TOPIC:

HI!... I have acquired a NIB Tamiya Ford C-100 RM. MK. 04 body set (thanks Lars!) I don't want to go the kit box art (white) with this one. I'd rather go with the body set box art which is a orange. What is the paint code for the orange that most use in this situation. From all the pics I've seen it looks like a burnt orange like they used to use on the old 1st Gen AE RC-10's. Tamiya doesn't have much of a selection of orange's anymore it seems.

HI!... I've been now looking at TESTOR's paints. They have some weird shades of orange. I found this one, but it's hard to tell on the computer screen the exact colour. I'm shooting for that burnt orange colour like on the Ford C-100's body set box.

www.testors.com...cts/136607

What if I painted the body with a very dark rad and then shot over top of it with a regular orange? Would that make the orange look darker?

These seem a lot closer :

www.testors.com...cts/137015

www.testors.com...cts/137013

A bit of research suggests it's an orange specific to the Jagermeister livery, Pantone 172 or a shade of 1655... though that doesn't help as paint isn't sold like that

The "correct" period Tamiya paint would be TS-12 Orange - so it depends what sort of "correct" you want

Me, (for simplicity & taking my airbrush phobia into account ) I'd be trying auto red oxide primer & Ford Signal Orange colour coat

HI!... Thanks J/R. I have TS-12 here and it's way too bright IMO for this body. I really like the burnt orange colour on the body set box. I'm just going to try a few of those Testor's paints and see what they look like I guess. I need something in a spray can. I have no air brush equipment and I'm definitely not going to ruin this body by painting it with a brush!

How about Ford Vista Phoenix Orange? It's a bit darker & ought to be fairly widely available in a rattle can ...

I wouldn't be too dismissive of brush painting, I remember someone I knew brush painting a Grasshopper body (in red for some reason ), the finish was far superior to what I was getting out of an aerosol at a time. Mind you, I was just spraying it on with no prep, no primer, and no finishing afterwards I really should have asked him how he managed it


Remembering that makes me think I ought to have a go at brush painting a hard body, just to see if I can get a good result ... I'll do a little research, but I'm thinking decent prep, rubbing down after spray primer, well thinned paint put on in light coats, keeping it scrupulously dust free, & plenty of drying time & rubbing out afterwards would be the way to go - I've done driver helmets that way, it'd be just the same only bigger

In your case, it would have the advantage that you could mix the precise colour you wanted - X-6 Orange would be the obvious starting point, possibly a sniff of X-7 Red & some X-9 Brown? I think I'd use deionised water as thinner rather than the pukka X20-A Thinner, just to slow it down a bit ... of course that's all theorising....

HI!... Well you have seen some of my bodies I've painted. Nothing fancy really. I just wash them in soap and water thoroughly. Dry them with compressed air and paint them directly with a spray can. No primer, no sanding. Never had a problem with runs, peeling or orange peel. I pride myself on being extremely good with a spray bomb. Done enough of it over the years. lol!

I never use primer on plastic either, unless I'm trying to get spray-can "colour" to come out darker or lighter.
I take the attitude that primer is for creating a barrier between the unknown finish & the new paint you plan to put on, to avoid any reactions etc, & that if there's any "unknown finish" still on a toy car body, you haven't done a very good job of getting it off...

On metal though, if the existing finish is properly stuck & there's no rust coming through (ie the metal is already sealed from the environment & no oxidation has started) I'll always use primer to avoid any paint reactions, unless I know what the original paint was & know it's ok with what I plan to put on

I see what you're getting at, but I'm not putting primer on for the sake of it - I've found that it (as long as you rub it down with super fine wet & dry fterwards) is the best thing you can do to get a shiny final finish - it's more important than rubbing a plastic body down to start with, and has a a greater benfit than clearcoat & rubbing out afterwards.

I always rub out in celebration of a paint job well done.
Yeah, I'll put primer on if the surface is less than excellent, the primer is good for giving a hard finish that can be rubbed back without fear of the plastic going "fluffy", when you're trying to get rid of scratches etc. But new bodies just get a quick key, degrease & paint, no primer.

Unless the paint job is really gash, I usually prefer to laquer, let it dry for a week or 2 then polish out any imperfections if there are any - it's easier to remove/polish harder material than soft, & laquer goes much harder than paint when dry (As does primer)