red plastic Thunderbolt body - paint or decal it

[Bucket T]

I did a search but nothing came up.  What do you say?  Paint it red or just decal it as is?

[Ace-Garageguy]

Polished plastic can look quite good, assuming there are no visible flow-swirls in it, and that all flash and parting lines can be removed and all traces polished back up as well...but it always looks like polished plastic to me.

Just one old geezers opinion.  

[W-409]

I've seen some impressive results with polished plastic. But I have to agree with Bill, I think a properly done paint job looks better. So if it was me, I'd paint it.

[1930fordpickup]

Give the body a good look over and try to polish it. If you don't like the results you just have to go back a few grits before you paint it. 

[THarrison351]

Not my build, it's one of the late Harry Pristovnik's, but I'm the caretaker and it's red plastic is polished.

[Brutalform]

I built 14 Thunderbolts, as I had decals for quite a few of them. I did get lazy on these two though. They are just polished plastic, with Novus, and decals. Both cars have the kit supplied decals which weren’t in the best shape. 

Edited April 9 by Brutalform

[deuces wild]

Beautiful!....😎👍

[redscampi]

Since you asked for opinions I'll throw in my thoughts, such as they are. First, what is your goal? If you're looking for realism, the only way to truly achieve it is a good smooth paint job. If you're content with something more toy-like, then polish away.  I always wonder about the reasoning behind this question. To me, a good paint job is an integral part of the build. Skipping it and calling it "good enough" feels like laziness or lack of confidence. I once read a post on a social media site where someone said something like, "I'm bored, so ima slam this kit together", (His words - more or less verbatim). Why not just burn the cash instead? This feels a bit like that. I'd say, build a kit to the best of your ability including paint, don't cut corners and don't think of it as a thing you need to finish in a short time. You'll get more satisfaction from it if you put your best effort into it - no matter how long it takes.

[Bainford]

Paint. Always.

[imarriedawitch]

Pretty sure that once you buy the kit it becomes yours to do with as you please. For me paint or polish comes down to how much the build means to me. If it's just 1 of the 1200 on the pile and I select it when the time of year makes painting outdoors impossible then polish is fine by me. If it's a kit that I purchased with a specific replica or memory to capture then I go all out and paint.

Edited April 9 by imarriedawitch

[Rockford]

Kit plastic always has a certain translucency to it. You see so much more detail on the body once you paint it. Though I dread the paint process because it's loaded with pitfalls for me, I'm always happy that I made the effort. 

[Brutalform]

When I was just learning to wet sand and polish models, I tried my hand on these two cars. These are the only cars I polished the plastic. Just polished the colored plastic with the three step Novus. The Tasca car turned out better than the Gas Ronda car, from polishing the plastic. I might get better decals for these two cars. Here are a few pics with just polished plastic. 

Edited April 9 by Brutalform

[peteski]

In my experience some formulas of the red plastic used for molding model bodies are somewhat translucent.  If you shine a light trough it, you can tell if that is the case.  That translucent plastic will not look realistic when polished.  Red needs to be opaque to look like painted metal car body.

[Mr. Metallic]

On 4/8/2024 at 9:21 PM, redscampi said:

Since you asked for opinions I'll throw in my thoughts, such as they are. First, what is your goal? If you're looking for realism, the only way to truly achieve it is a good smooth paint job. If you're content with something more toy-like, then polish away.  I always wonder about the reasoning behind this question. To me, a good paint job is an integral part of the build. Skipping it and calling it "good enough" feels like laziness or lack of confidence. I once read a post on a social media site where someone said something like, "I'm bored, so ima slam this kit together", (His words - more or less verbatim). Why not just burn the cash instead? This feels a bit like that. I'd say, build a kit to the best of your ability including paint, don't cut corners and don't think of it as a thing you need to finish in a short time. You'll get more satisfaction from it if you put your best effort into it - no matter how long it takes.

Isn't this hobby supposed to be about enjoyment? So if someone wants to "slam one together" and they enjoy doing it isn't that the point? Downgrading someone or their build because of how they want to enjoy the hobby isn't cool in my book. 

[Bainford]

3 hours ago, Mr. Metallic said:

Isn't this hobby supposed to be about enjoyment? So if someone wants to "slam one together" and they enjoy doing it isn't that the point? Downgrading someone or their build because of how they want to enjoy the hobby isn't cool in my book. 

Do not the OP solicit opinions?

[redscampi]

13 hours ago, Mr. Metallic said:

Isn't this hobby supposed to be about enjoyment? So if someone wants to "slam one together" and they enjoy doing it isn't that the point? Downgrading someone or their build because of how they want to enjoy the hobby isn't cool in my book. 

Nobody "downgraded" anyone. My opinion is that the OP would be happier in the long run by pushing himself to excel rather than take the easy road. This is how you learn and grow. The whole point of my post is that the most enjoyment can be had from doing so, and had nothing to do with criticism of anyone.  Somehow I thought opinions was what the OP was after. It's up to the OP to decide how he wants to proceed.

Edited April 12 by redscampi

[Mr. Metallic]

7 hours ago, redscampi said:

Nobody "downgraded" anyone. My opinion is that the OP would be happier in the long run by pushing himself to excel rather than take the easy road. This is how you learn and grow. The whole point of my post is that the most enjoyment can be had from doing so, and had nothing to do with criticism of anyone.  Somehow I thought opinions was what the OP was after. It's up to the OP to decide how he wants to proceed.

"Since you asked for opinions I'll throw in my thoughts, such as they are. First, what is your goal? If you're looking for realism, the only way to truly achieve it is a good smooth paint job. If you're content with something more toy-like, then polish away.  I always wonder about the reasoning behind this question. To me, a good paint job is an integral part of the build. Skipping it and calling it "good enough" feels like laziness or lack of confidence. I once read a post on a social media site where someone said something like, "I'm bored, so ima slam this kit together", (His words - more or less verbatim). Why not just burn the cash instead? This feels a bit like that. I'd say, build a kit to the best of your ability including paint, don't cut corners and don't think of it as a thing you need to finish in a short time. You'll get more satisfaction from it if you put your best effort into it - no matter how long it takes."

These terms sure seem like downgrades to me. Sure, the OP asked for opinions, and you are entitled to yours of course. But casting derisive comments towards the way others choose to enjoy this hobby by making what they want to to do or the way they build is inferior in some way to guide the OP towards your way of thinking isn't very inclusive.

Agree to disagree I guess. I'm moving on.

[Bucket T]

Thanks for the replies.  I was just curious if one could get a decent build without painting.  

[peteski]

2 minutes ago, Bucket T said:

Thanks for the replies.  I was just curious if one could get a decent build without painting.  

I think "decent" is a very relative term. We all have different modeling standards.  Even on this forum I see a wide range of model build quality. My models are better than some and nowhere as good as others.  It is really your decision to what level you want to build your models.

As for visual quality of  "paintless" model bodies, it mainly depends on the plastic itself, and the color of the plastic.  I have seen some polished bare plastic white or black cars that look like they were painted. As I mentioned earlier, major factor is how opaque the plastic is.  If it is not fully opaque, it will not look "right".  You really need to consider things on a model-by-model basis.  Or if a somewhat translucent polished plastic body looks ok to you, then just use that technique for your models.  After all, you are building for your own pleasure (at least I hope).

Painting the car body pretty much assures that it will be opaque, but of course painting introduces another set of possible issues.

[JollySipper]

The painting of the body may be the most nerve wracking part of a build, but it can also be the most rewarding............ I say 'paint that badboy!' If you do get less than perfect results, just use what you've learned to make the next one better. I look forward to the paint process, myself.........

Something I learned working as a house painter.... Nothing looks finished until it's painted!

[kjohan]

Sometimes I do not paint the outside, just polish

if the plastic is of good finish,

no sink marks or "weld lines" from the material flow.

This to avoid problems with dust and brushmarks 

In those cases I paint the inside in the approximately same colour as the outside ,

this to avoid the "shine through" discusses above.

Particularlily  neccessary on bonnets with thin sections for making cut outs for hood scoops.

Also the bonnets can have major variations in material thickness

due to the inner structure.

If one paints the inside dark grey or black to emulate either painting or sound dampening

that will be visible from the outside

if not painted as example white if the exterior is planned to be white.

The same goes for the roof:

if the inner headliner is supposed to be dark ,

first paint a couple of layers of the exterior color

before applying the dark colour.

What is then  gained by this:

You get a tidy model exteriorwise,

with a not as high gloss as with paint but which can be of quite realistic gloss,

i.e for older cars , especially race cars.

The painting of the inside does not require the same wotk on the finish

as on the exterior = is simpler.

Laziness ? Perhaps ....

On cars with decals on I put a layer of clear.

 

 

[Bill Eh?]

5 hours ago, Bucket T said:

Thanks for the replies.  I was just curious if one could get a decent build without painting.  

I believe you have the answer to this, illustrated in the pictures posted of Harry Pristovnik's Ducati and Tom Andrukaitis' Tasca Ford Thunderbolt. In my eye, neither of these has a toy-like appearance. We don't have pennies in Canada, so I guess that is my nickel's worth LOL