All things R/C

[Mopower58]

Checked at the hobby shop when I was there today to let the little one pick out a body and some paint. They have the SCX10 III kit on clearance for $309 (from $369) and the raw builder kit was the regular old $199.

Kid picked out a Jeep Gladiator and some neon pink and purple paint

View attachment 247569

@Mopower58 I tried to get her to go with that Ram body but she wanted a Jeep

Well it's still kind of a Mopar with a Jeep! At least it wasn't a cybertruck!

 

[Admin]

 

[Adam490]

This will be pretty picture heavy...

Cut and trim the body and mount it to your R/C before liquid masking/taping it off and painting. You can do it afterwards, but you will almost always scratch up the paint or put the holes in the wrong spot.

This is how most bodies come (this is a Pro-Line Jeep Gladiator Rubicon for a 12.3" wheelbase crawler):

I use an X-Acto and trace along the cut lines with solid force to score the lexan. If you do it right, you can just snap and pull off the excess. You can also buy curved lexan body scissors, but after doing this 100's of times I have found using the X-Acto (or a razor knife) to be the easiest way. Some people use a dremel to cut them out as well.

Draw your design on the outside of the body using a Sharpie:

Then apply your liquid mask (or tape). I didn't take pictures of the design drawn on before applying the mask, so that's why it's pink. You want two good coats of mask. Ideally you don't get the big globs like you can see in mine where it looks like glue that hasn't dried, but it's hard to get it even with a foam brush. I put on one relatively even coat and then put it in front of the fan until it turns translucent and dries. Then add a second coat and do the same. I like to let it sit overnight in front of the fan just so it has time to cure, but you can speed it up with a hair dryer.

You can see it drying here:

Once it is dry, you're on to the REALLY fun part... cutting out your design. You want to use very light pressure with a brand new #11 X-Acto blade. You don't want to score the body as it will inevitably start to crack along those cut lines if you push too hard. If you look closely you can see how I've got a very thin pin stripe cut out along the drips. Anything that will be painted black gets cut and peeled out.

You can see all of my cuts in this one if you look closely. The drips are all going to have a thin black pinstripe and the window outlines will as well.

Now it's ready for paint. I naturally forgot to buy black paint so I'm headed to the store to get some. To be continued.....

 

[Smitty335]

This will be pretty picture heavy...

Cut and trim the body and mount it to your R/C before liquid masking/taping it off and painting. You can do it afterwards, but you will almost always scratch up the paint or put the holes in the wrong spot.

This is how most bodies come (this is a Pro-Line Jeep Gladiator Rubicon for a 12.3" wheelbase crawler):

View attachment 247762

I use an X-Acto and trace along the cut lines with solid force to score the lexan. If you do it right, you can just snap and pull off the excess. You can also buy curved lexan body scissors, but after doing this 100's of times I have found using the X-Acto (or a razor knife) to be the easiest way. Some people use a dremel to cut them out as well.

Draw your design on the outside of the body using a Sharpie:

View attachment 247764
View attachment 247765
Then apply your liquid mask (or tape). I didn't take pictures of the design drawn on before applying the mask, so that's why it's pink. You want two good coats of mask. Ideally you don't get the big globs like you can see in mine where it looks like glue that hasn't dried, but it's hard to get it even with a foam brush. I put on one relatively even coat and then put it in front of the fan until it turns translucent and dries. Then add a second coat and do the same. I like to let it sit overnight in front of the fan just so it has time to cure, but you can speed it up with a hair dryer.

View attachment 247768

View attachment 247770
View attachment 247771

You can see it drying here:

View attachment 247772

Once it is dry, you're on to the REALLY fun part... cutting out your design. You want to use very light pressure with a brand new #11 X-Acto blade. You don't want to score the body as it will inevitably start to crack along those cut lines if you push too hard. If you look closely you can see how I've got a very thin pin stripe cut out along the drips. Anything that will be painted black gets cut and peeled out.

View attachment 247774
View attachment 247775
View attachment 247776
View attachment 247777

You can see all of my cuts in this one if you look closely. The drips are all going to have a thin black pinstripe and the window outlines will as well.

View attachment 247778

Now it's ready for paint. I naturally forgot to buy black paint so I'm headed to the store to get some. To be continued.....

Very interesting, I was confused about the mask, the bulb just came on! HA!

 

[Adam490]

Alright back in action. Picked up a new airbrush while I was at Hobby Lobby as well since I had a $25 gift card. I've always used Iwata Eclipse HP-CS dual action brushes. My old one needed a complete rebuild after a few hundred bodies, so now I've got one for water based paint and one for lacquer. You don't need one this fancy, but if you're doing intricate fades or freehand stuff they are the absolute best. Added bonus is that Hobby Lobby carries almost all of the stuff to rebuild them (o-rings/needles/tips/etc), so if something happens you're not stuck waiting on the mail.

Back to the painting

Here's the compressor setup. Super quiet and you can get them for about $60 at Harbor Freight. This one has an extra tank so the compressor doesn't have to run as often, but it isn't necessary. I've had this one for about 10 years.

The first color I put down was black. You always want to go darkest to lightest so you don't get any bleed through from over spray. You don't need to spray a ton of paint; just enough to cover. I usually hold the body up to the light to make sure it's good to go. Throw it in front of a fan or give it a few passes with a hair dryer. These paints dry extremely fast. I also did the inside of the "eyes" a pearl blue after spraying the black.

Cheers! You've got to have a cold one or 7 while painting. It's the law.

Next is to peel off the next area that you want to paint. This is where you find out if your liquid mask is too thin. If it's too thin, you'll be picking and scraping it out with tweezers, toothpicks, and knives. It sucks. Mine was good to go.

This is going to be a fluorescent pink for the drips and the "eye brows":

I laid down the pink and then backed it all with white to make it pop. The "eyes" were sprayed white as well:

I always leave the overspray film (what you draw on) on until after I finish the whole thing. A lot of people pull it off after they cut the design so they can see the real lines and colors (the film dulls the colors). You can clean any overspray off with rubbing alcohol so it's not really needed.

Next I peeled out the mask for the rear that's going to be fluorescent purple:

I used watered down black paint sprayed at 10 psi to do some freehand drop shadows under the drips. I tried to take pictures but they are so faint you can see them. They just give it a little depth versus a straight color on color spray.

This is the purple before backing with white:

You can sort of see the drop shadows in this one along the edges of the drips:

Here's the finished product after backing the purple, peeling off the rest of the liquid mask, and pulling the overspray film off:

 

[Adam490]

Just got to sticker it up and drill out the body mount marks and she'll be ready for the rocks.

 

[Smitty335]

Alright back in action. Picked up a new airbrush while I was at Hobby Lobby as well since I had a $25 gift card. I've always used Iwata Eclipse HP-CS dual action brushes. My old one needed a complete rebuild after a few hundred bodies, so now I've got one for water based paint and one for lacquer. You don't need one this fancy, but if you're doing intricate fades or freehand stuff they are the absolute best. Added bonus is that Hobby Lobby carries almost all of the stuff to rebuild them (o-rings/needles/tips/etc), so if something happens you're not stuck waiting on the mail.

View attachment 247796

Back to the painting

Here's the compressor setup. Super quiet and you can get them for about $60 at Harbor Freight. This one has an extra tank so the compressor doesn't have to run as often, but it isn't necessary. I've had this one for about 10 years.

View attachment 247808

The first color I put down was black. You always want to go darkest to lightest so you don't get any bleed through from over spray. You don't need to spray a ton of paint; just enough to cover. I usually hold the body up to the light to make sure it's good to go. Throw it in front of a fan or give it a few passes with a hair dryer. These paints dry extremely fast. I also did the inside of the "eyes" a pearl blue after spraying the black.

View attachment 247809
View attachment 247810

Cheers! You've got to have a cold one or 7 while painting. It's the law.

View attachment 247811

Next is to peel off the next area that you want to paint. This is where you find out if your liquid mask is too thin. If it's too thin, you'll be picking and scraping it out with tweezers, toothpicks, and knives. It sucks. Mine was good to go.

This is going to be a fluorescent pink for the drips and the "eye brows":

View attachment 247812
View attachment 247813
View attachment 247814

I laid down the pink and then backed it all with white to make it pop. The "eyes" were sprayed white as well:

View attachment 247815
View attachment 247816
View attachment 247818

I always leave the overspray film (what you draw on) on until after I finish the whole thing. A lot of people pull it off after they cut the design so they can see the real lines and colors (the film dulls the colors). You can clean any overspray off with rubbing alcohol so it's not really needed.

Next I peeled out the mask for the rear that's going to be fluorescent purple:

View attachment 247819
View attachment 247820
View attachment 247821

I used watered down black paint sprayed at 10 psi to do some freehand drop shadows under the drips. I tried to take pictures but they are so faint you can see them. They just give it a little depth versus a straight color on color spray.

This is the purple before backing with white:

View attachment 247822
View attachment 247823
View attachment 247824
View attachment 247825

You can sort of see the drop shadows in this one along the edges of the drips:

View attachment 247826

Here's the finished product after backing the purple, peeling off the rest of the liquid mask, and pulling the overspray film off:

View attachment 247831
View attachment 247828
View attachment 247829
View attachment 247830

VERY NICE! Thanks for the paint lesson!

 

[Smitty335]

Just got to sticker it up and drill out the body mount marks and she'll be ready for the rocks.

That looks GREAT!

 

[Smitty335]

Just got to sticker it up and drill out the body mount marks and she'll be ready for the rocks.

Is there a set time until you can use it in the rough and tumble?

 

[Adam490]

Is there a set time until you can use it in the rough and tumble?

Not really. As soon as it's dry it is good to go. If it is tacky at all you don't want to mess with it.

 

[Smitty335]

Just got to sticker it up and drill out the body mount marks and she'll be ready for the rocks.

You have ruent your daughter! HA!

 

[TripleB]

Alright back in action. Picked up a new airbrush while I was at Hobby Lobby as well since I had a $25 gift card. I've always used Iwata Eclipse HP-CS dual action brushes. My old one needed a complete rebuild after a few hundred bodies, so now I've got one for water based paint and one for lacquer. You don't need one this fancy, but if you're doing intricate fades or freehand stuff they are the absolute best. Added bonus is that Hobby Lobby carries almost all of the stuff to rebuild them (o-rings/needles/tips/etc), so if something happens you're not stuck waiting on the mail.

View attachment 247796

Back to the painting

Here's the compressor setup. Super quiet and you can get them for about $60 at Harbor Freight. This one has an extra tank so the compressor doesn't have to run as often, but it isn't necessary. I've had this one for about 10 years.

View attachment 247808

The first color I put down was black. You always want to go darkest to lightest so you don't get any bleed through from over spray. You don't need to spray a ton of paint; just enough to cover. I usually hold the body up to the light to make sure it's good to go. Throw it in front of a fan or give it a few passes with a hair dryer. These paints dry extremely fast. I also did the inside of the "eyes" a pearl blue after spraying the black.

View attachment 247809
View attachment 247810

Cheers! You've got to have a cold one or 7 while painting. It's the law.

View attachment 247811

Next is to peel off the next area that you want to paint. This is where you find out if your liquid mask is too thin. If it's too thin, you'll be picking and scraping it out with tweezers, toothpicks, and knives. It sucks. Mine was good to go.

This is going to be a fluorescent pink for the drips and the "eye brows":

View attachment 247812
View attachment 247813
View attachment 247814

I laid down the pink and then backed it all with white to make it pop. The "eyes" were sprayed white as well:

View attachment 247815
View attachment 247816
View attachment 247818

I always leave the overspray film (what you draw on) on until after I finish the whole thing. A lot of people pull it off after they cut the design so they can see the real lines and colors (the film dulls the colors). You can clean any overspray off with rubbing alcohol so it's not really needed.

Next I peeled out the mask for the rear that's going to be fluorescent purple:

View attachment 247819
View attachment 247820
View attachment 247821

I used watered down black paint sprayed at 10 psi to do some freehand drop shadows under the drips. I tried to take pictures but they are so faint you can see them. They just give it a little depth versus a straight color on color spray.

This is the purple before backing with white:

View attachment 247822
View attachment 247823
View attachment 247824
View attachment 247825

You can sort of see the drop shadows in this one along the edges of the drips:

View attachment 247826

Here's the finished product after backing the purple, peeling off the rest of the liquid mask, and pulling the overspray film off:

View attachment 247831
View attachment 247828
View attachment 247829
View attachment 247830

Bravo dude. I doubt i could ever do that. That looks good.

 

[Smitty335]

Not really. As soon as it's dry it is good to go. If it is tacky at all you don't want to mess with it.

I just came up for adoption! You are very gifted!

 

[NTCPrezJB]

Alright back in action. Picked up a new airbrush while I was at Hobby Lobby as well since I had a $25 gift card. I've always used Iwata Eclipse HP-CS dual action brushes. My old one needed a complete rebuild after a few hundred bodies, so now I've got one for water based paint and one for lacquer. You don't need one this fancy, but if you're doing intricate fades or freehand stuff they are the absolute best. Added bonus is that Hobby Lobby carries almost all of the stuff to rebuild them (o-rings/needles/tips/etc), so if something happens you're not stuck waiting on the mail.

View attachment 247796

Back to the painting

Here's the compressor setup. Super quiet and you can get them for about $60 at Harbor Freight. This one has an extra tank so the compressor doesn't have to run as often, but it isn't necessary. I've had this one for about 10 years.

View attachment 247808

The first color I put down was black. You always want to go darkest to lightest so you don't get any bleed through from over spray. You don't need to spray a ton of paint; just enough to cover. I usually hold the body up to the light to make sure it's good to go. Throw it in front of a fan or give it a few passes with a hair dryer. These paints dry extremely fast. I also did the inside of the "eyes" a pearl blue after spraying the black.

View attachment 247809
View attachment 247810

Cheers! You've got to have a cold one or 7 while painting. It's the law.

View attachment 247811

Next is to peel off the next area that you want to paint. This is where you find out if your liquid mask is too thin. If it's too thin, you'll be picking and scraping it out with tweezers, toothpicks, and knives. It sucks. Mine was good to go.

This is going to be a fluorescent pink for the drips and the "eye brows":

View attachment 247812
View attachment 247813
View attachment 247814

I laid down the pink and then backed it all with white to make it pop. The "eyes" were sprayed white as well:

View attachment 247815
View attachment 247816
View attachment 247818

I always leave the overspray film (what you draw on) on until after I finish the whole thing. A lot of people pull it off after they cut the design so they can see the real lines and colors (the film dulls the colors). You can clean any overspray off with rubbing alcohol so it's not really needed.

Next I peeled out the mask for the rear that's going to be fluorescent purple:

View attachment 247819
View attachment 247820
View attachment 247821

I used watered down black paint sprayed at 10 psi to do some freehand drop shadows under the drips. I tried to take pictures but they are so faint you can see them. They just give it a little depth versus a straight color on color spray.

This is the purple before backing with white:

View attachment 247822
View attachment 247823
View attachment 247824
View attachment 247825

You can sort of see the drop shadows in this one along the edges of the drips:

View attachment 247826

Here's the finished product after backing the purple, peeling off the rest of the liquid mask, and pulling the overspray film off:

View attachment 247831
View attachment 247828
View attachment 247829
View attachment 247830

That is awesome sir. Really makes me want to try to do one now. I don’t have an air brush or any artistic ability really. Do the “rattle” cans (Lexan stuff not Home Depot paint section) give similar results?

 

[Smitty335]

Can you buy sheets of Lexan to practice on?

 

[Todd627]

Just got to sticker it up and drill out the body mount marks and she'll be ready for the rocks.

Bro!!!! That is badass!!! Freakin awesome to see that body transform with each pic!!! Truly amazing!!!

 

[Smitty335]

@Adam490 you started this! And I will probably pick up a 1 /16 rail Rock Crawler next Tuesday.

 

[Todd627]

Just got to sticker it up and drill out the body mount marks and she'll be ready for the rocks.

Is that a 1/10 scale body?

 

[NTCPrezJB]

Is that a 1/10 scale body?

Yes it is 1/10 scale.

 

[Todd627]

Yes it is 1/10 scale.

I would imagine that a 1/24 scale body is lots more difficult to do.

 

[NTCPrezJB]

I would imagine that a 1/24 scale body is lots more difficult to do.

That I can’t answer for sure. Certainly agree with your guess that smaller detail would be more difficult.