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Petty Paint Problems - Hopefully Helpful Hints

 
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AdamtheWayne



Joined: 09 Jul 2018
Posts: 1182

PostPosted: Fri Mar 08, 2019 9:46 pm    Post subject: Petty Paint Problems - Hopefully Helpful Hints Reply with quote

Along with the pair of T-birds in the other thread, I have two Buicks and a Pontiac to get done. Well... the Pontiac is for Adam... the Buicks are bound for elsewhere.

I'm going to try two different ways of painting because I want to see the results myself so, you know, potential fourth turn crash here.

The Buick's in the back and on the left were from the combo kit and thus molded in "Petty" blue. (Nobody get's it right but Monogram got really close once or twice) The Buick far right was the Bouchard kit. It for some reason was a dirty off white. I remember the kit coming in stark white just like the Pontiac next to it. Either way, all three Buicks have a white base (Dupl-Color classic white) and the Pontiac is naked.



Petty cars are bothersome to paint. Beyond finding a match for the paints, they're fussy as can be. Then there's bleed under. Peeling, chipping and so many coats of clear you no longer breathe the same.

But when it comes to a model, you have to get your coverage as even... and THIN, as possible so you don't obliterate details like the fine work on the Grand Prix's bumper covers.

I won't bore you with a description of the prep work, we all know how to sand seams and wash our plastic. I will say, I prefer to use Dawn, the grease remover, whenever I wash a model.

I have Dupli-Color high gloss white as my primer on the three cars. If I were planning on using any other automotive paint on them I would start with a good primer base.

Because more often than not, Petty had an annoying habit of putting a road course of pinstipe, on his cars they can easily annoy! Most decals came with the white stripe attached to one color or the other but there's a lot of cars there are no stripes for (at least in white) and I reckon, if there's got to be a white base, the car should have painted stripes.

In a couple days I'll be comfortable masking these and I'll shoot the Petty Blue first. The gloss white base gives a much better adherence to the masking medium This will give us a good, tight mask and all but eliminate bleed under. Since Petty Blue is an opaque, it's a much harder and stable paint. Always paint that first. Back in a couple days.
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AdamtheWayne



Joined: 09 Jul 2018
Posts: 1182

PostPosted: Thu Mar 21, 2019 1:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

FINALLY got back to these! Work! Amiright??

We have our Petty Buicks in stark white, ready for the first masking. At this point, wash your hands and the model at the same time. I cannot stress that enough. While the model dries, collect these items: Small sheet of tempered glass or other suitable cutting surface, fresh blades (razor, x-acto or both), BAND AIDS, steel straight edge, mechanical pencil, some bare metal foil and of course... tape.

My preference for masking tape is 3M 2" wide. Peel a nice long strip and lay it gently on the glass, so it lays out smooth. Take your straight edge and cut a nice thin strip down the edge. Try cutting one about 1mm wide. Good? Now... throw it away. Masking tape no matter how new, will always have trash on the sides of the roll. I don't care you bought it new just for this and haven't even opened it yet, trust me, there's trash in it.
Tiny little, unseen particles that you WILL see, in the paint edges.

The tape I cut was .5mm wide for the most part. The first go around doesn't have to be cut perfect, only lain perfect. You can do that, it's easy.

Take a look at this shot...



You'll use the mech pencil to place a mark on the hood edge 5mm in from the corner, matching mark on fender, then directly under the a pillar foot at 5mm from the rocker bottom. These are your guides for the straight, bodyside lines.

With these marks in place, add a piece of foil with it's straight edge along your line and force it into the gaps with it's backing paper folded on itself shiny side out. (Shiny makes me happy people). You are now ready to place your pinstripe. (Here comes the tricky part... BIG.. FIG) Member that?

I start at the mark on the fender and lay a .5mm tape line along my fender and onto the contact point on the door. At this point you can cut or bend the tape. As with my cars, you may wind up with a small curve here or a sharp angel change. Your call, the cars ran both ways. Since one Buick is to be the '81 Daytona winner it has sharp corners, the other Kyle's UNO Buick so it gets rounded.

For the hood and other rounded portions, it's good to have a set of the combo Petty decals or a copy you can print to size. MOST people cannot cut a circle or oval perfectly side to side. Ambidexterous people can but it isn't easy for them either. Carefully cut out the "hood decal" leaving the entire white stripe if you can. Screwed it up? No biggie, just cut down to the blue. Screwed it up again? I can't help you. Wink
Pick half of the oval (Or actually one fourth) that looks the best. If you are right handed, it should be the driver's side, if you're a southpaw, it will be the passengers. Am I right?



Anyway, use that oval to gently draw it on the hood, just behind the hood pins. You're going to go halfway, tracing the best portion, then flip the decal over. Even if it isn't perfect, your two sides now match. It won't matter if you removed the white portion, it's the same shape, you're just moving it closer. You can use the same method to mark the other curves in the pinstripe.



Use your strips of masking tape to trace your lines. 3M has amazing tack and you've already taken some away having it on the glass, but you can re position your tapes until you're happy with the size and position. It is best, if you can, to do the car with FOUR strips. One for the hood, one each side, one continuous piece from quarter panel to quarter panel. (You can do it!)

This tape line is your white pinstripe. After you've decided whether or not this is an inside or outside car (regarding the colors) you can mask on that line. The reason for a continuous piece should be obvious. Less seams and splices, less blow-under.

For the Daytona winner you need to make sure no Petty Blue get's under the tape. This is especially important around the window areas which will be STP red (Vermillion is the actual name). So mask them inside and brush paint them later.





Now you think you're ready to throw paint. Well ain't that cute... but it's WRONG! Once you're sure you can spray without ANY blue getting where red should be, inspect your tape lines and paint surface. My paint surfaces are trash right now but I'll fix it in the editing.

If you're satisfied with your surface, KUDOS! I never am. In the interest of the article though, let's assume you had a little trash in the paint that had to go. Use a 3M sanding sponge (fine should do). If a fine grade won't knock off the problem, you have bigger problems, strip it, start over. Once you've knocked off that piece of sand, smooth the area with a 3M 3,000 grit polishing pad. Don't worry about making it shiny. Now you need a big brush. Either a nylon bristled paint brush or a blush brush. I bought a blush brush specifically for this.

You sanded, therefore particles of paint are loose. What do they do? They like to hide at the base of your tape barrier. Gently blow the dust off by blowing along the edge, never towards it. Then, running along the edge, use the brush to clean out the rest of the dust. You'll thank me. Seriously, you will. Top it off with a visit from mister tack rag.





Two dust coats and a wet one. I'm using Super Blue mixed by Dick's Automotive Supply. Let's see how we did?







Not bad. At least there's no trash in the door gaps to clean out! Wink Let's give these a couple days to breathe and we'll get back to them. Now... where'd I put that Pont...
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Last edited by AdamtheWayne on Thu Mar 21, 2019 1:51 pm; edited 1 time in total
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AdamtheWayne



Joined: 09 Jul 2018
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 21, 2019 1:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Correction: One of the other Buick's will be Kyle's UNO car.
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Yellowsportwagon



Joined: 03 Feb 2018
Posts: 47

PostPosted: Thu Mar 21, 2019 9:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This could work real well maybe! I would have bleed under for sure knowing my luck. How I do a Petty car is way different. I paint the base white and dayglo. Then I spray a thin coat of automotive 2k clear. This protects that stupid dayglo. Let it dry then scuff it lightly with a grey scotchbrite pad. Mask off the red areas and spray the blue. Unmask and add another thin coat of clear let dry. Now is where I slit an auto pinstripe down as thin as I can. I have a stripe slitting tool. Add all the stripes then the decals. Cause if a stripe sticks to a decal you are done. Now clear again. Done!
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TheStig



Joined: 22 May 2018
Posts: 40

PostPosted: Sun Jul 21, 2019 8:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Did you finish these ?
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hemiman_1999



Joined: 29 Jan 2018
Posts: 296

PostPosted: Mon Jul 22, 2019 6:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi you said above that you use Duli-Color gloss white as a primer first, you did not say anything about a primer under this, can this paint be used directly on plastic? I will, sometimes use Dupli-color but I always prime first.
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AdamtheWayne



Joined: 09 Jul 2018
Posts: 1182

PostPosted: Wed Jul 24, 2019 8:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

TheStig wrote:
Did you finish these ?
Unfortunately they're in limbo due to recent health issues. I am slowly getting back up to speed.
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AdamtheWayne



Joined: 09 Jul 2018
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 24, 2019 9:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

hemiman_1999 wrote:
Hi you said above that you use Duli-Color gloss white as a primer first, you did not say anything about a primer under this, can this paint be used directly on plastic? I will, sometimes use Dupli-color but I always prime first.
I often don't use primer myself when it comes to hobby paints but, when using any automotive paint, it's recommended to use primer. I used the standard grey.
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