Tamiya Super Champ Build

[mikedealer]

picked this up on ebay for around $200.. in pretty good shape. Ordered a few replacement parts already

-New Front Wheels and tires (were shot)
-Stainless Screw Set (why not to make it look new)
-Pargu Upper Desk and Chassis in black anodized, originals were dirtyish lol (wanted carbon fiber but seems no one makes it, this seemed like a good choice)
-and a set of decals (clear cut decals)

Going to give it a massive cleaning, and paint the body... question i have, which im sure has been discussed to death, over every RC message board everywhere, is...

whats the best way to paint this body.. its obviously original blue.. want to make it black, but want the black to look like glass... whats best primer, option for black paint,and clear coat.. what i would do, going into it without painting too many Tamiya bodies ever... would be to:
-Sand original blue body with some ultra fine sandpaper to scuff it a bit OR to use a Primer made for plastic that will bite the plastic
-then apply 2 maybe 3 coats of black
-gently sand black
-apply 2 coats of clear
-lightly sand
-spray final coat of clear.

If anyone has any recommendations or steps, please post em up here.

Going to start ripping it apart in a few days here while i wait for parts.

[mrhemi1971]

I use a product called Chameleon. I found out about it at a model railroad show, and used it to strip old model cars and hard RC bodies. It comes in quart bottles, and works incredibly well. For painting it, you can use automotive laquer primers, but you have to use several VERY light coats, sand it down, them lay on lacquer black in light coats. Wet sand then polish it up, and you can comb your hair in the shine!

[mikedealer]

cool, primer recommended?

[mrhemi1971]

I personally like to use House of Kolor, it's a bit expensive, but I use it for my real car projects, and it is amazing stuff.

[shodog]

For model paints it's hard to beat the Tamiya TS series paints. Here is a paint guide I wrote a few years ago.

http://www.j2drc.rchomepage.com/Scalearticles/paint%20guide.pdf

It explains what you need to do to get a great model quality paint job. Super champ bodies are getting very rare. They always broke around the rear roll cage. so there are not that many around. If you plan to run it, I would pick up a new rough rider/buggy champ body. They are dirt cheap and when you roll it, you won't be crying.

[mikedealer]

awesome guide thanks, i was going to restore and shelf for now, i agree with the buggy champ body lol..

ive been bashing my other one around

http://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=15649&start=15

[cooltoys]

Great looking super champ! Looking forward to progress pics..
Shoidog's guide is great! Just a note if you use automotive paint it will be harder to take out the paint later.. You can still do it though. Just a little bit more work added.. You can also make tamiya paints mirror like.. Just take your time painting it...
I should start fixing up my super champs too..

[mikedealer]

well tried painting the super champ body over here the last 4 days, total wreck lol.. the body was actually in perfect shape, after i removed decals and cleaned the heck out of it..

i used this spray paint, because on tamiyaclub a few places i read it was a good alternative to expensive tamiya paint...
http://www.rustoleum.com/cbgproduct.asp?pid=118
I used the same brand primer also, gave it 2 covered coats
then used black, first spray went on perfect.. didnt need sanding or anything, was like a dull glass. gave it a second coat and BAM total abortion. painted started peeling, i was crumpling in some areas, especially where the old decals where, i could actually read "belray" and "budweiser" through the paint, even though the decals were gone...

anyway, im going to home depot to pickup some grafiti remover, and to start from scratch... i always hated painting tamiya bodies lol.

[RedScampi]

Ahhh, I hate it when that happens! I think Easy-Off, brake fluid or Super Clean will strip that paint in short order.

[shodog]

Graphite remover will melt the body. Easy off in the yellow can is your best bet. Rustoleum good for lawn furniture bad for painting bodies.

[soniccj5]

I always have good luck with Castrol Super Clean to strip paint.

Sorry to hear about the problems.

[mikedealer]

Thanks for tips Guys, i managed to strip paint over last week or so by soaking in purple power (thanks rick), did a good job of removed the black paint that just created a total fricken mess..

went to local train shop and got some tamiya thin primer, can of black, and some testor's gloss clear coat, the guys swear by it there over tamiya saying it works way better and isnt overpriced like tamiya lol. gonna give it a shot. gave the body a light sanding so primer will stick, a coat of primer, and after i let it sit for a day im going to try and spray a coat of black on it...

any tips for evening out the black? i tried some primer/black on a scrap tamiya shell, and little dimples formed in the black, like pinhead size, but enough to make it not look perfect, should i wet sand and clear coat to make perfect? or whats suggested method?

[bearrickster]

Thanks for tips Guys, i managed to strip paint over last week or so by soaking in purple power (thanks rick), did a good job of removed the black paint that just created a total fricken mess..

Always happy to help you have helped me enough

[RedScampi]

i tried some primer/black on a scrap tamiya shell, and little dimples formed in the black, like pinhead size, but enough to make it not look perfect, should i wet sand and clear coat to make perfect? or whats suggested method?

Sounds like fisheyes which would indicate that there was grease of something on the scrap surface.

[mikedealer]

possible maybe from handling the peice, anything i should use to wipe the primered surface down first?