Porsche GT3

Body by: HPI 200mm

It has been a while since I work on a commissioned body. Have been busy with things outside of RC. I'm going to document a little bit more about my body painting process. Hopefully newer members would find it useful.

Parts used: - 200mm Porsche GT3 by HPI picked by client. - Yokomo GP Sports Gulflame 8mm offset. - White angel eyes. - Front/Rear diffuser. - Yokomo 1093 Speed S14 rear wing covered in 3M DI-NOC carbon fibre. - LED light kit.

This was the reference picture given to me, and the rest was up to my imagination :)

Result

Five colors were used. White, Silver, Black, Red, Yellow (Painted in the same order). All from Faskolor. I used an airbrush because I was into serious scale modelling before plus Faskolor is very cheap compared to spraybomb. It is worth the investment if you paint a lot of bodies.

Airbrush doesn't yield better result; in fact spraycan would be faster and easier. Plus you don't have to deal with the cleanup. If you want to get an airbrush, make sure you get a gravity feed, double action internal mix type.

Paint process: (same for airbrush and spraybomb)

8 coats of white (hairdryer was used inbetween each coat) - Go over all masking tape and edges before your first coat. (very important) - Check under the light and make sure the paint is even and light is not showing thru in some spots. - Start with 2 light mist coats. Each subsequent layer of paint can be heavier than the last. - Make sure the paint is not so thick that it actually sweeps underneath the masking tapes

4 coats of Silver - Silver is a very opaque pigment. It was used to make sure that black/red/yellow won't show thru the white. - You will notice the white is not as bright after being backed by Silver, but it is a compromise that we have to make.

3 coats of Black 4 coats of Red 4 coats of Yellow

I spent about 4 hours in total painting the body. Of that 4 hours, one hour was spent in setting up and cleaning the airbrush.

Panel lining:

You can use 0.05 drafting pen or Gundam markers to do them. I used dark gray gundam markers for this project. The difference is that gundam markers are oil based and sticks very well when dried. You can find them locally at most anime store.

What people don't seem to know is that you can easily wipe the panel line off if you messed up. You can also make the panel line 'lighter' and thinner by carefully going over them with flattened paper towel. Light, subtle and thin panel lines are the most realistic.

Carbon fibre wing:

The rear wing was covered in 3M DI-NOC carbon fibre vinyl. This is the best material for the carbon fibre look. Relatively easy to apply compared to other carbon fibre decal. Use hairdryer or heatgun to stretch and make it conforms better to curved surfaces.

The rest of the pictures

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