Re-Painting a 1/18 Hot Wheels

If the outcome of this project is really important you might want to practice on a cheaper model first (although Hotwheels is not that a big of a deal to begin with).

You could use a primer first. Since it is blue on black you could also simply use just one or two (not more or the paint will start to "cringe"!) coats of the blue paint.

I wouldn't worry about the different underlying material, doesn't really matter. Any rattle can spray paint will do.

I wouldn't sand first. However pay great attention to covering the parts you don't want to spray. Personally I find spraying easy, but the real work lies all in the proper preparation. A botched spray job is hard to fix.

 

If you repaint a model without removing the original paint, don't you loose detail as the amount of layers will make the paint thicker?

Right now I'm bare stripping a Kyosho 308 GTB. I'm planning on a coat of primer and then a coat of the final colour. It seems though that die-cast manufacturers don't use any primer at all.
The paint is quite hard to strip from the Kyosho. I'm also stripping some Anson 328 parts and that paint comes off very easily. Are there different techniques of painting die-cast models? (Sorry for the slight off-topic here).

Ciao, Peter

 

Spray paint is very thin, I don't see much of an issue there. Once you add primer or use paint applied with a brush, it is a different matter.

On the thickness issue I have a different problem: The custom stickers I print on the color laser printer are way too thick for scale. However if I make them thin enough, the underlying paint shines through. Unless you have a real water decal, I can't win that one.

Granted I'm not the world's finest modeller, but I never make much of a differentiation based on the underlying material: Resin, plastic, die cast I treat them all pretty much the same when it comes to painting (glueing is a different matter). Obviously the material has to be very clean and can not have any residue of other liquids.

 

Hi,

I have did something like you before, use a black with black interior GTS and repaint to red with black interior.

For the metal part, it is better to strip away the original black paint by using the paint removal. Then you can use either to use primer. Using primer, you can sand and smooth out the surface. For the plastic front and rear bumper. I do suggest you use a light grey primer to cover the black paint and then you apply the blue paint on it.

It is highly not recommended to sand out original paint by 1200 sand paper.

Hope this help

 

Have you tried creating waterslide decals using your laser printer? You can get waterslide decal laserprinter media in both clear and white. Works great.

 

I've repainted a couple of HW F355s . Sand down the bumpers a little and strip the paint off the metal parts (I use an aerosal paint remover, takes 15 minutes and the paint just comes right off). I use Duplicolor Automotive spray paint , haven't had any problems yet. I usually do 2 coats of primer, 2-3 of color & 2-3 of clear . After painting , I'll wetsand with 1500 - 2000 grit sandpaper, then use some waxes to get it to shine. I sell repainted cars on Ebay all the time with no complaints using that method. The only part I've ever run into problems with the HW F355s are getting the door panels off, they're a PITA.

As for decals , I've done my own using ink jet paper from http://www.decalpaper.com/ . It comes out great. You may also want to contact http://www.cavallinomodels.com , they used to sell a Ferrari decal sheet (not sure if they still do).

 

If you use decal sheets with your own design of logos please be advised to use vectorial drawings as a base because with the downscaling non-vectorial drawings will loose a lot of resolution. Please also note that transparant sheets work fine unless you use white logos. You need a special printer for that.

Ciao, Peter

 

A workaround for the special printer issue if you just have transparent paper is to carefully paint the area behind the decal white. But it's best to get both clear and white decal paper. Since a little goes a long way, you really only need a few sheets of each. As previously stated, you don't have to have a color laser printer -- you can use a color inkjet with the right kind of paper. These guys will sell you 5 sheets of each for $14 total plus shipping: http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Product&ID=82859

You're absolutely right about vector graphics, or you can end up with a very muddy looking decal. I use CorelDraw or Adobe Illustrator.

 

I also have a 1:18 collection, many of them Hotwheels, and would like to repaint a few.

<b>Can anyone give me tips on dismantling the car?</b> Or do you actually leave the car intact and carefully tape the off areas? I have no idea, and nobody says anything about it in this thread.

PLEASE help me! Anything would be great!

 

It depends. *IF* you can get away without disassembling the car, then by all means try to do so. I have modded a 360 GTB into a 360 CS without disassembly and painting the interior with a brush. Was a bit like the proverbial ship in the bottle, but it worked.

If you have to take it apart, then good luck: There are many screws on the underside you have to remove of course. Sometimes a removed part will show more hidden screws (as in Kyosho models). Some parts are simply glued on and only brute force will allow them to come apart. But don't worry too much, most models go back together with screws and crazy glue...


A hard part are the wheels on many models because they often are snapped on and yes you can yank them off, but sometimes you end up with half the suspension yanked off as well. If that happens you either start anew or glue the wheels to your modded car. Not elegant, but many professional models I have seen have wheels that no longer turn. Par for the course.

 

Thanks, sounds like more trouble than it's worth.

 

Possible. I only do it when it trully matters to me. Not just for the fun of it.