. I use it, and Mr. Surfacer Gray 1000 Spray on Johan kits molded in that color leaching red styrene we've all grown to love to hate over the years. This is a lacquer and will not craze, or otherwise damage, the plastic. You can even skip spraying additional white paint over it because of its opacity. Once dry, it can be polished to a high gloss. You can get a large (170ml) can from SCALEHobbyist for $8.29.

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I would go with a mid gray primer personally, it's a color that pretty much covers any color molded and works well under most every color paint, except maybe pearls in lighter shades.. Primer coats can definitely effect color shade of your sprayed paint, mid gray is neutral ground as a starting point. Sometime when you have a few minutes to play around you should prime something in white, gray and black, then spray something like a powder blue metallic over them and see the difference. Especially the difference how long it takes and how many coats to build the color you want. I think white pearl paint as a base coat is the only time I like white primer.

Edited by Dave G.
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11 minutes ago, SfanGoch said:

Use GSI Creos' Mr. Surfacer White 1000 Spray.

image.jpeg.0dcee01f1d7faddba2bd6b2ad9c7233c.jpeg

It's 100% opaque and prevents any bleed-through from colored styrene, especially red. I use it, and Mr. Surfacer Gray 1000 Spray on Johan kits molded in that color leaching red styrene we've all grown to love to hate over the years. This is a lacquer and will not craze, or otherwise damage, the plastic. You can even skip spraying additional white paint over it because of its opacity. Once dry, it can be polished to a high gloss. You can get a large (170ml) can from SCALEHobbyist for $8.29.

I was not aware of this stuff. Thanks for the suggestion, going to order some up right now. Cheers

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7 hours ago, SfanGoch said:

Use GSI Creos' Mr. Surfacer White 1000 Spray.

image.jpeg.0dcee01f1d7faddba2bd6b2ad9c7233c.jpeg

It's 100% opaque and prevents any bleed-through from colored styrene, especially red. I use it, and Mr. Surfacer Gray 1000 Spray on Johan kits molded in that color leaching red styrene we've all grown to love to hate over the years. This is a lacquer and will not craze, or otherwise damage, the plastic. You can even skip spraying additional white paint over it because of its opacity. Once dry, it can be polished to a high gloss. You can get a large (170ml) can from SCALEHobbyist for $8.29.

New to me, too.  Thanks for the tip--gotta order some of that!

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I think I'm gonna order me a few cases of cheap Walmart white primer, have some labels printed up for something like "Special Hobby Super-Opaque White Primer," slap 'em on, and sell 'em on the internet for 10 or 15 or 20 times what I paid for 'em. :lol::lol::lol:

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  • 1 month later...

I've got to give the Mr. Surfacer a thumbs-down. 

I wanted to paint the Lindberg Jeep Cherokee, which is molded in red.  My son's 1:1 Jeep is white.

Here's what the hood looks like after 2 coats of Mr. Surfacer white and 1 coat of Tamiya TS-26 white.  I guess the model is going to end up being painted brown!

5c2aa189c306b_pinkhood.thumb.jpg.6474a01e6af60cbccb9e3e64328b63ca.jpg

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I've always had great luck shooting Testors metalizer over the bare plastic, then shooting the primer directly on top of it (no sealer over the metalizer). This Monogram Kurtis Kraft was molded in red, and treated as I described, and twenty-plus years later, the car is still as yellow as the day I shot it!

New Cockpit.jpg

New Engine.jpg

New LF.jpg

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1 hour ago, Straightliner59 said:

 twenty-plus years later, the car is still as yellow as the day I shot it!

And why wouldn't it be? It's an absolute myth that red pigment somehow "leaches out" of the plastic and into/through paint. B)

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42 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

And why wouldn't it be? It's an absolute myth that red pigment somehow "leaches out" of the plastic and into/through paint. B)

Looking at the photo Steamboat posted I would have thought differently.  Besides, you made a blanket statement while there are many different formulations of polystyrene and red dyes being used for model kits.  Some might leach out, while others don't.

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29 minutes ago, peteski said:

Looking at the photo Steamboat posted I would have thought differently.  Besides, you made a blanket statement while there are many different formulations of polystyrene and red dyes being used for model kits.  Some might leach out, while others don't.

Steamboat laid the blame in his first line. 

For years I've asked someone to name me the chemical that will "bleach" the color out of plastic. I've also asked for pictures of a red body that's been painted and stripped and now seems to be less red. To date, no one has met either challenge. B)

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2 minutes ago, peteski said:

What exactly do you mean?  Mr. Surfacer is not opaque enough to cover the red plastic, or some solvent in Mr. Surfacer is causing the red dye to leach out?

The former would be my theory. 

I've covered red plastic just fine with cheap Walmart Gray primer, followed by Walmart White primer. No "bleed" at all, no tinting. But the stuff is getting hard to find. My store doesn't carry either color anymore, only black, and availability on the Walmart website is spotty--you just have to keep checking until they have it. 

I brush painted these Monkeemobile seats, molded in red, with Testor white in 1967. Last year when I restored it, I didn't strip them, but I DID go all around the glued joints with file and sandpaper to get rid of the seams. Then I hit them with just two coats of Walmart White Primer (no other primer under that). See any red bleed through around the rim of the backs? Me neither. B)

MonkeemobileA36.jpg.69a96d5de55c6ec1bed1b38c4482ec4e.jpg

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On 11/28/2018 at 12:37 PM, SfanGoch said:

Use GSI Creos' Mr. Surfacer White 1000 Spray.

image.jpeg.0dcee01f1d7faddba2bd6b2ad9c7233c.jpeg

It's 100% opaque and prevents any bleed-through from colored styrene, especially red. I use it, and Mr. Surfacer Gray 1000 Spray on Johan kits molded in that color leaching red styrene we've all grown to love to hate over the years. This is a lacquer and will not craze, or otherwise damage, the plastic. You can even skip spraying additional white paint over it because of its opacity. Once dry, it can be polished to a high gloss. You can get a large (170ml) can from SCALEHobbyist for $8.29.

I highly recommend all of their primers.

Edited by martinfan5
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On 11/27/2018 at 8:22 PM, berr13 said:

I have a Ferrari, molded in red, that I'd like to paint another color.  I plan to use spray can lacquer, starting with Tamiya white primer.  Will this primer be enough to keep the red plastic from showing?  Any hints, tips, or advice gratefully welcomed.  Thanks,

 

Jim

Jim,  I would NOT start with white primer,  I would depending on the color you are planning to paint the body in either do a base coat of silver then white primer, or just grey primer.   You didnt say what color you are planning on using, but if you are going to use darker color, then you should use grey primer, white should be used really for when you need to do a really lighter color, and or yellow.    If you are going to use the white primer, doing a coat of silver first will simply make the process of doing the primer coats easier/quicker and you wont need to use as much primer to fully cover the red.

Edited by martinfan5
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On 12/31/2018 at 5:24 PM, Snake45 said:

It's an absolute myth that red pigment somehow "leaches out" of the plastic and into/through paint. B)

I'm afraid I would have to respectfully disagree with you on this one Snake.

I have 2 projects packed away somewhere that never got farther than the primered and painted white stage because the both came out tinted "pink".

One of them was the Monogram 88 Mustang convertible, molded in red. I primered it in white and then painted it white - it dried with a slightly pink tint.

Another one was a 94 Mustang GT convertible conversion, that I made using a blue molded coupe and a red molded convertible windshield post and conv top well area. I primered the finished body in grey and ONLY the red plastic areas turned pink, so I know that red plastic does have an effect on the paint. 

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8 minutes ago, Oldcarfan27 said:

I'm afraid I would have to respectfully disagree with you on this one Snake.

I have 2 projects packed away somewhere that never got farther than the primered and painted white stage because the both came out tinted "pink".

One of them was the Monogram 88 Mustang convertible, molded in red. I primered it in white and then painted it white - it dried with a slightly pink tint.

Another one was a 94 Mustang GT convertible conversion, that I made using a blue molded coupe and a red molded convertible windshield post and conv top well area. I primered the finished body in grey and ONLY the red plastic areas turned pink, so I know that red plastic does have an effect on the paint. 

I have feeling that Snake's token reply will be that the primer you are using is not opaque enough to fully hide the color of the red plastic (but opaque enough to cover blue plastic). :D

Edited by peteski
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As to color, I really haven't decided.  I do have a Dino that I'd like to paint yellow, but beyond that I'm still thinking about the two others.  I did find a Ferrari site that listed and showed all the colors available by year, and there's a much wider variety of colors than I suspected.  So I thought that for the three models I have I might try something that's different and seldom seen.  I do have a couple other projects going right now, but I bought some of the Mr White Surfacer, so I'm ready to go when I'm done cogitating.

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On ‎12‎/‎31‎/‎2018 at 9:33 PM, High octane said:

Whenever I have colored plastic bodies I shoot Tamiya Silver Leaf, then my primer coats, then my color and clear coats and have NEVER had any bleed through. Works for me.

that was an old trick Henry taught me. to prevent red cedar bleeding through the top coat of paint, he would prime it with silver steam radiator paint. worked like a charm.

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8 hours ago, Oldcarfan27 said:

I'm afraid I would have to respectfully disagree with you on this one Snake.

I have 2 projects packed away somewhere that never got farther than the primered and painted white stage because the both came out tinted "pink".

One of them was the Monogram 88 Mustang convertible, molded in red. I primered it in white and then painted it white - it dried with a slightly pink tint.

Another one was a 94 Mustang GT convertible conversion, that I made using a blue molded coupe and a red molded convertible windshield post and conv top well area. I primered the finished body in grey and ONLY the red plastic areas turned pink, so I know that red plastic does have an effect on the paint. 

I must agree with this opinion.  I built a stock-hauler from the Revell 1/32 Mack Pumper firetruck,.  I cut the back half of the cab off, reversed and raised it to form a sleeper.  I tried every trick listed here, you can see where I inserted the white styrene, the gold paint covered wonderfully.

 

'Stang & Hauler 073.jpg

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