Painting a flexible plastic cowl

[p3arljam]

I wanted to know if anyone had any luck with painting a plastic cowl and if so how they went about doing it.

[xmech2k]

Way back when I raced RC cars. These had clear lexan bodies, and were very flexible, so you had to do them right to not chip off. As I recall, I actually scuffed them lightly, then painted it in many VERY thin layers, letting it dry between layers. And there is paint made for lexan, probably would be OK for a flexible cowling. If I were you, I'd do some searching on RC car painting, as those bodies REALLY take some abuse, and the paint has to be able to flex and stick still.

[stuart]

i'v had good results with krylon spray paint for cowels and foam.

as xmech said sand the cowel to scuff and thin coats allow cure time between coats for the tought scrtach resistant finish. krylon spray can color school bus yellow almost was a perfect match for monicoat cub yellow,and the blue spray was very close to the monacoat blue.

[xuzme720]

If it's a clear cowl, painting the inside (like we do on the lexan car bodies) instead of the outside, will give you a nice gloss finish and provide some scratch protection.

Super nice flames, Stuart! how did you do those?

[CrimzonRider]

+1 on Super Nice!! Those are Fantastic Stuart.

cr

[BroncoSquid]

First question, What are you painting with? Brush, rattle can, or airbrush. I know the automotive industry uses an additive to their paint when painting fiberglass and plastic bumpers to make it flexible.

Stuart.... I'm guessing stickers... I do like the used Ping-Pong table thing though.

[stuart]

thanks for the compliments on the kit builds.

to get great stickers go to your local pep boys auto,or any larger auto retail parts store and the graphics and pin striping are awesome,very light, and cheap plus the selection is a wide variety of styles from peaceful to barb wire and skulls...lol... the flames were cut neatly from flaming baseball stickers and on the extra it was a soccer ball...lol. i have a thing for fire in the cowels that is also on the uproar,sheeesh...really should change it up sometimes.

[xuzme720]

Your image just got shattered! lol JK

+2 for inventive graphics solutions!

[solentlife]

Originally Posted by xmech2k

Way back when I raced RC cars. These had clear lexan bodies, and were very flexible, so you had to do them right to not chip off. As I recall, I actually scuffed them lightly, then painted it in many VERY thin layers, letting it dry between layers. And there is paint made for lexan, probably would be OK for a flexible cowling. If I were you, I'd do some searching on RC car painting, as those bodies REALLY take some abuse, and the paint has to be able to flex and stick still.

In the car racing I did ... we painted the INSIDE of the clear Lexan bodies ... with very thin special paint for Lexan ... airbrushed. If you tried to use a normal brush - it just streaked terribly.

Nigel

[solentlife]

Originally Posted by stuart

thanks for the compliments on the kit builds.

to get great stickers go to your local pep boys auto,or any larger auto retail parts store and the graphics and pin striping are awesome,very light, and cheap plus the selection is a wide variety of styles from peaceful to barb wire and skulls...lol... the flames were cut neatly from flaming baseball stickers and on the extra it was a soccer ball...lol. i have a thing for fire in the cowels that is also on the uproar,sheeesh...really should change it up sometimes.

In our town we have a graphics shop that specialises in producing whatever you can give them in way of drawing .... and they also have loads of books / files full of flames, flags, various ... You can have the vinyl sticky's as usual, or the type that you peel of backing ... apply and then peel of carrier paper ... leaving only the graphic.

Price is so cheap - I've stopped producing my own with Iron on Film ... just not worth the hassle. last purchase was 10 RAF roundels, 2" diam, 6 at 5" diam, 4 x A4 sheets with two sets on each of RC-LV and GB-NCL in bold black reg'n lettering .... total $5.

Before applying decals to a kit or build - a shop like that can make duplicates for you to keep for repairs etc. I just wish I knew that before I decal'd my Ultimate Biplane !


Nigel

[xmech2k]

Originally Posted by solentlife

In the car racing I did ... we painted the INSIDE of the clear Lexan bodies ...

Absolutely. I forgot to put in that detail. Thanks!