Need advice for picking the right Blue

[Dman07]

Hey,
I'm new to the crawling scene, but I'm already looking to get a spare body for my rig. I want to get a Jeep body, and i really want to paint it Blue. Not flat blue, but something deeper... Picture the darkest blue in a cloudless sky, now make it deep. Dodge and Ford painted Rams and Mustangs a similar color back at the turn of the century.
I don't have much experience painting, but I'm familiar with the idea that I'll need to paint the body from the inside, with the layer closest to the surface first. Does anyone have an idea how I go about this? My local hobby shop has Duratrax paint, but I'm stuck on what color blue I want to use. Any advice would be awesome.

[onebullet]

i THINK, i know the color you are talking about.

This is a body done with duratrax blue flash and backed with black


its a little dark for what you want, but backing with white might get what you are after.
Hope that helps

[Dman07]

That looks awesome!
Yes, that's pretty close, and backing it with white would probably do the trick. The Ford color I referenced of called Sonic Blue, and is a pearl coat, but that's definitely the right color. Nice detail there man!
Does anyone have any experience doing a pearl or candy coat with a color backer before the base color coat? Did it turn out much darker than you expected?

[onebullet]

if you want to get into messing with candy coats i would do some spray outs and experiment if you cant find somebody that had done it already.

Just get some plastic bottles and cut the tops and bottoms off and cut into strips, then you have free sprayout panels that will give you a good idea of what you will end up with.

Many many years ago i used transperent black and then put orange under it hoping to get a burnt orange color.... it actually turned out to be a very dark green.

Lots of companies make pearl and metallic colors so you might find something

[Dman07]

Thanks for the tip with plastic bottles!
Found the Dodge color, called Intense Blue. It's also a pearl coat.
Since my hobby shop carries Duratrax paint, I think I'll start with that brand and experiment.
I'm thinking I will want a pearl effect with a lighter blue color than they offer in pearl, so I'm thinking of layering a pass or two of candy blue or pearl blue and shooting light blue as my last layer before the base cover. Does this sound right?
I have no experience doing this and no airbrush access, so I don't have the option of mixing in some white to the blue they have on the shelf.
I'll grab a couple cans and do some testing tonight. Pics as I'm able.

[onebullet]

looking at the duratrax line on their website their range is somewhat limited. If you look into tamiya or spazstix you will find alot more options.

Im not sure how your color layering will work out, only one way to find out though

I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

[Dman07]

Well, my lack of experience and patience pretty well ruined my first trials. My coats were really uneven and I had a bunch of paint run. I didn't bother to take pictures of the final results, it was that bad.
I picked up cans of light blue, metallic blue, candy blue and the white base cover. There was a surprising amount of difference in consistency between the different paints. The metallic blue was harder to work with than the candy blue, I never expected that.

I also realized how little I know about spray painting. I tried reading the newbie painting guide here, but the link keeps coming up broken. I'm probably going to end up using most of these cans learning to paint and maybe getting the right effect by the end of it.

I'll play around this weekend and see if I can improve my technique and results.

[onebullet]

if you are doing the spray outs, pin the plastic to something.... i never mentioned that. Sorry

Spray on a light coat and either let it sit for 3 to 5 minutes or hit it with a hair dryer for a bit. Spray on a slightly heavier coat and do the same thing. Its better to put it on light and not get runs, since its inside the plastic you dont have to worry about getting dry spray or something like you would with automotive paint. The biggest concerns with this is getting a clean surface to start and avoiding runs. With the transparent colors you only want to put enough on that it doesnt have streaks or splotches on it. Now matter what you are spraying with a can you shouldnt have the nozzle held down any longer than a few seconds, the moment you hold it in longer than 10 seconds you will most likely start getting a run. Take your time and do it right, its pointless to do if you dont.

Youtube is a great source for learning things that i think alot of people overlook for some reason. This guy has alot of "how to" videos with a very large amount of painting videos. Take a look
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMpVUXKQ-L4