how do you paint the model pieces

[youpey]

typically i cut the pieces off of the sprues and clean them up to be ready to go. then i use masking tape and fold the tape over to make it like 2 way tape, and tape the pieces down and paint them. then flip them and paint the other side

 

i am using so much tape this way, i also found some pieces get a little residue if i accidentally over paint and the paint gets under the piece onto the tape. meaning, i need to sand and respray that spot.

how do you guys spray the model pieces. i feel there should be a better way

[Zippi]

I leave my parts on the tree and spray or hand paint. Once dry, cut parts from the tree, trim, touch up.

[youpey]

19 minutes ago, Zippi said:

I leave my parts on the tree and spray or hand paint. Once dry, cut parts from the tree, trim, touch up.

 

when you touch up, can you tell where it was touched up? do you touchup the spot with primer too?

[Zippi]

I'm not the expert by no means but this is what I've been doing.  If the part won't be seen there is no touch up.  If it's a black painted part no primer.  If it's a light color and in a high visible area then I would use primer before painting.  

[tbill]

I try to assemble as many parts as I can before paint. After parts are assembled, I use an alligator clip to hold them, or depending on the shape, I will drill a hole in an area that won’t be seen and use a skewer or something similar to hold the part ( think seats, big rig fuel tanks) , I also use a skewer in the transmission tail shaft to hold the engine/trans assembly to paint that. If you look long enough at a part, you can find some way to clip it or skewer it, lol.

[NOBLNG]

I will assemble parts like engine halves and parts that will be the same colour and paint as a unit. Small parts I will clean up the flash and mount on an alligator clip or toothpick. If there is no tab to clip onto, I may superglue it in an unseen spot to a piece of sprue. Usually no touch ups are required.

[DRIPTROIT 71]

1 hour ago, tbill said:

I try to assemble as many parts as I can before paint. After parts are assembled, I use an alligator clip to hold them, or depending on the shape, I will drill a hole in an area that won’t be seen and use a skewer or something similar to hold the part ( think seats, big rig fuel tanks) , I also use a skewer in the transmission tail shaft to hold the engine/trans assembly to paint that. If you look long enough at a part, you can find some way to clip it or skewer it, lol.

Hey, that’s what I do.😀

[tbill]

3 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

I will assemble parts like engine halves and parts that will be the same colour and paint as a unit. Small parts I will clean up the flash and mount on an alligator clip or toothpick. If there is no tab to clip onto, I may superglue it in an unseen spot to a piece of sprue. Usually no touch ups are required.

I also use the super glue trick, except I use a Q-tip, cut the Q-tip in half and you get two useable ‘parts sticks’ and the ends fit nicely in the tamiya paint stands, also makes separating them from the parts easier, cut the cotton off  of the part and your done

[Rodent]

2 hours ago, DRIPTROIT 71 said:

Hey, that’s what I do.😀

Combination of the two. Assemblies that are to be the same color get put together and painted, other stuff is painted on the tree and touched up.

[Plowboy]

I crazy glue my parts to old pieces of sprue after sanding them. I always glue them at the attachment point so that once primered and painted, I can simply snap them off and assemble. 

[Sandboarder]

Clippy sticks for the win

 

[peteski]

10 hours ago, youpey said:

typically i cut the pieces off of the sprues and clean them up to be ready to go. then i use masking tape and fold the tape over to make it like 2 way tape, and tape the pieces down and paint them. then flip them and paint the other side

 

i am using so much tape this way, i also found some pieces get a little residue if i accidentally over paint and the paint gets under the piece onto the tape. meaning, i need to sand and respray that spot.

how do you guys spray the model pieces. i feel there should be a better way

What you are doing it perfectly fine. One thing I don't understand is why you need to touch up paint that ended up under the tape?  When I attach parts to tape for painting, the spots that are resting on the tape aren't' supposed to have any paint on them.  Those are the areas that are supposed to remain bare plastic (for gluinig them to other parts). If some pain seeps on those surfaces, I just scrape it off with a hobby knife.

I use the method you use, and I also use the thick 3M clear tape (double sided). I also attach parts to pieces of wire to make "handles"

Here we have multiple techniques.  The front and rear suspensions have wire attached at the axles.  I also masked the axles (yellow) to make sure the glue sticks when I glue the wheels. ON the Popsicle stick and on the other smaller stick I used the 3M tape.  On the bottom you see the folded over blue masking tape.  While in this example the tape is not holding parts for painting, I also use that technique for painting.  I also use wire insulation stripped from wires, or heat shrink tubing for holding long thin parts, or for masking portions of those parts that aren't supposed to get painted.

 

Edited March 10, 2021 by peteski

[Tom Geiger]

 

Very important to take the parts off the sprue and clean them up.  Get rid of the mold lines, ejector pin marks and where it was connected to sprue.  I do spray everything.

I use the little Dixie bathroom cups for a lot of things, including paint stands.  If an item is heavy, just stack a few cups for ballast!  As said above, I mount things on toothpicks. I will drill small holes where it won't be seen.  I will mount with blue painters tape onto a tooth pick.  I also pin a lot of things together, so I drill and mount on pins, which also serve as handles for painting, see item in front in my picture.   I'll mount an item on a pin and leave the full length of it for painting, and cut it to the length I need right before I use it.   I also mount parts to tooth picks with white glue.

The residue you get on your part may be the tape you are using.  I use the painters blue for this.

 

[youpey]

38 minutes ago, Tom Geiger said:

The residue you get on your part may be the tape you are using.  I use the painters blue for this.

 

The residue only seems to happen if i put too much paint down. if i do light coats instead, i dont have the issue.  i also dont have an issue with tamiya paint. its the krylon matte black paint that is doing it.

 

this is the tape i am using. its 3m automotive tape. i used to use the tamiya tape, but was too expensive

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004MEH78S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

 

would this be better tape to use? its cheaper than the stuff i have been buying

 https://www.amazon.com/ScotchBlue-Painters-Original-Multi-Surface-94-Inch/dp/B006ARJVZM/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=blue+painters+tape&qid=1615334587&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzRThQUVZIU0VFNjUxJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMDQxOTc1M00zRlhZSk9TUzJXQyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMDE3MDg2MU5XTkFGM1lNMDA0SCZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

Edited March 10, 2021 by youpey

[Tom Geiger]

That is the 3M Painters Blue I use. I cannot tell if you’d get any better results because I don’t use Krylon paints.  

[peteski]

2 hours ago, youpey said:

this is the tape i am using. its 3m automotive tape. i used to use the tamiya tape, but was too expensive

In that case, see this info:

 

[StevenGuthmiller]

I use virtually the same technique as you do Miles.

Larger parts that only need paint on one side get done exactly the same way as you do them.

Smaller parts are done a couple of ways.

First, if the part only needs finishing on one side as above, a piece of tape wadded up on the end of a tooth pick or skewer works just fine.

 

 

If the part has a hole in it, I will insert a tooth pick firmly into that hole for painting.

If the hole is small, I will sharpen the tooth pick until it fits snugly into the hole.

 

 

Another option for very small parts without a hole is to make one.

I drill a small hole in the part in an area that will not be exposed on the finished model and then either use a tooth pick, or in some cases a plastic pin.

Pinning parts can come in very handy for assembly later on, so this is a good practice to get used to anyway.

Parts with pins already present or added afterwards can be held with alligator clips fastened to wooden skewers and inserted into a piece of scrap Styrofoam.

 

 

 

 

There are a lot of options for holding parts for painting.

You just have to think about it a little sometimes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

 

 

 

Edited March 10, 2021 by StevenGuthmiller

[ewetwo]

All very interesting.