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PENELOPE PITLANE MODELLING TIPS |
BODY PREPARATION
The first stage in body preparation is to put it away and make your chassis first when you
are happy with the chassis you are going to use as regards to wheelbase, track and guide
location offer this up to the body. Check that the guide will have a full range of
movements and that the inner faces of the wheels are not going foul on the body. If this is
the case trim the body and do a final fit before attempting to spray the body. You will be
far more satisfied with the result than trying to make a finished body fit a chassis.
All our bodies are supplied virtually flash free. Remove any slight traces of flash and
mould lines with fine wet and dry paper. To remove any traces of mould release agent
scrub bodies with warm water, detergent and Scotchbrite. Allow to dry properly before
spraying with grey car primer. I personally prefer cellulose primer but this is becoming
increasingly hard to obtain as there is a general switch to the more environmentally
friendly acrylic based paints. The primer coat should be flatted off lightly with a 1000 or
1200 grain wet and dry paper used with water. The aim being to leave a grey coat over
the model and to smooth the grey primer only.
SPRAY PAINTING
I will now describe my foolproof method for obtaining a first class finish with cellulose
aerosols I believe this to be the best possible finish for racing car models.
1. With blue tack fix a handle inside the model to extend downwards so that the handle
can be held and the model rotated so as not to touch the model. A dab of super glue
on the inside of the body shell will secure the blue tack.
2. Thoroughly shake the aerosol can as described in the instructions and either place the
can in a bowl of hot water or stand on a radiator for ten minutes prior to painting. DO
NOT FORGET YOU HAVE LEFT THE CAN ON THE RADIATOR IT MAY
EXPLODE.
3. The paint is warm the model should be warm and the spraying should be done in the
warmest of areas. After a final shake of the aerosol can hold the handle attached to
the model in the left hand rotate the model until you have sprayed a fine mist all over
the area to be painted. By the time you have rotated the model 360’ it will be
sufficiently dry for you to continue spraying a proper coat. This coat should have
sufficient paint to leave a shiny finish. This requires a degree of bravery as sufficient
paint must be put on to achieve the shiny finish but not so much as to cause runs. The
model should now be placed in a warm area for a period of 20 minutes.
4. Repeat stage 3 this includes warming the can, the mist coat, followed by the heavy
coat. The painted model should now be left for 2 hours in a warm environment.
5. The model should now have a deep cellulose shine and may be handled lightly
although it will be 24 hours before the paint is property hard.
6. Brush paint the other detail areas ie satin black suspension openings, silver mirror
glasses and driver figures.
N.B
I have no experience of using car acrylic aerosols; I believe that the finish achieved with
these paints is unnaturally thick looking. I am led to believe that no special effort is
required to achieve a decent finish with these products.
N.N.B
The processes I have described above works extremely well with resin and metal bodies
for spraying the polythene scalextric type bodies I recommend priming with a specialist
plastic bumper primer first. This primer on occasion can react with certain plastics. This I
believe to be rare and a test spray on an unseen part of the body should be done first.
Normal acrylic car primer is supposed to adhere well to this polythene and will not react
with these plastics. A quick reasonable paint finish can be achieved with ‘Plast-i-coat’
type aerosols cheaply available in stores such as Wilkinsons. The instructions on these
paints should be followed as re-coating not as directed can cause these paints to wrinkle.
* The best paint finishes I have achieved were baked for the 20 minute period and the 2
hour period in a modified bedside cabinet bought cheaply at a car boot sale. I then fitted
an inverted ceiling light rose and inserted a 60 watt light bulb. I was thus able to spray
models in the garage at any time of year.
WHITE METAL COMPONENTS
Remove any mould lines from white metal pieces by gently scraping with a blade of a
222craft knife or fine wet and dry paper. While some of you may wish to paint white
metal fittings I believe that anything that is metal is best left metal and I suggest the
following treatment of white metal parts. Black wash with diluted black paint (i.e.
enamels with thinners, acrylics with water) the whole of the white metal part. With a
brass bristled wire brush in a miniature drill polish the component so that some black
paint is left which highlights the fittings. This finish really brings out the best for exhaust
pipes and wheel inserts. Mirrors, fuel caps and the like need not be black washed. These
components should be attached with 2 part epoxy type adhesive such as Araldite.
SCREENS
Most low production run car kits are supplied with a thin vac formed windscreen. These
need to be cut out carefully with small sharp scissors I find small curved scissors sold for
something girls do! At Boots particularly good. Where the windscreen is to mate to the
body leave a small excess of plastic to leave a lip to which you can glue to the inside of
the cockpit aperture. If in doubt during the cutting stage leave extra, try it against the
body you can always remove more but you can’t stick back on what you’ve cut off by
accident!! When satisfied with the finished shape you should have the windscreen that
will be viewed on the finished model plus a small lip on the bottom edge for gluing to the
finished car. I recommend a thin film of ’Evostick’ applied with a cocktail stick to both
the outside edge of the windscreen and the inside lip of the cockpit aperture. The
components should be left apart for 10 minutes for the contact adhesive to go off before
the two components should be pressed together.
Aero screens supplied by Penelope Pitlane have a small frame which should be painted
silver prior to fixing to the car.
DECALS
With the finished spray painted body I like to apply a coat of normal car wax this should
be of a paste type and used as instructed on the can. Care must be taken to polish up the
dry powder residue this may linger in panel lines. I find by wrapping the polishing cloth
around the tip of a cocktail stick the residue can be removed. This polished finish not
only looks great but it will allow your water slide transfers to be moved on the model at
will. All water slide transfers have a clear varnish coat which extends beyond the
perimeter of the transfer. With modern transfers this should not be a problem. If however
you think its excessive you can carefully trim this so it ends discreetly close to the edge
of the transfer. Proprietary decal products such as ‘Solvaset’ should be used as stated on
their instructions i.e. a small patch should be painted where the transfer is to be applied,
the transfer positioned and another patch painted over the transfer before it being allowed
to dry. Bad bubbles should be pressed down with a tissue prior to it setting and then I find
they are best left alone in other words don’t fiddle!! The brush used for applying this
solvent MUST BE NEW AND KEPT SOLEY FOR THIS PURPOSE OTHERWISE
LITTLE BITS WILL START APPEARING FROM NOWHERE AND WILL
STICK TO YOUR TRANSFER!!
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