Paint Tips.

[Hornistfuller]

welll imjust starting out in car modekling and its time to paint my first body....how do i doo it with a spraycan? should i prim it first? im doing a 68 corbette btw, how far away should the can be? how many coats of paint?

[David G.]

Somebody else on this forum recommended practicing on plastic spoons; they're made of the same plastic as most of the model cars. If you're unsure of your skills, start with an inexpensive kit, even a snap-together and work on painting that. And worse comes to worst, paint is almost always removable.

I usually prime most of the larger items to be painted, body, chassis, etc., but the smaller bits, I just usually brush or spray them without primer.

Just make sure you wash everything you want to paint with warm water and mild dish detergent. I use Dawn with a soft tooth brush and scrub them thoroughly.

There are many different painting and finishing techniques that can be used in nearly endless combinations. Your best bet is to browse the "Tips, Tricks and Ideas" section of this forum or search "Paint" "Primer" "Sanding" "Finishing" "Polishing" or any other related terms. This forum has many talented and skilled contributors who just love to share their knowledge.

[Foxer]

Treehugger Dave did an scathing exposea on rattle can use .. see it here!

[David G.]

Treehugger Dave did an scathing exposea on rattle can use .. see it here!

Well stated, I really should get out more

[elan]

You really can get a great paint job with rattle cans, it just takes a little more effort than a airbrush.

[charlie8575]

I usually prime most of the larger items to be painted, body, chassis, etc., but the smaller bits, I just usually brush or spray them without primer.

Over the last couple of years, I've found very few paints really cover all that well without primer anymore, brushed or sprayed, so I've taken to priming entire trees with Plasti-Kote gray prior to anything. For some small items, I've been using white Tamiya primer in the bottle. It's very thin, doesn't look like it covers all that well, but it works great, especially if you want to be careful about not making something too dark.

Charlie Larkin