Best way to paint roll cage/chassis?

[dawgvet]

Hey, I’m kinda getting back into building models and had a question about building an ‘80s chassis and roll cage. I am working on an Monogram ‘85 Elliott Coors T-Bird and was needing some tips on the best way to paint a roll cage and chassis. Do you assemble the roll cage to the chassis and then paint it or paint the pieces separately and then try to glue them together? 
 

Any help appreciated,

Jed

[sflam123]

I guess my answer is "It depends".  And I answer that way because it is a function of how the kit is engineered. Sometimes I find it easier to paint the parts separately and then assemble them, other times I put it all together and paint it as a unit.  Be aware that it is sometimes difficult to get paint coverage after you assemble it all as the roll cage can make it difficult to get paint in to all the locations.  Sometimes I assemble the cage as a subassembly and paint it and the chassis side by side, then assemble.  Sorry to not give you a direct, concise answer, but this is how I do it.

 

[bbowser]

I agree with Stephen, assemble the roll cage and paint as one, then glue it to the chassis.  Its difficult to get proper coverage when its all together IMO.

[yellowsportwagon]

4 hours ago, bbowser said:

I agree with Stephen, assemble the roll cage and paint as one, then glue it to the chassis.  Its difficult to get proper coverage when its all together IMO.

That’s how I do it.

[Tom Geiger]

You need to look at the assembly of each specific kit. You need to make sure that there aren’t steps in between that wouldn’t be able to be done. For instance with the chassis and cage assembled can you still assemble the interior? Or will the seat not fit between the cage bars?  I once assembled a chassis and found the engine and headers needed to be in place before a top rail was installed. 

[64Comet404]

I build up my roll cages off the chassis, but I use tacky craft glue to glue the cage to the chassis. When the solvent glues have dried, I soak the roll cage free, finish clean-up, and paint it.

[dwc43]

Best way to do it is to paint everything while it's on the sprue. You can always touch it up at assembly. This way you wont miss any areas that need to be painted. And you can assemble it without any problems.

[Jantrix]

7 minutes ago, dwc43 said:

Best way to do it is to paint everything while it's on the sprue. You can always touch it up at assembly. This way you wont miss any areas that need to be painted. And you can assemble it without any problems.

The problem with this is that every part has mold lines or ejection pin marks tht need to be cleaned up. This is very hard to do keeping the part on the sprue.

[dwc43]

23 minutes ago, Jantrix said:

The problem with this is that every part has mold lines or ejection pin marks tht need to be cleaned up. This is very hard to do keeping the part on the sprue.

Sometimes. If you like you can take it off the sprue and fix it then paint it. Best thing I ever found was at Harbor Freight and Northern Tool and Equipment were locking clamps hemostats. Just leave something to clamp on to and paint away.

[Belugawrx]

46 minutes ago, Jantrix said:

The problem with this is that every part has mold lines or ejection pin marks tht need to be cleaned up. This is very hard to do keeping the part on the sprue.

When I build NASCAR kits, I will assemble the roll cage, dry fit to the chassis, and when dry, remove from the chassis and paint. This allows me to complete the chassis separately, and in the end glue cage to chassis.

[Mike Stem]

On 6/8/2020 at 1:07 PM, dwc43 said:

Best way to do it is to paint everything while it's on the sprue. You can always touch it up at assembly. This way you wont miss any areas that need to be painted. And you can assemble it without any problems.

That's how I paint a lot of my parts.

[Mike Stem]

On 6/8/2020 at 1:17 PM, Jantrix said:

The problem with this is that every part has mold lines or ejection pin marks tht need to be cleaned up. This is very hard to do keeping the part on the sprue.

I take my time & clean mold lines & ejection pin marks while part are still on the sprue. Takes time & patience. 

[Claude Thibodeau]

HI!

I try to assemble the whole cage to allow it to be removed and painted when ready. Case in point: this pro-mod Duster, in before and after pix. 

CT

 

[Tom Geiger]

I assemble everything with pins. There have been times I’ve tried to shortcut and just glued parts together and was sorry! 

Nothing magic or expensive here.. standard straight pins, wire cutters from my garage tool box. I do have a small battery power hobby drill, the new Tamiya one would be a wise investment.

I drill and press fit all the joints. I had to resize the cage to fit in this model so it helped me with the fitment.

Here is everything dry fit. The cage also gets pinned to the floor for an exact and permanent strong assembly.  

I had this entire interior in and out of the body to fit it to roofline etc before anything was painted or finished.

Here we are all finished and ready for final assembly. Yes it’s a bit more work, but aren’t we in this for great results ?

 

 

Edited June 14, 2020 by Tom Geiger

[slusher]

On 6/14/2020 at 11:48 AM, Tom Geiger said:

I assemble everything with pins. There have been times I’ve tried to shortcut and just glued parts together and was sorry! 

Nothing magic or expensive here.. standard straight pins, wire cutters from my garage tool box. I do have a small battery power hobby drill, the new Tamiya one would be a wise investment.

I drill and press fit all the joints. I had to resize the cage to fit in this model so it helped me with the fitment.

Here is everything dry fit. The cage also gets pinned to the floor for an exact and permanent strong assembly.  

I had this entire interior in and out of the body to fit it to roofline etc before anything was painted or finished.

Here we are all finished and ready for final assembly. Yes it’s a bit more work, but aren’t we in this for great results ?

 

 

Tom, what’s wrapped on the roll bars or is that paint?

[Tom Geiger]

1 hour ago, slusher said:

Tom, what’s wrapped on the roll bars or is that paint?

Carl, that’s padding that’s molded with the roll bar. The roll cage came from the Falcon Modified Stocker, but cut down and reshaped in every direction.  

[Goodwrench3]

I've heard of guys using "Future" to "tack" the roll cage parts to the chassis so they can build the roll cage and the take it off the chassis to paint it as a single unit.

I know there are several "Future" products -- does anyone know which one they would be using to do this ?

Thanks

 

[MarkJ]

Its just easier for me to do the cage in the chassis and then paint it. If you brush paint you wont have any trouble getting full coverage and if you dont you wouldnt be able to tell if the paint was there or not. I do the seat and dash seperate before i install them . no way to paint them after they're installed. At least I cant.

 

Edited July 22, 2020 by MarkJ

[robdebie]

On 6/6/2020 at 5:09 AM, dawgvet said:

Hey, I’m kinda getting back into building models and had a question about building an ‘80s chassis and roll cage. I am working on an Monogram ‘85 Elliott Coors T-Bird and was needing some tips on the best way to paint a roll cage and chassis. Do you assemble the roll cage to the chassis and then paint it or paint the pieces separately and then try to glue them together?

Here's my Monogram ‘85 Elliott Coors T-Bird chassis, that I did many years ago (20+ maybe, oops..). I painted mine after total assembly, so there would not be gaps between the parts. But I remember waisting a lot paint on it while airbrushing the tubes of the rollcage.

If I were to do it again, I would use a glossier paint. The rather flat color is Humbrol 128, supposedly satin.

Rob

 

 

[Goodwrench3]

Check out Chris's YouTube video of his builds.  He truly shows how to just "git 'er done"  !   And his builds look really nice -- and he does them in 2 days !

 

[horsepower]

On 6/6/2020 at 1:50 PM, yellowsportwagon said:

That’s how I do it.

Me too, but I start by using the white school glue we used to glue the main parts to the chassis then when you get the cage all finished set it in some warm water that just cover the floor pan and the white glue will dissolve leaving the cage much easier to get all the surfaces covered AND you know it's gonna fit the way it should since you assembled it all together just like the instructions show (but they don't know about the white glue trick. Just remember to NOT use the bottle of white glue in your coffee, it might look like heavy cream but the taste is a little bit off.??

[yellowsportwagon]

2 hours ago, horsepower said:

Me too, but I start by using the white school glue we used to glue the main parts to the chassis then when you get the cage all finished set it in some warm water that just cover the floor pan and the white glue will dissolve leaving the cage much easier to get all the surfaces covered AND you know it's gonna fit the way it should since you assembled it all together just like the instructions show (but they don't know about the white glue trick. Just remember to NOT use the bottle of white glue in your coffee, it might look like heavy cream but the taste is a little bit off.??

I tape it to the chassis 

[Tom Geiger]

Go back to my detailed answer earlier in this thread. I pin my roll cage to the floor.