ORIGINAL: J-MICHAEL
Crash ~
On your EXI-450 fuselage above, and all the many others you have built and constructed, what paints do you use for your application ? I think I heard you say before that you scuffed it up with 400 grit sandpaper, and then used a primer with a white base coat and then applied your final coat of whatever color, but was wondering what you used exactly ? And where do you order it ?
I've never painted any of the plastics before on my Cars, or heli's except once and that was last year with my CX2 Xtreme canopy that I had purchased from Boomtown Hobbies. I'am not sure what type of plastic it is, but I think it was polycarbonate or something like that.... It's held up through massive scratches and has done well with the paint you see in the pics below, that I had acquired from my LHS. The window tint worked great, and the silver was my choosing for the final application. I prepped it very well however, as that is more important than the painting itself I believe... I scuffed it also, and flashed it very quickly with acetone and a mild dish soap to make sure the application would adhere well.
I even used the silver to paint the fins, and after a year still no scratches or anything, but also.... Prepped it very well and flashed the pieces with acetone carefully....
Any info would be appreciated... Thanks in advance,
~ Jeff
BTW....... lohchief, if your out there anywhere I love your fuselage in the pic above ! VERY nice.....
Jeff...yeah, I scuff it with 400 grit. The material they use is either ABS (some drthdark fuse I think) or PET in various thicknesses for most others unless using fiberglass. Only two issues in a good paint job, preperation (and real good masking) and grade of paint you use. Rust-Oleum seems to be the best, and more expensive than the others but the results are well worth it. De oiling or degreasing...you can use alphatic naptha (lighter fluid) or other cleaning solvents that wont attack the material. I use primer white or gray from rustoelum for priming.
My decals on the TH-57 are all made from images off the internet (HT-8's squadron insignia), and the intl star and bar...reduced using MS Paint. I use MS paint to also make the lettering or words, using the correct colors (number 38 is black numbers on red background made to correct scale/hue of redness). I apply the decals using a high quality packing tape such as 3M, virtually invisable....good stuff.
Vic