Scale Rock Crawling Bodyshell Painting with Matte finish bonnet

Here i will show you step by step guid to painting a 1/10th scale Rock crawler body. The bodyshell i will be doing is the Proline 1992 JEEP CHEROKEE 

So we start of by cutting the shell out following the cut lines around the wheel arches and the bumpers. The reason i cut the shell out before i paint is so that when I'm cutting out the shell i don't scratch the paint off and i can sand around the arches to get a nice smooth edge. After the shell has been all cut out its important to wash the body out with soapy water and dried. This process makes sure all greasy finger marks and dirt are removed so the masking and paint will stick perfectly.

 

Now for the masking. This is the most important part of spraying a body, this does take some patience and time but its worth it for the end result. With this body shell it includes window masks (white masks in the pic) and sticker sheet for the lights. On this body i have gone for a bit more detailing on the bonnet, bumpers, wheel arches and around the windows. I have simply masked what i wanted to be black with the yellow masking tape. 

Spraying the body shell.This jeep iv gone for TAMIYA PS-9 GREEN. So start by spraying a light dusting coat inside the shell no too much as i don't want blobs of paint running like lava. I spray probably 3-4 light coats (leaving each coat to dry for 15 mins) making sure all spots are covered evenly. A nice lil tip is to hold the shell up to a light and you can see patches you have missed. 

So i have now completed my base colour, i now remove all the yellow masking tape to reveal all the parts i want to spray TAMIYA PS-5 BLACK. I made sure that the white window masks stayed in place as i want them to be clear. Once again nice light dusting coats around the un masked areas until all is covered. 

Well now i have my painted body. Most body shells will come with a protective film over the outside of the shell, this protects it from over spray and scratches while you are working on it. I used this in my advantage for this particular shell as I'm going for a matt/dull finish on the bumpers and bonnet. I simply cut the film very carefully with a sharp blade following the edge the black bonnet and bumpers, i then peal off the sections of the black and used Spaz Stix "No-Shine" Matte Finish Exterior Spray Paint. A few light coats again gives you a nice even matte finish.

The shell is really coming together now. All paining is complete and now i start removing the rest of the protective film and the window masks on the inside.  So the last part, i cut out the stickers for the lights placing them on the shell to finish it off. 

Thanks for reading RJ - Hearns Hobbies.