painting frames

[gary jackson]

what paint you guys using on your frames  i like semi gloss black  used the ones at walmart dont like it   havent tried tamiya semi flat black anyone tried that  

any suggestions   just never happy with the walmart spray paints

[Straightliner59]

I use Krylon satin, or semi-gloss black. 

[sidcharles]

if you think about it, very few things are pure black (or white). save those colors for extreme accents.

the level of gloss depends on the desired end result.  

if the goal is showroom clean, semi-gloss is good. also for a base in the event you are applying liners & weathering layers. flat will show tide-marks more readily/ full gloss won't hold the effect.

hobby paints tout more finely ground pigments, and all manner of mystical additives which will enhance your scale masterpiece.

for the time spent and parts invested in a model, a savings of a couple of dollars at the most visible part is hardly a value.

you won't go astray using Tamiya paints.

the next 10 responses will contradict everything above.

Edited Thursday at 07:45 AM by sidcharles

[bobss396]

I use Tamiya TS-68 often, also Vallejo lack primer and even Mr. Surfacer 1500 black primer. The TS paints don't hold up to much handling. Those I'll shoot some matte clear over.

[Dave G.]

If to error, I'd rather go more towards flat than gloss. Even though factory stock chassis black back in the day was more towards gloss. But that's if there was any paint left on the chassis at all, here in New England. Our weather and road treatment is brutal on the under pinnings of a car. Anyway, gloss is too stark for a model chassis, looks plastic rather than metal. So satin brings in artistic realism vs truth at the model level. Of course around here a new 1950 Ford ( for instance) by 1960 had a rust colored chassis, if not outright rotted.

So lately I keep decanted Rustoleum Satin black, thinned a bit extra with a touch of lacquer thinner, and airbrush that. I keep a 1oz mixing bottle of that on hand. But that could change next month, next year etc. I also like Stynylrez black primer as underside paint, chassis or otherwise, I don't spray models with spray cans. It goes on too heavy and is a colossal waste of material that sees atmosphere and even the butterfly bushes outside, rather than plastic parts when shot from a can. I'd venture to say that anywhere from 2/3 to 3/4 of the paint in a spray can just goes anyplace but on the model. And somehow that adds up to savings to some folks.

[rattle can man]

Cheap, discount store gloss black. To my eyes it matches the gloss of older chassis black. But I only build shelf models, mostly OOB. 

[bobss396]

15 hours ago, rattle can man said:

Cheap, discount store gloss black. To my eyes it matches the gloss of older chassis black. But I only build shelf models, mostly OOB. 

I use Ace Hardware paints sometimes. They tend to hold up pretty well.

[tbill]

I like Tamiya semi gloss black myself

[tbill]

[sidcharles]

On 6/26/2025 at 6:59 AM, Dave G. said:

. . . I keep decanted Rustoleum Satin black, thinned a bit extra with a touch of lacquer thinner . . .

well back in the olden days, i remember buying special rustoleum thinner made with fish oil.

that was their hook, it was, it was.

[sidcharles]

3 hours ago, bobss396 said:

I use Ace Hardware paints sometimes. They tend to hold up pretty well.

against . .. .  ?

[Ulf]

On 6/26/2025 at 9:43 AM, sidcharles said:

if you think about it, very few things are pure black (or white). save those colors for extreme accents.

 

You are absolutely right about this. No discussion about cars being painted black both on top and underneath and models as well but as you write, you can save both chalk white and deep black for extreme accents.

In the usual 1/1 life, I run a small lobbying movement against the random use of deep black in the street environment, some have at least listened.

[sidcharles]

i believe somewhere there is a school of thought which subscribes to the practice of getting overspray body color around the perimeter for probably not the frame but the underneath of the cars' metalwork. probably translates better to late model cars rather than pre-war.

this is a nice color combination and would perhaps lend itself to that belief.

[tbill]

13 hours ago, sidcharles said:

i believe somewhere there is a school of thought which subscribes to the practice of getting overspray body color around the perimeter for probably not the frame but the underneath of the cars' metalwork. probably translates better to late model cars rather than pre-war.

this is a nice color combination and would perhaps lend itself to that belief.

Usually I will do that on a Mopar , as this is a GM, it seems like they had minimal if any body color over spray on the underside sheet metal , and generally used a red oxide primer in the rust belt assembly plants after a certain point.

[johnyrotten]

https://www.chevelles.com/threads/70-chevelle-under-body-finish.341414/

Here's something I found for the Chevelle I'm working on, seems the primer color varies from plant to plant. Has some good photos of the area's and spray patterns for that car.

[Ulf]

1 hour ago, johnyrotten said:

https://www.chevelles.com/threads/70-chevelle-under-body-finish.341414/

Here's something I found for the Chevelle I'm working on, seems the primer color varies from plant to plant. Has some good photos of the area's and spray patterns for that car.

Thank you for a very good point, I seem to remember reading that the Camaro was made at four different factories and that at two of them the torpedo wall was painted black. Even though they were large series there was variation.

[johnyrotten]

16 minutes ago, Ulf said:

Even though they were large series there was variation.

It seems to me it depends on what geographic region they were built in and what was on hand at the plant at that time. I've read that on multiple forums. 

[meechum68]

I tend to favor flat black for frames and undersides, but will be branching out on colors, as I have seen so many new techniques on frames here.  

[JollySipper]

I use a couple/three different satin blacks, but the 'oleum product gets used the most..... What I usually try to do to make the frames and suspensions look more realistic is to dry-brush a bit of silver paint on the black part, trying to pick out and highlight certain areas. This is the front subframe for a BMW 2002, you can see I've kinda brushed the very edges with the silver..... 

 

[slusher]

53 minutes ago, JollySipper said:

I use a couple/three different satin blacks, but the 'oleum product gets used the most..... What I usually try to do to make the frames and suspensions look more realistic is to dry-brush a bit of silver paint on the black part, trying to pick out and highlight certain areas. This is the front subframe for a BMW 2002, you can see I've kinda brushed the very edges with the silver..... 

 

Looking great TJ!