RC Car - How Do I Paint Lexan?

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How Do I Paint Lexan?

This one was sent to me from a friend of mine, The RC Guy. He has a website himself in which he answers questions. Here is the question he got and his response.

Comments: Hi there, I've just brought a Tamiya CLK GTR 1/10 electric car and was wondering if you can give me some painting pointers. First, do you mask the windows from the "inside" ? And spray paint on the inside as well? If I choose to do two colours, I guess I have to spray one colour then the second colour.

Happy R/C ing!

Response: Paint... You mask the windows on the inside as you thought. All painting is done on the inside of the body. When the job is done you will have a very shiny paint job on the outside because you have the Lexan body as a clear coat. It is very impressive actually.

You must make sure you use Lexan paints because they are somewhat flexible when dry and won't crack when your body bumps into things. They are called polycarbonate paints and your local hobby shop will have them. Check to make sure that the body has a clear plastic film on the outside of the body, Tamiya usually does. If not you will have to mask the out side of the body too. The best way to do this is too put in a large plastic bag, a garbage bag will work but something clear would be better so that you can see how the coating of paint looks from the outside. Basically you just tape the plastic bag along the outside rim of the body to protect it from over spray.

If you want to do more than one color you apply your masking in the reverse order of your paint sequence. You MUST paint the darker colours first. Example, you mask the windows first and completely trim the window masking as if you were only doing one colour. Next you mask the second colour to be painted (the lighter colour). Let's say its white. You can go on top of the window masking but cover only the other areas that you want to be white. That should leave you with an area left for your first (darker) colour to be painted. Let's say black. You are now ready to paint.

Spray the inside of the body black. The first coat must be fairly light. This will help seal the tape edges. If you apply too much on your first coat, the paint will want to run under the tape. Two or three light coats should do the trick. Hold your body up to a light bulb and you will be able to see what kind of covering you have. You should let your coats dry over night. You can just wait until it's dry but if you have the time to do your paint job over a few days your paint jobs will be more consistent. Once you are happy with the black colour you can carefully remove the tape covering the white area. Pull the tape away from the painted area at a sharp angle, slowly. You can cut the edges with a sharp hobby knife if you think the tape won't come off cleanly from the paint. I've only had to do this once and only on a small area of my body. If you peel it back slowly you can see if it is coming off ok. If the tape wants to pull away the paint in an area, stop and cut the edge slightly and continue slowly. Now you can paint the white inside the body. Your windows are still masked and you can paint right over the black. Repeat the process mentioned for the first coat. Once the white is finished you can remove the window masking and you are done.

Get the decals out but be sure to remove the plastic film before you continue with the applying of them.

Important Note, some colours are transparent. Not the white or black in this case but when you get paint, ask the Hobby Guy if it's transparent. If it is, this is not a problem. You just have to back the transparent colour in white. Let's say you use black and a transparent color (say blue?). You just tape and paint the same way but before you remove the window masking, cover your entire paint job in white (on the inside).

There you have it! Painting a two colour body is not that difficult, it just takes a little time to get it right. Good Luck.

The R/C Guy