Painting the body

Check this "how to" out.     

 

http://www.badscaleracing.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1634

 

 

Can anyone help? I figured this would be the place to come :)

 Thanks in advance!

Hey,

 I'm soon going to start on my first Motorbike and I'll be trying to attain a nice finish.

 Firstly I have some questions I'd like to ask:

I know all about priming, sanding, priming until it's smooth. Apply thin layer of base colour, let it dry, apply a slightly heavier coat...let it dry and then sand before applying 2 or more layers of the base coat...

 Now, can you recommend some products to finish it? Polishing compounds and wax and roughly what each of them do? What's the difference?

 Also, when working on a model with 2 base colours, what's the order of progress? Do I get up to the 'compounding' stage, then mask and apply the second colour (repeating the same process as the first) then when both are dry, apply the rubbing compound and wax? Or is it different?

 I'd be very greatful for some answers as I hope to start this project in the next couple of days...cheers,

 Jake Eaton
 

1.  Paint the exterior first then the interior.  Much
easier to mask that way.  If you get some bleed through on the
interior, you can polish it out.  I airbrush both.

2.   
My method?  Polish it!  I smooth out the surface, plastic or
resin.  Then lay on a good coat of primer.  Grab some
sandpaper and water then start polishing.  When it is smooth as I
can get it, lay on the paint.  Sometimes need a couple of coats of
primer to get it right.  Same story with the paint.  Paint,
polish, repeat.  When the paint is glass smooth, go for the clear
coat.  I really let the clear wick out before I mask for the
interior.  Spray the interior then get the polishing compounds
out, Mothers, blue magic and others.  It takes a long time to do
this, but the results are worth it.  When you get the clear
polished and waxed it is awesome to see the car glow!

3.  See my previous post on airbrushes.  Bottom line,
get one you like!  After 20 something years, I finally went to a
dual action.  I love it, but it is really hard to get it to work
like I want it.   

I airbrush as much as possible but I do a lot of emergency and truck models for people so i have just as much time brushin by hand. for bodies i always prime it, sand it then color coat then 2 good coats of clear, and i wet sand the clear before i wax it. i use automotive paints most of the time so after the wetsanding is done it looks like a mirror

One other thing about your primer, it serve as a micro filler.  It helps fill it all the micro scratches before painting.

 

I just use Tamiya spray cans for my model bodies. I lay down a primer coat sand it ncie and clean and then put down a second coat to get it smooth. After that I do plenty of coats of the actual body color so that when I start polishing I don't go through to the primer. Then it's some fine and finishing polishing compond and maybe wax depending on if i'm lazy or not.

I personally airbrush as much as I can.  I've just never been able to lay paint on very well with a brush.  I only use a paint brush for small details.

You should use a primer on your models. I will do a little sanding before I start painting.  Need to start with a good base if you want good final results.

There are a lot of good airbrushes out.  I have used Badgers and Paasche's with good results.  My current airbrush is an Iwata Eclipse HP-CS that I really like.  It sprays well and is easy to clean up.  My suggestion is to buy the best airbrush in your budget and practice, practice, practice.  Don't forget you'll need a compressor too.