RE-Xtreme RC: 180SX2X Prep and Paint

Sunday, August 10, 2014

180SX2X Prep and Paint

Well, they are painted... phew!

It all starts with a bath. Rubbing everywhere with a bit of dish washing detergent. Warm water, not super hot.

You should be getting that squeak! Squeaky clean.

make special attention to the corners. get right in there. if you have fat fingers use a very soft new toothbrush.

After a long long slightly fairly hot rinse to remove all the detergent, shake off all the water.

Then take a very clean paper towel and dry quickly.

You want to get every single last water droplet from every corner so there are no water spots or even worse water when you spray. Then leave to dry.

front pieces like this have so many places water droplets and release agents love to stay attatched. Take your time and clean these parts well. They will take the most damage, so they have to have the best preparation for the best chance of paint to stick.

Masking is a very tedious process. After doing soo much, you can see a mistake on the door of the red 180sx. a little trimming I missed. But if you check regularly, you can pick up these mistakes.

Some people might say, why didn't you do the black first... Well, I used a lot of coats of white and red, so it's no real issue. and eventually I want to back the whole lot with black anyway, so it makes sense to do it this way. But if you are doing thin coats, do black first. But you have to let the colours dry thouroughly.

Tamiya paints have a chemical reaction that binds them together. so each layer actually eats into the previous layer. if the coloured layers aren't thick enough, this can be an issue.

Here's a checkpoint of all completed painting. 6 cans of basic colours on these bodies. and a bunch of small details requiring silver and orange.

Wheels painted in bronze and gold.