Base coats

[FujimiLover]

Hello. What's the best base coat to use before painting Italian red? I noticed that painting Italian red straight on primer tends to give it a flat look. I have a nice bright silver that I used for my Koenig's engine, should I use that as a base?

[E St. Kruiser50]

Hello. What's the best base coat to use before painting Italian red? I noticed that painting Italian red straight on primer tends to give it a flat look. I have a nice bright silver that I used for my Koenig's engine, should I use that as a base?

Hey there "Fujimi Guy"

For me on the painting with bright colors, like yellows and so forth, I use a white base color, as it really makes your top coat "POP" and really "DAZZLE". Give it a try on a sample piece, and I think you'll like the results.

The other color of primers and base colors seem to mute or soften the the top coat color, which in some instances is exactly what you want.

Hope this helps - dave

[FujimiLover]

I'll be useing the flat-black primer as the "beginner". I dont' have any white at the moment, only the silver that I used on the engine. I don't think putting the Italian Red on the primer will work, especially the black one. It works in my head, but I doubt it will in reality. I'm assuming the silver will have same result as the white?

[CAL]

FWIW, the factory uses a pink primer on the red cars.

[chris coller]

Pink is a good color and would be preferable. I used white on my my 308 GTB and didnt have any issues or coverage problems. I used all Tamiya products though.

[FujimiLover]

I don't have pink, and I dont' have white, and I dont' have any more money to buy more paints. All I have is the silver I used on the engine, so I'm going to go with that. Should still be better than right on the primer itselfe. I've never seen pink primer before!

[B_rad88]

the white would be brighter! if you want a duller, darker then yes use the silver! i always used white base for red top coat! its alot brighter and like treehugger dave says it will pop and dazzle!!!!

i have tried this the white and the silver base with royal blue. on white, the blue looks like blue. but on silver, the blue looks like black!!

[FujimiLover]

I'll have a look and see if any of the white's I have are any good. If not, I'm sure I can pick one up. Any white in particular, or just a gloss white? I dont' think I want to use white primer either as that also tends to flatten the color, plus I dont' want two primers on there anyway. I want something to put on the black, then the base, then the red. The red should look like this when clear coated.

The factory may use pink primer, but not sure what Koenig uses when they modify the Ferrari's. I'm sure they have to repaint the entire car when 80% of the new body is kevlar or fiberglass.

Edited April 14, 2009 by FujimiLover

[FujimiLover]

Also, do any of you clear coat over the window? I'm asking cause this model has a Koenig Specials logo as a window banner and I dont' want it to peal off over time.

[MrObsessive]

As a lover of red Ferrari's I can definitely tell you that pink and white primer are the way to go for red topcoats!

Here's a couple examples.............

That's a '56 250 GT with a white primer as a base...........yes it's 1/43 scale!

This is a 250 GTO primered with pink primer as Chris mentioned above. If you want those reds (especially in a Ferrari) to really pop, you gotta go with what works.

[Roadkill2525]

Im going with Tamiya Fluoresent Red with either Tamiya or Mr. Color Italian Red over it for my Lancia Delta.

Edited April 14, 2009 by El Destructo Inc

[MrObsessive]

I'll have a look and see if any of the white's I have are any good. If not, I'm sure I can pick one up. Any white in particular, or just a gloss white? I dont' think I want to use white primer either as that also tends to flatten the color, plus I dont' want two primers on there anyway. I want something to put on the black, then the base, then the red. The red should look like this when clear coated.

Duplicolor makes a good white primer, but I prefer Plastikote white but it's a bit harder to find these days.

Tamiya also makes an excellent white primer in a spray can, but the cost of that drives me nuts as the automotive brands give you more for your dollar.

Good topcoats should not "flatten" over primer as shown by my examples above. Once your paint is fully cured, you'll want to rub out and polish the paint just like you would a 1:1. My Ferrari's were not clearcoated, just rubbed out with polishing cloths and waxed.

General rule of thumb is this.............Solid colors don't need clearcoat as there's enough hardener in the paint to bring out the gloss.

Metallic colors should be clearcoated because you don't want to "disturb" the metallic flakes which can lead to a mottled, swirly appearance by rubbing out and waxing.

That pic you have of that Ferrari was definitely primered in white.

[B_rad88]

this is the white i used and the gloss i used!!!!!!!! they work great! on the cars in the pics i used the white primer, auto motive touch up paint, and the triple-glaze clear gloss! they where $3 bucks a can at wal-mart!!!!! great products!!!!

P.S. I NEVER POLISHED THE CARS!!!! THE SHINE IS STRAIGHT GLOSS ITS SELF! NO POLISH!!!!!!!!!

hey is my chevy with the white primer, gum metal grey silver (a.m.t.u.p.) and the and 1 coat of gloss!!!

now here are the 2 cars i was talking about earlier with the white base and the silver base!!!!! ones extremly darker than the other!

here is the caddy its has the white primer, royal blue (a.m.t.u.p.) and 2 coats of the gloss!

here is the mini copper with the silver base, royal blue (a.m.t.u.p.) and 2 coats of the gloss!

now here are the two cars side-by-side!

i hope this helps you! Brandon

[FujimiLover]

Thank you guy's. So would it hurt or be benaficial to use white primer ontop of the black primer? My reason for the black primer, is so that I can mask off the black areas that need to be black. Even though the blue crapped out on my other body, the masking job was great and my lines were perfect! Especially around the window trim which is the hardest to perfect!

My painting process will go like this.

Black Primer

base-coat=whatever that maybe

Tamiya Color TS-8 Italian Red,

you suggest polishing and NOT clear coating? I've never polished a model before. I dont' know what to use, or how to use it.

My reason for clear-coating, is to seal-in and protect the decals. If I don't clear coat, the decals will eventually flake off/peal off.

I checked my paint supply and I don't have any white, but I may have white primer. Just dont' know how good the white primer is. My first step is to let the body dry after I've washed it, then black-primer it.

Edited April 14, 2009 by FujimiLover

[E St. Kruiser50]

Whatever you do when trying something new is to "SHOOT SAMPLE'S FIRST" !!!

BTW - FYI

In the future, I wouldn't suggest using black primer for anything but a black paint job, and use light gray primer first when doing any alterations.

Black hides the flaws that will show up in your final color.

Light gray primer, on the other hand, shows all the flaws that you need to see before you paint.

Also, I use a ton of Plasticote white primer T-237, which sands and feather's out beautifully after drying overnight, and goes on very thin for complete coverage.

This stuff is just "KILLER".

I always use a gray primer to start with and then if needed, and it usually is, I shoot 3 light to medium coat of the white primer, for a nearly glass finish, even before sanding.

Here's one I did in urethane, but the same exact painting routine - Primer, sanded, a white base coat, scarlet red, and then the clear coat.

Edited April 14, 2009 by Treehugger Dave

[B_rad88]

it would come out grey! lol! use clear coat, especialy that krylon tripl-glaze gloss!!!!!!!! hey t-dave, you had good finish from plasti-kote? every time i used it, it always bubbled on me and to me that paint sucks! i am having better finishes from krylon! plus wal-mart is cutting the plasti-kote off the shelfs, they are ot selling it any more!

Edited April 14, 2009 by KUZTOMMODELS88

[FujimiLover]

Okay, we all know that the plastic on my Koenig is white. Again, I use the black primer mainly for the black detail as it's easier then trying to hand paint those details. Those details being the window trim, vents, air-ducts, headlight buckets', et'c.

I dont' want to mask off the entire car afterwards and try and paint those details AFTERWARDS! I think that would be thousand times harder than masking off the first coat.

I dont' want five or six coats of paint on the car either. I want what I mentioned, primer-black, mask off the details, base coat, Italian Red, decals, clear coat.

I will get some gloss white at the LHS today for my base coat. I will look at getting the same type of paint as the Italian Red. I've noticed sometimes mixing paints leads to poor results.

I remembered repainting a Kyosho Mini-Z body a while back. It was a 98-99 WRC Ford Focus that had that popular blue/orange white paint Martini paint scheme.

I don't remember what I used to primer it, but I primed it, gave it a white base coat, and Guards Red. It turned out super sweet. Unfortunetly, you could still see the original decal lines underneath the paint and not sure why that came out that way as the original gloss-coat was super, super nice.

Anyway, after the Guards Red I painted in the black trim and clear-coated it. It wound up looking like a street-tuned racer rather than the original WRC car.

Edited April 14, 2009 by FujimiLover

[FujimiLover]

Oh, and by the way. Lesson learned from painting directly on the box.

[MrObsessive]

you had good finish from plasti-kote? every time i used it, it always bubbled on me and to me that paint sucks! i am having better finishes from krylon! plus wal-mart is cutting the plasti-kote off the shelf.

Aaaahhh...........That's why I love my airbrush!

I usually decant the Plastikote into a paint jar, then airbrush. Plastikote's paint does tend to be a bit "foamy" when it's sprayed in the jar. I like to let any paint I decant to sit at least ½ hour to gas out before I'll start to airbrush.

I almost forgot about Krylon! Krylon makes excellent white and gray primer (sandable). In fact, one of the best gloss whites to use is probably Krylon as it will STAY white forever!

[B_rad88]

i am in the same boat as fujimilover, we don't have an airbrush/compressor! so i have only spray-can right now! and hand brushing work sucks!

Edited April 14, 2009 by KUZTOMMODELS88

[Zoom Zoom]

A bright Italian Red paint job, to be applied over flat black primer covered with gloss white paint and then red, because masking off the black primer trim is 1,000 times easier than doing it the right way?

Tail, meet dog. Tail, wag dog.

Seriously...you'll save a lot of time, energy, paint by learning how to properly mask and paint black trim after a model is painted. Get yourself some Tamiya masking tape, a good quality long/narrow bristle watercolor brush, and some Tamiya and Testors Acryl flat black, practice on scrap bodies, and learn how to brush paint black trim. With a steady hand and a good brush you can freehand it, especially if you learn how to flow the acrylic in one direction while it's wet. Yeah, airbrushing is better, but it's not necessary.

If this was my model I'd clean up the white body, shoot the Italian Red on the bare plastic, clearcoat it, polish it, paint the black trim, and be done with it. Testors and Tamiya sprays do not have to be shot over primer, especially if there's no bodywork. To me a model that doesn't require primer is a gift. Red paint over white plastic is a gift; white is the perfect base color for red. It saves time, money, and paint.

Pardon me for being blunt, but somebody had to do it

[FujimiLover]

Well, the body is washed and dried. I do have Tamiya Color's TS-8 Italian Red as stated. I also just picked up their TS-26 white that I was going to use as a base coat.

I will be brave and shoot over the bear plastic as you suggest. It's already prestine white. I just need to learn light-coats for best results! LOL! Will report back with what's happend under the proper thread.

[MrObsessive]

Okay, one more response then I'm done! I wanna go work on my Cougar II since I have the rest of the week off..................

To echo what Bob said, YES! Learning to mask and paint details such as window trim will go a long way towards making an average model spectacular.

Now you've seen how big my hands were holding that 1/43 scale Ferrari..........If I'm able to do what's in the following pics with these huge hands, most anyone can!

Here's an '06 Mustang I built a couple years ago that needed the side windows and window glass itself masked off. I used BMF for the glass area as a mask to make the black borders as on the 1:1, likewise the side window trim was also masked off and hand painted black....................

Likewise a new Magnum with the same type of trim...........

The key is practice, practice, and then some more practice!

[FujimiLover]

Before.........................................

....................................after

No primer this time, just straight on the bare plastic. The paint job itselfe look's fabulous so far. Only issue is, I still got some spots under the paint from hair particles or whatever that couldn't be helped. Should probably let this dry till tomarrow before doing anything with it.

[Zoom Zoom]

Before.........................................

....................................after

No primer this time, just straight on the bare plastic. The paint job itselfe look's fabulous so far. Only issue is, I still got some spots under the paint from hair particles or whatever that couldn't be helped. Should probably let this dry till tomarrow before doing anything with it.

See, it wasn't that hard now was it?

Every paint job gets some dust or something in it unless you work in a "clean room" enviroment. Let it dry completely, wetsand this coat (with the finest wetsanding paper you have, minimum 1000 grit, better 1500, or 2400 grit micromesh), and apply another round of red...in mist coats up to a wet coat.

If you have any white plastic spoons, you use them to test. I guarantee you shoot a spoon w/black primer, white (primer or gloss), and then red, it will not look as good as what you just achieved in a fraction of the time using a fraction of the paint.