Over the next few pages I'll show you how I spruced up a ragged New Bright RC truck body using spray paint, paint pens, some Testor's body paint, blue painter's tape, and masking liquid.
This body has been removed from the RC (because I tore down the broken RC for another tutorial) but with careful masking you could paint the body with it still on the vehicle. For ease of handling, though, I recommend trying to carefully remove the body if possible.
Wipe down the body with a damp rag. Use soapy water (and then rinse) if it is really dirty and not just dusty. Peel off any decals and remove any sticky residue if necessary. On this particular RC there were plastic covers on the headlights and tail lights. I removed them as well. If your RC has other parts that can be easily removed -- such as fake pipes or bumpers -- remove them as well.
This RC was missing its side mirrors and all but one light on the bar up top. I ended up snapping off that light. If I had the right parts I might have fashioned some kind of new lights for the bar.
Here's a comparable red New Bright RC Ford F-150 Truck. This tutorial was done on an older model but it looked a lot like this one at one time.