TOPIC:

I have bought 3 Tamiya Fighter Buggy RX's to paint for my kids. I am unsure how to go about painting them as these are the white plasticy sort of shells.

One of them is the original unpainted white and just needs a clean. The other two have been painted. Ideally I would like to just simply paint over the top and not go through trying to remove the paint but would this be best?

Thanks

I would try to get the surface smooth before painting myself. That doesn't have to be a tough job.
Normally I use breaking fluid but Jonny Retro's "Graffiti Remover" has proven to be a very effective product also.

Either one will make the paintjob look a lot better without having to go through too much effort taking off the old paint.

The stuff Edou mentioned is De-Solv-It Grafitti Remover from Screwfix ...

As you won't know what paint is already on there, a reaction between the existing paint & the new stuff is possible, in which case you'll have wasted some paint & time, amd will have to strip the unholy mess off before trying again.

I've seen all sorts of paint they use on styrene bodies - brush painted enamels (not actually a bad way to go, if you do it properly), 1/4th inch thick two pack, skirting board gloss, emulsion, Hammerite ... you'll have to make a judgement about what's on there & decide whether it's worth the risk.

If you want to chance it, I'd suggest rubbing them down with 600 or 800 grit wet & dry paper with plenty of slightly soapy water - not back to bare plastic, just enough to get an even, flat surface, spray a couple of coats of Plastic Primer (if in doubt, use the white), then if there's no reaction, spray your choice of (acrylic) colour coat.

Halfords is probably easiest to get paint from, but personally I like Hycote paint better - the primer is cheaper & comes in bigger cans, and the paints come in smaller cans, and as generally you only need one to do a whole car, they work out cheaper ... however you can only get them off the shelf from Wilco, and that's not a national chain, so you'd have to get it mail order off eBay or from Wilco themselves.

when painting them try to way up the points it will hit /scratch when turning over like corners and roof etc , and try design you paintscheme utilising the white plastic left upainted but still looking nice so you dont have to keep touching it up when it lands on roof .

thats why i left my new grasshopper shell almost bare plastic. why paint a white shell white? thats the colour i wanted it so i left it as is. just painted the roll cage.
it may get scuffed and chipped but there wont be any paint flaking or chipping that needs to be touched up

Thanks to you. Such a great bunch as always.

I think though I should of read this before ordering my Tamiya TS paints...

I am guessing they will be no good for the out side and I did not really think about that.

Thanks again for you help in advance, I am new to the restoring side. I just buy them and build them from new normally.

At least you don't buy ready to run at all!
Restoring can be very satisfying and addictive also...

Btw - I'm sure your spray cans will come to good use at some point.

Edou wrote:

At least you don't buy ready to run at all!
quote]

Erm I did buy one XB model. The black porsche in my collection..... I am at work and can not remember what it is called. It was just under

I think an exception can be made for a black Porsche.

And you are right about restos being expensive - that's probably why most guys (like me) spread out the builds over time...
That and the unavailability of parts sometimes make for a hobby that requires patience.

And getting moaned at by the wife saying 'why do you have so many cars?' and 'why do they need to be spread over the whole of downstairs including the draining board?'

I got a bit fed up with my wife moaning so have packed them up for a bit. Will be working on the 3 buggys for the kids. Oh plus I over speant big time on the cars I bought since March..... I did go from a collection of one car to seventeen cars.

Thanks again though for your help.