| Painting the M roadster |
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| Virtually all R/C car kits use a vacuum-formed Polycarbonate (Lexan) Body. This resilient material is similar to the plastic you find in blister-packed products from the store, only the Polycarbonate used here is thicker. Here's the part that will throw you... these Bodies are designed to be painted from the UNDERSIDE. This way, the Polycarbonate acts as a permanent outer "shell". Paint remains intact after repeated abuse... the car retains it's shine time after time. There are special paints from Tamiya and Pactra designed for Polycarbonate Bodies. The upgrade segment of this article has a quick list showing how some of the BMW Factory colors can be achieved with off-the-shelf Pactra spraypaints. |
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| Preparation starts by scoring along the designated perimeter line with an X-acto blade. In most cases it's not necessary to cut all the way through the plastic. Other hobbyists prefer to use shears to cut the trim off Polycarbonate Bodies. An X-acto blade allows more control and a cleaner cut in tight spaces. |
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| The scoring provides a guide for tearing the Body away from the excess trim. Do this slowly and re-score certain areas if necessary. If this is your first time, practice this with the excess trim first. |
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| This step is entirely frivolous on the author's part. The body seam lines are masked one at a time and hand-painted black. This can be time-consuming as the thin gap between two parallel pieces of masking tape needs to remain consistent. Most folks just don't bother and rely on the indent in the plastic to convey the sense of bodylines. |
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| Tamiya provides a broad piece of masking tape for the "glass." These are areas that will remain masked throughout the entire procedure so that when the tape is finally removed, the glass is clear. |
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| Next, mask the rest of the body and ONLY expose the underside of the convertible top. My ragtop is painted black, but you can use whatever color you want. If your real car has a colored ragtop, you might want to consider custom-mixing Polycarbonate paint in order to acheive a less-saturated duller look. This way, there's a noticeable difference of color shade to distinguish the body color from the ragtop's color. |
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| Once after the roof paint is dry, the rest of the body can be painted. Notice that I'm carelessly spraying over the convertible top. It doesn't matter because from the upright side, it's already black. That's the beauty of painting from the underside. Plus you can paint manually with a brush or apply several light coats with a spraycan/airbrush. From the top-side, it all looks the same. No need to worry about unsightly stroke-marks made by the brush. |
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| Let the paint dry sufficiently between coats if spraying. Some hobbyists get crazy with an airbrush and paint their bodies with fancy gradient fades or flames. When you're done, notice that the OUTER side of the body was actually protected by a curve-hugging layer of cling-wrap. Now you can pull off this layer and all the overspray specks are gone. Voilà! A sparkling clean body. |
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| The supplied decal sheet includes things like headlamps, taillamps, roundels, marker lamps, etc. Just cut them out with an X-acto knife and apply them like stickers on the outside. The plastic side-mirrors need to be assembled, painted, and attached. |
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| Holes have been pre-drilled so that the Body will rest on the Bodyposts of the Chassis. Adjust the height as necessary, then trim the posts. The Body is held in place via clips at the end of the posts. |
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| We're done! Well, almost... if you like to leave things stock. Like the real thing, there are a few upgrades you can add. |
| Did you say UPGRADES??? |