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R/C Car Painting
By John Hauser (click
on any image for a larger view)
In the r/c world, one of the main attractions is the wild custom painted
bodies. While painting these bodies may seem daunting, it can be
mastered with practice and the right equipment. During this simple
tutorial, we'll show you how you can get started in airbrushing your own
wicked paint jobs with a simple paint scheme and some basic masking.
Painting your r/c car or truck body successfully requires careful
preparation and planning, but this simple program will take you through
the basic steps no matter what style paint job or body you are
painting.
 Body Prep
The first step in preparing the body to paint is to wash and dry the
inside of the body. This is done to wash away the release agents used
on the body so that it will be free of the molds. The release agents
will keep the paint from sticking to the body. Use regular dishwashing
soap to wash away the agents and dry the body with a lint-free towel.
 Design Planning
Design planning depends on the style of body you are painting. Designs
tend to fall into a few basic categories: fantasy, racer replica or
street. The design I've chosen is a fantasy design called Molten Rip.
In this case, the car looks like it is being torn open with molten lava
in the middle of the paint. The best way to accomplish this design is
to simply draw it on the body, mask the body and cut it out. A Sharpie
marker works well on Lexan R/C car bodies and can be wiped off with
rubbing alcohol.
 Masking
You may need striping tape, precut masks, vinyl masks or liquid masks to
achieve your design. In this case, we will be using hobby liquid mask
to create our molten rip design. The liquid mask should be applied in
4 to 5 thick coats and allowed to dry for a few hours between coats.
Liquid mask remains flexible, yet seals the body nicely so no leaks drip
under the mask.
Once the mask has dried, cut out the molten section of the mask with a
stencil knife, being careful not to cut through to the Lexan.
Painting
1.
Spray a light, thin fade of red along the jagged edge. Aim your spray
pattern half on, half off the masked area. Be sure to spray light; you
don't want a heavy coat of red, just red "mist" around the edge.
2.
Using a hairdryer, dry the red. You can actually watch the moisture
leave the paint. Just get close enough to dry the paint. You don't
want to melt the Lexan body. Let the body air dry for 30 to 60
minutes. Now check out the picture. It looks horrible, doesn't it?
Don't worry about how it looks through the body (unless you notice
obvious mistakes). Since you are painting inside out, so to speak, you
can rarely tell how each coat looks until you have removed the next
layer of masking.
 3.
Spray a fade of orange next to the red. The red and the orange should
fade together. The orange should fade about two-thirds into the clear
molten area. Again, use the hair dryer to dry the paint and let the
body air dry for 30 to 60 minutes.
4. Now
spray the entire molten area with yellow. You will want to spray two
coats of yellow paint, drying them between coats. You now know the
routine with the hairdryer, so repeat it and the air-drying.
5.
Next we will need to back the molten area with white. Concentrate on
spraying two even coats using only the hair dryer in between coats. Set
the body to the side to air dry for a few hours. (This time can decrease
and you gain confidence, but for your first few bodies, go slow and be
patient.)
6. Now carefully remove the rest of the liquid mask from the main
body area and see how the molten area looks. It should be similar to
this picture. As you can see, the molten area has turned out nicely.
 7.
Time to spray the main body. You can spray the body any color you
like. For this example, I've chosen to paint it pearl purple. To do
that, set your compressor to approximately 40 psi, spray a light coat of
the pearl purple and allow the body to dry for an hour. The body needs
to be evenly sprayed. Continue this for three to four coats.
8. Now
back the purple with silver. The silver will allow the pearl purple to
"pop" and look brighter.
9. As an optional step, you can take off the window masks and
tint the windows with Pactra Acryl Transparent Smoke.
10. We will finish by painting the wing and side plates with
chrome paint. Spray the wing and side plates lightly but evenly with
three coats, waiting only 5 to 10 minutes in between coats. You can
check after the third coat to see if you have enough paint on the car by
holding a black shirt behind the body. If the wing and side plates look
like a mirror, you have enough coats of chrome on it!
11.
Back the whole car and wing with Faskolor Black.
 Body Finishing
Finishing the body is easy now that the painting is over. The first
step is to cut out the excess Lexan with Lexan hobby scissors. Once the
body is cut, remove the window masking. If everything looks good,
remove the overspray film and attach the wing and you are done! Admire
your masterpiece!
As you can see, painting R/C cars and trucks with an airbrush isn't
difficult. It just takes practice and planning; but when you take the
time, the results can be outstanding. I've added some pictures of cars
I've done and some by Charlie Barnes, one of the premier painters in the
R/C car industry. While you may not turn out work like Charlie's, you
can create wonderful cars that will be the envy of your track or parking
lot!
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