Complex designs and do-it-yourself decals

Radio Control Car Action, Sep 2002 by Hastings, Bob

It's a lot of fun to create a replica of a full-size body. You don't have to burn your creative energy coming up with an original paint scheme, and you know that the result will look cool (you know the original looks cool-right?).

Many popular vehicles can easily be duplicated with licensed decal kits from several manufacturers, but let's look at how to handle a complex paint job without the benefit of prefab stickers. You'll need a PC, a color inkjet printer and a little patience. You'll soon discover that complex designs don't necessarily mean complicated techniques!

In the same shopping center as my local hobby shop, there's an annual truck show, and this year's star was the U.S. Hot Rod Association's monster truck "Thrasher." You may have seen it on TNN "Monster jam"; the big Ford is awesome, and Thrasher's owner/driver Pat Summa always pushes it to its limit.

1 Documentation. First, you'll need documentation. You don't need an expensive camera or a lot of photography experience. I just walked around the Thrasher taking pics with a disposable 35mm camera. Concentrate on capturing the little logos and more intricate details of your subject. If you have a digital camera and can download photos to your PC, that's great. If you don't, when you drop your film off for processing, check the box to ask for a picture disc. It costs extra, but it includes picture-editing software, and if you don't own a scanner, it's the only way to get the pictures into your computer.

2 Pick a body. Next, you'll need a body (go figure). Choose one that most closely resembles your chosen vehicle. For me, Parma's '97 Bigfoot body works well because it includes all of the cab fairings.

3 Break it down. Let's look at the Thrasher photos on a PC monitor; this is a huge benefit of having the photo CD. Don't look at the whole design, get discouraged and think that this paint job is too difficult to pull off. When you break it down, you'll see that there are really only four parts to it: the Thrasher logo, a checkered portion, a few streaks and the background. The logo is the tricky part; see "Leggo my logo" for tips. The other parts can be duplicated with standard masking and painting techniques.

4 Sketch and mask. Study your photos and use a marker to establish your masking lines and paint lines. Your choice of masking is up to you; I think that for a design like this, liquid mask is far easier to use than trying to tape it all-particularly all those checkers.

When I cut out a design, I follow the "3 and 3" rule: three coats of masking and no fewer than three X-Acto blades. Lexan dulls a blade quickly, so change it often! A thin coat of liquid mask and a dull blade make poor masking; sharp blades and a thick coat will ensure crisp lines.

5 Paint! Your painting techniques will depend on the design you choose, but to illustrate the process, I show my truck as it transitioned through its various stages of color.

I painted the blue background first and then added purple, yellow and, finally, white. I left the white of the checkered Rag for last so I'd be able to use the white to back the streaks as well. The last step is to remove the marker lines, and this is easy to do with denatured alcohol. Body replicas with intricate designs are nothing more than a combination of several simpler patterns. When you're able to distinguish these, you'll see that the individual elements and colors aren't difficult to tackle. Leave such features as logos for the computer or sticker sheets to handle, and concentrate on nailing the design's parts.

Keep the email coming; it's always great to see what you're up to and to hear about your progress.

Until next month: go paint something!