Hacked vette body ideas

[the13bats]

I guess this build in over 30 years in the making, a buddy bought this body and hacked it but good, decades back he gave me his RC junk rather than pay me back on loans.

while the black paint was for lexan i believe the silver was testor enamel and he made a mess with it then tried to clean i assume the silver off the windows with a solvent that hazed up the clear, from the looks he drank a lot of coffee got a blindfold and tried to hand paint stuff testors silver from the inside then sprayed the black over that from the inside.

Still its an old cool body i want to use on a old school build,
My thought was not to even try stripping it from the inside but just fine grit sand the outside and shoot it flat from the outside, repaint any silver trim i do want from the outside too, the front windscreen is hazed up the rear is silver, i thought perhaps on the rear i could airbrush it a candy color and the silver would serve as its base,

I'm wanting a rat rod bomber wasteland type idea so not at all perfect finish but this car is a vette so it wouldnt have rusted damage but rather busted and repaired fiberglass,

So here it is open to ideas just dont say toss it in the trash bin.lol

 

[Edough13]

Man they sure butchered that body to say the least. I'd almost try and strip all the paint off and start over, painting the outside unless it's a shelf queen won't last long at all.

 

[the13bats]

About mid late 80s i was into the dirt oval i ran a modded rc10 with bolink outlaw dirt vette body, my buddy wanted to get into street bodies and bought this 57 vette for his rc10 and as you see just hacked the hell out of it, for 20 years or more i kept it for this type build but originally i was going to go nitro remove the top, this type car was a hard top convertible if full size, my nitro build went different directions, and i saw this bomber car surfing google images i thought thats cool i wanna try that,


I am skeptical that i can strip both the lexan paint then the testors without it either clouding or ruining the body anyway, i also due to nerves problems avoid many chemicals as much as i can, perhaps ill try a small area.

Painting on the outside is just about paint and prep, since this as i said is going to be a rat beater wasteland idea, perfection isnt desired so no problem shooting the outside.

 

[monstertruckier15]

You can clan up the Testors paint with lacquer paint thinner and a Q-tip and gently remove the paint from the lexan. It will cloud up some but use a Dremel tool and a buffing wheel with buffing compound and buff the area clear again. It dose work but slow. It won't look 1`00% new but it will be better than sanding the area.

 

[the13bats]

So i might test getting some of that testors off with LT, but i desire a flat or satin finish and even if a person painted a new lexan body on the inside with flat paint its going to look shiny from the outside, so to get a flat paint job either the outside has to be painted flat or shot with a matte clear,

 

[monstertruckier15]

Painting the outside is bad. One hit and the paint will come right off. clear bodies were meant to be painted on inside. Styrene bodies were meant to be painted on outside.

 

[the13bats]

So LT will cloud it, is there anything that wont cloud it?

So how do people get the rat rod flat look on lexan?

You make it sound like paint will only stick to the inside of the body, i believe i very much failed to express i dont want some silly shelf queen my goal is a beater, it would be really cool if the body was the color of primer on the inside and painted on the outside then when the paint came right off it would look liked a damaged car, except it would be shiney,

 

[Edough13]

, it would be really cool if the body was the color of primer on the inside and painted on the outside then when the paint came right off it would look liked a damaged car,

That is a good idea, my experience is paint on the outside tends to come off in big flakes and cracks all over though. Might be different if like you said lightly sand the outside of the shell first paint might adhere better.

 

[the13bats]

I'm just a very outside the box thinker, and a full size gearhead, heres my "other" project,

I'm a old schooler, this car is a road racer custom, i have the flares etc.

If paint just drops off the outside of a lexan body then its the wrong paint and or the body wasn't prepped, paint doesn't bite slick surfaces,

I have no fears i can wet sand the outside of the lil vette body and get paint to stick to it, i like the idea of paint coming off the outside showing what was painted on the inside like primer or body filler,
One thing about a lexan body that bugged me for 40 years is they always look toy-ish because the way the clear shell adds its thickness to the finish kind of like candy apple paint, if we were talking full scale the clear coat would be closs to a 1/8"
Later ill see what LT does and update.
Cheers
b

 

[NCNitro]

so to get a flat paint job either the outside has to be painted flat or shot with a matte clear,

Easiest way is to use tamiya ps55 on the outside of a body to make it flat. I put this slash body on my savage. It's painted black inside and I masked off scallops on the outside and sprayed it with tamiya ps55 to make it flat.

 

[the13bats]

i had a few free monments and hit the inside of the windscreen with the dremel buffer and a polish i wanted to test and damnnnnnn, ( in my best Will Smith voice ) very quickly 95% + of the clouds are gone,

Next i need to see if a Q tip and LT will get that silver testors off, the places that irk me is where john tried to outline the door gaps and gas door and had the shakes and made a mess, i can test on the side windows.

Perhaps if I'm careful i can just strip the offending areas,

I got lucky where he trimmed the body he stayed inside the lines so thats an easy detail fix.

 

[the13bats]

Our days um daze and nights all backwards but i messed with the vette some more between chores and pretty darn surprised at the results, thanks guys for movativing me to try this,
the hard top side window came fairly clear with LT then buffing,

i also believe john was one heavy meds or drunk when he painted it, the windows started silver which was likely testors and brushed on then it was sprayed over that silver with a metallic pearl candy RC car paint i had given john then it was sprayed with the black, john should have layed the purple first then silver for its backing but this was on the windows so who knows what he was thinking.

the LT melted the black and purple paint pretty easy but didnt want to melt the silver.

So i tried stripping around the gas door, it was trimmed in that hand painted sliver mess like the side door gap and really irked me, i put blue painters tape on the inside for the picture but as you see the mess cleaned up, so when i grab more QTips i will do both doors and head,tail lights, rear window,
i want to put lil angry woodpecker thrush cherry bomb decals on the top side windows for an old school hot rod feel.

 

[Edough13]

Nice, glad it's coming off easily! Should be a fun project look forward to seeing the progress ?

 

[Edough13]

I just got my body project for my speed run rig. Delta Plastics GT Maserati MC 12 Corsa body? man it is huge!! Going with a gold to red color change paint and candy orange, have to figure out the scheme but colors should turn out pretty bada$$! Did not expect it to be so big though so hoping I bought enough paint ?