Underbody painting on US cars

[Matt Bacon]

I've seen some beautifully finished models where the main body colour wraps round the underside edges with primer or sealer colour on the rest, others that are body colour over the whole underside, and still others where the underbody area is all black....

Are there any "rules" to which you should choose for what cars and eras, os is it a case of "whatever looks right"?

best,

M.

[Oldcarfan27]

I don't know if there were any rules, but my way of thinking is this.

When the body was in the paint booth, the painters had just enough time to shoot the "beauty" areas, they didn't have time to fully paint and detail areas that were out of general view of the public eye. Wheelwells and more visible chassis parts were just shot with undercoat or black afterwards.

What you generally see on the chassis is color overspray on the primer base. Remember, on real cars the chassis pan is part of the unibody shell, so it would get hit with paint when the body did. What you see on models is the overspray effect to make the chassis look like it was painted the same time as the body was.

Hope this helps.

Edited July 13, 2018 by Oldcarfan27

[Exotics_Builder]

It varies depending on what you are modeling and what style (custom, stock, etc.).  If you are replicating a period stock vehicle, you would need to research (or query the knowledge base here) on painting techniques.  The underspray along the edges is what one would usually expect a vehicle being painted to exhibit since the entire underside is not exposed.  Many stock vehicles in harsher climate zones may have been undercoated to prevent rust.  That would generally show as matte black.

Chassis and suspension parts were often painted black (again depends on vehicle) and wheel wells may also vary.  dd to this if you consider weathering.

 

A custom vehicle, on the other hand, might be sprayed entirely body color for the effect and the fact that they would be mounted on a rotisserie.   

But, it really gets down to your taste and whether you wish to display the underside of the car.  Unless you are doing replica stock and making everything visible, you are the builder.

Edited July 13, 2018 by Exotics_Builder