Need help with my first body, MX-1 hummer

[speedingpenguin]

i got this yesterday for my nitro stampede. I bought some orange spray paint from the hobby store as well, but i also have some nice metalic blue and metalic green hobby paint that i bought to use on a model rocket but never got around to using because i was to impatient to launch and loose the rocket. Its my first body, but not my first time painting.....i've gotten pretty decent working with rattlecans painting my discman, computer case, and some other stuff for famity and friends, so i dont want to do something TOO simple. Right now i am thinking maybe blue in the back fading to green with maybe some orange stripes down the middle? i dont want this thing to look too flashy nor too plain.....i'm going for like a racing truck type look. Anyone with any ideas or pictures of this body painted, please post. Thanks,
-Speedy

[Odddude]

maybe you can spray the orange on the body.. then take saran (Sp?) wrap and put in on the body.. so when u take it off.. there will be unpainted random lines on ur car.. then spray it with the other stuff.. or vise virsa.. BTW i have never painted a body but i heard other people used this techniqe... good luck on ur Hummer H2 body!

[creep]

Are you sure you have the right kind of paint? RC car bodies need paint specially made for lexan or polycabonates, model rocket paint might not stick very well.

[speedingpenguin]

well the paint i was using on my model rockets was the paint that i was going to use on a Dodge Viper model i made but decided not to go crazy with and just painted it red, so this paint i think may even be the same brand.....the guy in the hobby store from which i bought the body said that any paint would do fine.....just like any old rattlecan from WalMart or whatever would work, but wouldnt last too long, but that hobby paint or paint made for plastic surfaces would be fine....he also said that automotive paint would be the best but its alot more expensive......i'm trying to think of a design right now....the saran wrap trick sounds awsome, but for the hummer body i'm going for....i dunno how to say it really but a different look....but after i do this one and make some $$ i might buy a car body to put on the truck, and i'll keep the saran wrap in mind ;-) thanks

[RS4Tinkerer]

You need to make sure that the paint is made for polycarbonate. Normal Models are not made of Poly, they are made of plastic adn do do not flex. if you use the wrong paint that is not flexible the first time your new Hummer body flexes, bends, warps, etc... the paint will flake off.

here is a pic of one of my early bodies that I had that problem with.
http://mediaservice.photoisland.com/auction/Jul/20037116896981458454550.jpg

[creep]

Sounds like the guy at the hobby store doesn't know too much about RC bodies.

[speedingpenguin]

seriously? meh, we'll find out soon :-)

[speedingpenguin]

Well.....after a long time last night cutting and masking and all that good stuff, i gave up on the flames and all the fancy stuff and decided to call it a night. (Listened to the rest of the Pearl Jam concert that they were playing on the radio of course :-P haha)
This morning i took the masking tape and did two simple stripes, trying my hardest to make sure no paint would leak but with this body it was kinda hard....all the little rises and depressions and stuff.....
Took it outside, gave it 2 coats of the metalic flake green spray over the course of about 30 minutes, then had to leave for the day. When i got back at about 430 or so, the green paint was pretty much dry, and i was happy with how it looked on the outside except a few spots that were masked off got a little paint in them.......i took the stripe masks off, and tried my best to get the green paint off but it was just making it worse, so i decided that it is my first body, i'm just driving it up and down the street and stuff, it doesnt have to be perfect this time, so i sprayed 2 coats of orange. After that dried pretty much (sat there in the garage for about half an hour with a hair dryer blowing into the body), i sprayed a nice thick coat of white primer over it all just to kinda make it look neater on the inside, give a LITTLE bit of water protection (not sure if the paint i used is waterproof or what lol), and to kinda give the paint a little background cause it was still a bit translucent if you looked at it from the right light and stuff. When that dried in almost no time at all, off came the window masks :-) i like how it turned out......i absoloutly LOVE the green color (ive decided that when i paint my car its gonna be that color with the flakes and all!), and the orange contrasts it nicely. When i get the truck running, get a job and some $$ and an airbrush and stuff, i know that i'll want to use that color green again and maybe a darker metalic orange with it.....i think it looks really nice together....

As for this body and the paint, i guess it turned out good enough for me :-D i know its not perfect, but here it is:D

[speedingpenguin]

.

[speedingpenguin]

last one