PAINTING LEXAN 101

Painting With Spray Cans:

The Tools:

• Polycarbonate Lexan Spray Paint
• Masking Tape
• Vinyl Paint Masks
• Lexan Scissors
• "Exacto" Knife
• "Sharpie" Marker
• Power Drill or Hole Reamer

Prepare Your Body:

Clean Your Body!!
The second step is very easy but cannot be overlooked..You must wash your body in a sink with soap and water..It needs to be squeeky clean..When you can rub your finger on the inside of the body and it squeeks you are good to go.
Just be sure to rinse and dry thoroughly and let it sit until completely dry.

Pre-mount Your Body!!

You must line your body up on your chassis while your body is still clear..
This usually isn't necessary with bodies that come with kits that have dimples for where you need to make your holes, or even, in some cases, pre-drilled holes
But for an after market body it is a necessity...
You'll notice in the above picture how easy it is to see the location of the body posts and antenna...These are usually the only holes you will have to mark unless you are mounting to a nitro powered car and then you will have to make an additional mark at the center of the head of your motor.
You'll notice that the wing and "wing tips" are part of the body mould..You will need to make a mark on the outside of these parts before cutting them out of the body mould so that you will easilly be able to see which side has the protective coating on it when it comes time to paint them

• Step 1: Trim the body fairly close to the body lines
• Step 2: Set your chassis on a stand or something to get it off the ground
• Step 3: Set your body on the chassis and line it up as good as you can
  (be sure to make sure its even side to side and align the wheel wells with your wheels)
• Step 4: Mark your body posts and antenna hole with a "Sharpie" marker dot
• Step 5: Take the body off and measure your dots to make sure your chassis is centered under the body..I like to use a body line and just double check to make sure the distance from one side to the next is equal..

Window Masks:
This is a fairly easy job to do..Getting your window masks fairly straight is pretty important though
With some body kits you will receive "window trim" decals to apply after your body is completed and this can really help hide some uneven edges and finish off your window lines nicely.
I use automotive trim or a "Sharpie" marker to get the "window trim" effect on some occasions..Or I just leave it if it looks OK..
Don't be afraid to lift and reposition you window masks until you get them nice and straight.
Use a stiff edge tool like a credit card to make sure the edges of your window masks are completely sealed to avoid any paint bleeds(paint running under the mask)..This is probably the most important step in any paint job...
Be Sure To Seal The Edges

One Color Paint Job:
All the necessary prep work is now done..It may seem a little lengthy, but I didn't want to leave out any details
You will find that the steps mentioned above are not really that time consuming and you can pretty much do a one color paint job in an afternoon
You are now ready to finish off your body with a single color paint job if thats what you want to do.

Two Color Paint Job:
A two color paint job can be acheived as easilly as applying the window masks is
Its just a matter of adding some paint masks to the inside of your body in the same manner
I have used all kinds of masking materials..Liquid mask..Tape..Vinyl masking.
I now use XXX Main paint masks all the time..They are very easy to use and make for some great results
In the most detailed and small sections I have never experienced a problem with paint bleeding underneath
You can also use "stuff around the house" for some unique effects..Such as fibre drywall tape which I used on my green/gold Stratus's..

If I was to paint one color on this body right now, the parts of the body that don't have visible masks would be that first color..After applying two to three coats its just a matter of removing this mask and going on to the second color..
It really is as easy as that...
The only thing you have to remember, is that when using more than one color you always have to apply the darkest colors first.

Multi Color Paint Job:
This is where things get a little more difficult..Every job using multi colors is different and you really need to plan things out a bit..
Its not really any harder than a single or two color paint job though..You just have to do things the right way
The first step is deciding on colors..In this case I chose the "R/C Ontario" color scheme..Black, Red and Silver(Grey)..
The second step is determining which order these colors need to be applied in..
Darkest is Black..
You could apply red or silver next, but silver is actually not as translucent as red and will not show the backing color as easilly..So Silver is second and red is last..

Tape off the last color first.. Since red is the last color to be applied you will tape off all the areas to be red first This makes things a lot easier when removing the tape as you progress through the colors.

Don't forget the wings and tips You apply paint to the backside of the wing itself so you have to remove the protective coating before painting The wing tips are painted on the inside so the protective coating stays on. In this case I am only using my custom made R/C "O" paint masks on the wing so I simply apply that and tape off the entire front side of the wing.The first color to be applied to the wing itself is silver so I'll put it aside until I move onto the second color

The second color to be applied is silver, so the next step is taping off everything that is to be silver..Or in this case, everything that isn't going to be black since I'm only doing a three color paint job You are almost ready to start painting a pretty simple but multi colored paint job..

You will need to use a blowdryer on your paint masks..I haven't had one job yet where this wasn't a necessity You may even find it necessary to do this as you apply them originally..I usually find that I can leave this stage until just before I paint.. It really depends on the contours of the body you are applying to and how detailed your masks are. Simply use your blowdryer on a low heat/speed settting and slightly warm the masks..You'll be amazed at how well they actually cling themselves to your body..And mould around some lines where they have been lifting before.. Again..As with the window masks, its a good idea to use a hard edge tool of some sort to press the masks firmly in place..Don't worry about bubbles that are away from the edges too much.. Paint won't get there and as long as your edges are sealed and your masks are not destorted in shape you are good to move on to the paint application One more "once over" to make sure all your masks are sealed and aligned properly and its time to paint

How To Paint:
First thing, is to be sure that you are working in a well ventilated area
I do all my masking in the comfort of my living room, but when it comes to painting....Move Outside As mentioned, painting Lexan with spray cans is very easy and since you are applying the colors to the inside of the body your finish(clear coating) on the outside is a couple of mm thick and already applied..
Paint bleeds are the only thing that will mess up the look of your paint job now and hopefully we have taken the steps to prevent that from happening.

First Coat.. OK..We've masked of everything that isn't going to be black and now its time for some paint. First coat has to be very very light.. Its just a matter of covering the entire area with a very light "dusting" of color. (in this case you are looking for a very light "grey" coating of black) This will help to seal off the edges of the masks and prevent bleeding even more This is a very important start to insuring the success of you paint job and must be done with each start of a different color To apply your paint hold the can approx. 8 inches away from the body and apply it with even strokes/passes..Its better to start the spraying just outside of the body and keep spraying until you pass the opposite side of the body and then stopping..Repeat this over the entire areas to be painted until you get you first coat done.. I like to wait an hour between coats...But you can check an area on top of a mask or outside the actual body line area to see when its dry.. Your second coat will be a little heavier and you'll begin to get the "black" color rather than the light grey first coat.. One more coat and you should be done..Double check for any thin/missed areas before continuing on to the second color

Black is done..Now its just a matter of repeating the steps until all colors are applied.. Here we remove the tape for all the areas to be painted silver..Leaving only the masks needed for the final red color.. Same technique here..Light dusting of the first coat and repeat until you get a good covering..Usually three coats including the first dusting coat. The main color of the rear wing will be silver, so I'll be applying that to the back of the wing first.. The lettering and back color of the wing will be red..So once the silver is done its just a matter of removing the letter mask and applying red to the entire backside of the wing to give it the finished look I have used a clear coat on the back of the wing before and it looks pretty good..Depending on the final finish of the back you may decide to do this clear coat or not In this case, I left it out..

As you can see, I kinda skipped a step here.. Silver is done and I've removed the remainder of the masks and applied the final color of red You'll notice that I've coated(backed) the entire inside of the body with white This isn't totally necessary in all cases, but I find it brings out the colors more..THat red, for instance, became a lot brighter and more solid looking after I applied the white In other cases you may find you are using transparent colors and this step is a definite necessity for those colors You always have to back transparent colors with white or even grey. In fact, you can also add another effect by applied two colors as the backing color..White at the front and grey at the back will make your color transition from a light to dark effect.. This, of course, depends on how transparent you "front" color is.. Its a great and simple effect, especially to add something to that one color paint job..

Finishing The Job:

I usually apply all the decals etc. before actually mounting the wing on the car..
Its just a little easier to work with the body that way.. To mount the wing I use the "usually" included wing hardware and also Shoo Goo.
A lot of people seem to think that the wing is a handle and I've had my share of them come off because of this..Take the extra step and make sure it stays put..
Line up your wing tips and secure them with Shoo Goo as well..

Final Look:

Other Examples:

Final Thought: