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I always buy Pactra or Tamiya rattle cans even for my shelfers. $7 a can give or take. It really adds up and there never seems to be quite enough for a second shell. Is there a cheaper source of rattle can paint with lots of color choices that will bond ok for shelf use? I'm speaking of Polycarbonate and Lexan of course. Will regular hobby quality paint work ok if not put thru the rigors of running? Recommendations please.

EDIT: It never occurred to me to put this in the "paint" section. Guess I just can't get used to all the "new" forums!

Thanks for the move. You were very gentle!

moved to the paint shop for you thumber.

Dumb question...if you aren't gonna run it won't any paint work?

Todd

I know regular paint will bond to it and if it isnt flexed, it should hold just fine.

klavy69 wrote:moved to the paint shop for you thumber.

Dumb question...if you aren't gonna run it won't any paint work?

Todd

I would think, but what do I know... Hell, I just now had the thought that maybe I don't need expensive paint! I'm not the sharpest Xacto blade in the toolbox...

madweazl wrote:I know regular paint will bond to it and if it isnt flexed, it should hold just fine.

Thanks for the info. I suck at painting, but I do enjoy it. I find it very relaxing and love seeing the end result. Gets expensive though.

Initial cost of an airbrush is spendy but you'll use a lot less paint that way and save money.

madweazl wrote:Initial cost of an airbrush is spendy but you'll use a lot less paint that way and save money.

It's not so much the investment as it is the romance of the rattle can for me.

If you don't do the entire body in one colour you usally can do 2 or more shells with 1 can in my experience. Maybe you're putting your layers quite thick?

Mr. ED wrote:If you don't do the entire body in one colour you usally can do 2 or more shells with 1 can in my experience. Maybe you're putting your layers quite thick?

I probably do. Plus, a lot of it may just be paranoia that I'd run out if I tried it. My luck would be running out on the very last square inch...

was thinkin it was just your LHS since my LHS pactra cans were only 3-4bucks depending on what color...til today. Wow...$6.25 for one of those tiny lil cans . You can look thru the colors though and still see the $3.49 colors still there but again . Talk about a jump. I was just running thru some of my old cans a month or so ago when I painted up a SC raptor for my daughter. Figure I went thru 4 cans in different colors and such and see now that $50-$60 bucks for a paint job isn't all that bad anymore. And yep, I get it a little too thick myself . Time to get an airline ran into the basement from the garage so I can get my air brush out and save some $.

Todd

klavy69 wrote: Time to get an airline ran into the basement from the garage so I can get my air brush out and save some $.

Can any of the airbrush guys give an idea on what you spend on paint to paint a body?
I'm guessing very little which makes me sad 'cause I really like a getting my hands on a good set of cans.

And furthermore, why is there not a cheap rattle can paint source for r/c? I can buy a decent 2 cell lipo for the same price as a tiny can of paint.

THEYTOOKMYTHUMB wrote:

klavy69 wrote: Time to get an airline ran into the basement from the garage so I can get my air brush out and save some $.

Can any of the airbrush guys give an idea on what you spend on paint to paint a body?
I'm guessing very little which makes me sad 'cause I really like a getting my hands on a good set of cans.

And furthermore, why is there not a cheap rattle can paint source for r/c? I can buy a decent 2 cell lipo for the same price as a tiny can of paint.

A few months ago I bought some faskolor to paint a few bodies. I bought the colors I needed all at once, Met. Blue, White, Black, Flouro Yellow, Spaztix Chrome, Red. I have not emptied a single bottle completely yet and have painted a JRX Pro, A pan Car & My Brothers slash, all using some combo of these colors.

THEYTOOKMYTHUMB wrote:

klavy69 wrote:
And furthermore, why is there not a cheap rattle can paint source for r/c? I can buy a decent 2 cell lipo for the same price as a tiny can of paint.

1- because the $/cu.in of lipos is much higher than the $/cu.in for spray cans... Logistics get costly, and if your $30 lipo jumps to $33 you don't notice it, but when your can goes from $3.50 to $6.50 it becomes pretty obvious

2- because lipos beneficiate from scale effects, and not just RC... RC paints, esp those for lexan are pretty specific to RC, because of the flex needed before the layer tears.

3- Because printed (not painted) RTR's bodies now probably outsell 100:1 transparent shells... scale is gone...

Having said that, for shelfers, any automotive paint will do

Paul

THEYTOOKMYTHUMB wrote: It's not so much the investment as it is the romance of the rattle can for me.

Hedonism Bot: "I too have known unconventional love. Perhaps you and I... and Djambi, can get together and compare notes sometime"

One thing to look out for with cans is 'how long they were on the shelf'.
I've made the mistake in the past to pick a couple cans with old labels: colours they don't do anymore today.
Whe I got home I pulled a can of white out and was surprised at how heavy it felt in comparison to those old cans.
It turned out those seals are not perfect and a lot of paint just evaporated . The pressure on the cans wasn't the best anymore either which gave me a coarser result and thicker paintlayers with some splatter to add.
Some pepole asked me how I did the effect when it came out well but it went bad a couple times too: just too unpredictable.