Painting Your Car

Once you have completed the chassis for your car, it's time to paint the body. Now, some RTR's nowadays come with the body already painted, but no kits do, and even if you have an RTR, you will still need to eventually replace the body when it wears out or you want a new look. Basically, there are three steps to painting your R/C car body: body prep, painting, and finishing. But before we get started, lets make sure that you have all of the needed supplies.

1. A clear Lexan R/C body, preferably one that you know will fit on your car.
2. Paint (preferably R/C-specific paint, designed for Lexan plastic)
3. Masking tape (or liquid mask, if you want to go that route [not recommended for beginners])
4. Airbrush (if you have one)
5. Decals, if your body doesn't come with them
6. Hobby knife, with a few extra blades (you'll go through a lot of blades while finishing a body)
7. Scissors, preferably small, pointed ones
8. Dish soap
9. Some type of lint-free cloth, if you can find one

Preparing Your R/C Car Body For Painting

The first thing that you have to do is to find a body that fits your car. Touring (on-road) car bodies are often found in two sizes: 190mm and 200mm. Generally, 190mm is for electric and 200mm for gas, but use a ruler to make sure. 200mm bodies will usually fit on 190mm cars, but 190mm bodies WILL NOT fit on 200mm cars. Off-road cars, such as monster trucks and stadium trucks, are usually classified by the model. Try to find one that directly corresponds to your model for best fit, but if you can't find the right model for your vehicle (some models do not have their own body style), look for bodies that are similar in size and shape to what you need to fit on your car. Just do some measuring, and you may need to modify the body when you finish it to make it fit. You should always be able to find something that will fit, though. Be creative!

Now, once you have found a Lexan body that fits your needs, you need to gather the paint that you will be using. At this point, you will want to devise a design and color scheme for your car. You don't have to be absolutely sure what you are going to do with the body, but you should get a pretty good idea. After all, you are buying the paint that you are going to need. I've thrown in a primary color chart to help you with any multi-colored designs that you might devise. In choosing the paint that you are going to need, try to pick up a brand of paint that is specifically designed for R/c painting, and if it is not R/C specific, you will still probably be okay as long as the paint is Lexan-safe or polycarbonate-safe. If you have an airbrush, you will need to pick out bottled paint designed for airbrushes. Otherwise, you need to pick out aresol spray paint cans.

Now that you have your paint and supplies, you can prep the body to paint it. As a quick note, be aware that you will be painting the inside of the body, NOT the outside. This is because this method makes the paint harder to scratch, and it makes the car look shiny, like a real car. First, if your body has a plastic protective cover over the top of it (like cling-wrap, the package should say if it has it already), go ahead and sketch out the design with a permanent, felt tipped marker. Also, make marks for your body posts and antenna. If you forget this step, you might make the holes in the wrong place. Then, wash the body, especially on the inside, with dish soap and warm water. Then dry it off thoroughly, with a clean cloth, preferably a lint-free cloth, and try not to touch the inside of the body from now on (doing so could leave fingerprints permanently smeared into your paint!). After you have a working design and have cleaned the body, it's time for the masking tape. Use higher quality masking tape, like 3M, if available. I have also heard stories of people using electrical tape, since it seals better and can be bent around corners. Apply the window masks first, if your body came with them, or carefully mask them with regular masking tape if the body didn't come with its own. Once you have that done, apply masking tape where necessary. It's usually best to paint dark colors first, and your lighter colors last, so plan accordingly. If you are planning to do a blend, you probably don't need to even do this; blends require a careful hand, and masking won't help. When you apply mask, make sure to seal the edges to prevent bleeding, and use a credit card or something of the sort to further seal up the edges, just to make sure. If your car has a wing attached, cut it off; you will be painting the underside of the wing, so paint it separately.

Painting It

Now you are ready to paint your car. Make sure that you are in a well-ventilated area, like outside. Try to paint when the temperature is higher than 60 degrees (Fahrenheit), and when it isn't too breezy and there isn't too high of humidity. Once you have found a suitable place, you're ready to paint. Like I said before, paint dark colors first, and (obviously) only paint one color per coat. When painting metallic or candy colors, make sure that you back them with white, but any other light color that you have handy should work, too. Overspray is okay on your final coat, since it won't be seen anyway.

Finishing

The first thing that you want to do here is to trim your body to fit your car. First, use the scissors to make bigger, broader cuts. Then, use a hobby knife to trim the body, especially around wheel wells. Use sandpaper if you need to in order to smooth out edges. Then, use a hobby knife, or a hole borer, if available, to make holes for your antenna and body posts. If you are using a hobby knife, I suggest using a twisting pattern until you scrape a big enough hole.

Once you're done with the trimming, take off the plastic sheeting (if it had that on it in the first place). Now it's time for the decals. Cut them out, preferably with a hobby knife, and keep their backings on. There really is no right or wrong way to design a decal layout. Just make sure that you try your best not to touch the backside of decals as you apply them. That's all there is to it!

Continued:
1.Buying a Car
2.Assembling the car