Paint and Body Modifications

Where to buy RC bodies for radio controlled cars and trucks.

Tired of looking at the same old paint job? Before you pick up just any old kind of spray paint or can of paint and slap it on your RC, make sure it's the right kind.

When you buy an RC car or truck kit the body is often unpainted. You can also purchase new unpainted bodies to replace the one that came with your...

Masking is a technique used to cover areas of an RC body that you don't want painted a certain color or that are to be left clear. There are...

When painting RC car bodies, masking is the placement of tape or special templates to cover areas where you don't want paint or that is to be painted with a different color than you are currently working with.

Feeling timid about painting your first RC body? Give it a one-color paint job that looks great.

A good option for toy-grade RCs that look a bit ragged -- when getting a replacement body isn't possible -- is to just paint over it with some fresh paint.

Spray paint is one of the more affordable and easy to learn methods for painting an RC body. When using spray paint in cans to paint your RC body, follow these tips to help improve your painting:

Airbrushing is a painting technique using a special tool called an airbrush which sprays a mixture of air and paint. RC vehicle bodies are often airbrushed. Single-action or double-action airbrush refers to what type of triggering system is used for the airbrush tool.

Don't like the way your RC looks? Or, maybe you've damaged the body and it needs an overhaul. Here are some things you can do to give your radio controlled vehicle a fresh new appearance. This list applies primarily to hobby-grade vehicles although some of these modifications can be done to toy-grade RC bodies as well. In some cases you may use a combination of techniques.

If you've never done airbrush painting before, these tips and notes from Golden Artist Colors, Inc. can help you get started.

Gary Katzer and Gary Kyes help simplify body painting in this illustrated tutorial. Also found at rchobbies.org.

Learn how to put fancy arcs, curves, and other shapes on your body.

Masking is the process of covering up parts of your body that you don't want painted. This tutorial has two approaches to masking.

A series of detailed photos takes you step-by-step through the entire process of masking, painting, cleaning up overspray, cutting/trimming, and adding decals to a Lexan body. This tutorial shows a multi-color flame job. At end of series are some alternative paint jobs using the same masks.

Covers the tools you need and describes all the steps to take.

John Hauser provides an illustrated discussion that covers body prep, design planning, masking, painting, and finishing.

This is a detailed and illustrated article covering equipment and paint, basics, spraying styles, specialty paints, corrections, and a few miscellaneous tips.

Even if you're not doing airbrushing this guide has good advice on how to go about painting your RC. Includes tips on specific looks including rips, flames, and marble effects.

Look under the mold and find out what goes into the design of an RC body before the manufacturing process.

Get a good finish with this series of tips on applying, maintaining, and removing UltraCote airplane finishes.

7 steps to using masks.

Take a picture from a magazine and turn in into artwork for your car by following this RC Racing USA tutorial. (unfortunately, no pictures)

This two part video describes and shows how to transfer spray paint into a glass jar for use in an airbrush. Also see Part Two. From hyperscale. 4/5 star rating on YouTube. 6:07/5:08 run time.

Part 1 is a sped up look at prepping and painting following by watching the painted car on the street. Part 2 gets to the actual tutorial, showing and describing how to mark, wash, dry, and mask (with pre-cut masks) the body. The painting part is very brief. This is just an intro that deals mostly with prep. From RCGurus. 5 start rating on YouTube. 2:33 run time.

Personally, I'd prefer to have a verbal talk-through to go with the captioning instead of the music. However, the steps are fairly clear. Video skips the prep (washing/drying the body) and starts with cutting, masking, and painting. Demonstrates a fairly straightforward paint job combining spray paint and airbrushing. From Squirrelod. 5 star rating on YouTube. 8:28 run time.

In this tutorial the painting project is the body of an RC helicopter. Unlike Lexan bodies for cars and trucks, it's the outside of the body receiving the paint. From AirAgeMedia1. 5 star rating on YouTube. 3:48 run time.

Watch and listen to learn how to use brake fluid to remove dried paint from a Lexan body. As noted in the comments, buying a new body may be less expensive and less time-consuming but this works for those who might need to salvage a discontinued body style or who only have a small amount of paint to remove. From Squirrelod. 4 star rating on YouTube. 6:36 run time.

Shows how to score/trim a body with an Exacto knife, masking with pre-cut Parma masks including how to connect pieces of masks, and painting with FASKOLOR airbrush paint. From AirAgeMedia1. 4.5 star rating on YouTube. 4:28 run time.

This is a series of 11 videos that look at different methods of masking and applying graphics including internal graphics, photos from a magazine, and external decals. Prepping, a simple fade, body mounting, and other painting related topics are covered. From yoyman2k1. 4/5 star YouTube Ratings. Run times vary.