Vehicle painting tips

[The Baron]

This is my quick and simple guide for spray painting vehicles and playsets.

01) Dismantle completely. Carefully remove stickers (I put them onto an A4 label backing sheet and press them under heavy books)
02) Cover EVERYTHING in newspaper / plastic sheeting, make sure the area is well ventilated.
03) Lay out all the pieces.
04) Spray them all white.
05) Leave for several hours. Do not be tempted to "see if they are dry yet" - they are not, and you just ruined a piece.
06) Turn them all over, go slow if they have stuck to the newspaper.
07) Spray the other side, repeat step 5
08) Arrange them by colour plan; spray all of the blue bits in one area, all of the black together elsewhere etc etc. Repeat steps 5, 6 & 7
09) Spray everything with lacquer. Repeat steps 5, 6 & 7
10) Reassemble. Bear in mind it will never be as durable as a toy, any hard knocks will remove paint.

I find the whole process extremely rewarding. Have fun!

[Red Laser]

I hope you don't mind if I add my method Baron for hand painting vehicles

1) Have an idea of what you want the vehicle to look like colour scheme etc
2) Use either white or Black spray paint depending on your idea eg for a Red Shadow vehicle use white spray.
3) Spray the paint several times I find the wind can blow it away from your piece so try to get all areas
4) Let it dry in a well ventilated area for a few hours
5) Paint all the areas that will be the same colour while it dries move on to the next area
6) If you overlap leave it to dry then reapply undercoat
7) Leave your piece to dry before taking pics

This method is also useful for figures especially a unit of them it's quick and easy and is the method Games Workshop have applied to their miniatures for decades now.

[The Baron]

No offence but I think I already covered all this.

Steps 1 and 7 go without saying IMO, but step 2? Are you saying to use black as an undercoat?

And without wanting to sound nitpicky, hand painting is when you use a brush.

[Ross SC]

love the emphasis on #5 baron, i cant tell you how many times ive been "tempted" & ruined something!!!!
must say im really impressed with your vehicles, you & TKW both get the most amazing paint finishes, im hoping the vehicles im working on turn out as good!

i think ironblood means he sprays the base, then paints the top coat by hand?
i do sometimes use black as an undercoat for gun metal, silver or bronze, but only on those areas so i guess it's a 2nd coat really, as white would have been under that one.

[The Baron]

Yeah, I learned that one the hard way too. Check out the guns on my Q Force Battle Platform, I assembled it too soon, squeezed it together and the ends of the barrels stuck to my hand



Have you browsed through Jimbo's stuff, Ross? It was his work and advice that gave TKW and I the bug in the first place!

[Ross SC]

wow, great work! where is this guy now?

[The Baron]

He's still around, I got an e-mail from him last month.

[Red Laser]

To clarify I use the GW method of if you are painting something that will be dark a white undercoat would make it look light so use black as an undercoat for example both my quads. If you want something bright looking use a white undercoat. I then use a brush to paint my design on the piece.

[The Kraken Wakes]

have never used black as an undercoat, might try it to see what effect it gives but only if im spraying on top, not hand painting...

must admit im a bugger with rule 5, im always poking and prodding, esp when using enamels as they take an age to dry depending on the paint / whether the room is cold or dry...

working on something similar to the battle platform myself but with two conjoined in some way...

[Red Laser]

Maybe make a plasticard gantry or two TK? I use GW paints myself they don't always work too well for some figures I kept having to re-apply to areas before it took. I wouldn't use black on something that you want to paint bright like yellow for instance it would look dirty and dull.