Weather Lexan?

[kev971]

I see all these beautiful weathered bodies and I'd like to do something similar with a clear lexan body I have. I'm a bit stumped on the process. To weather the body would I need to paint on the outside? Is it possible to paint on the inside, spray the lexan with a matte finish and then weather the body on the outside?

I'm a huge noob to this hobby but having fun! Thank you for your time.

[JatoTheRipper]

Yes, to do good weathering of a Lexan body you will have to do it on the outside. Or you could do some things on the inside and then spray the outside of the body with Tamiya Flat Clear.

Here are three good videos for weathering Lexan bodies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm5-UxuT4Z4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkWskoOcVH0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H245WPeIIl8

[mikemcE]

This started out as a copper and white tutone....... got rusty dents now


Hang up and Drive

[HumboldtEF]

I think painting the outside would probably give the best results, this will give the wash something to bite into though a flat clear on the outside should work as well. I did a test trying to weather the outside of a body and the wash would just bead up and pull way making the process impossible because its so smooth.

I make my washes out of regular water based house paint, little color samples from the hardware store. You can do dirt and rust washes but one of my favorites is to do a white/gray wash as the final wash, it gives a nice dusty look.

This was all painted on the outside though I did paint the inside black. Its been pretty tough even with the paint on the outside (Tamiya paint).

[The Paddy Channel]

Thanks for the links I was also looking to do weathering with cans as don’t do airbrushing

[kev971]

Thank you for the resources!

[CarlC]

The best results in my opinion are with painting outside. I painted silver inside the shell, then a red/brown rust mix on the outside, followed by colour with salt. I used this tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkWskoOcVH0 and found that the salt then paint method was both effective and a lot of fun, I did use quite a lot of salt lol. I also got some ferrous paint from ebay, and using that detailed the dents and front grille after I had sealed the rest of the paint with Tamiya Flat Clear. The reason for the ferrous paint after sealing is that as the truck gets exposed to the wet it will continue to rust. For my first attempt I was pretty happy with the results.

[smog]

It looks great Carl! Good stuff

[MaX-D]

Originally Posted by CarlC

The best results in my opinion are with painting outside. I painted silver inside the shell, then a red/brown rust mix on the outside, followed by colour with salt. I used this tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkWskoOcVH0 and found that the salt then paint method was both effective and a lot of fun, I did use quite a lot of salt lol. I also got some ferrous paint from ebay, and using that detailed the dents and front grille after I had sealed the rest of the paint with Tamiya Flat Clear. The reason for the ferrous paint after sealing is that as the truck gets exposed to the wet it will continue to rust. For my first attempt I was pretty happy with the results.

This looks great! During natural weathering, and not overdone. Thanks for the link for the YouTube channel. I'm going to do the same thing on a body of my own

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[NightOwlRC]

First picture the body is still incomplete but you can see the weathering. Painting the outside of the body I laid down 2 coats white to start. Then a very light “sprinkle” of hunter green. After that dried, I very slightly wet the areas I wanted to weather with water and sprinkled on table salt. It sat for about 20 min to let the excess water dry before I sprayed a final, full coverage coat of hunter green.
I wanted to make sure the faded look really came through so I scrubbed the whole thing with a green scrubbing sponge using running warm water. Last, I sprayed on a flat clear coat to seal it up and cut the sheen.
Maybe that helps?.?

[HumboldtEF]

That looks really nice NightOwlRC

[NightOwlRC]

Thanks HumboldtEF
It’s the first lexan/poly Body I’ve ever painted from the outside.
Thanks for the compliment.

[Oney]

Still kind of new at doing my own paint and gave my hand at weathering this '77 ram charger its not done yet but just wondering what yall think so far and if any one has any tips to share (i know not a stock color for this truck)

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[high plains drifter]

@Oney- That color fits that truck perfectly regardless of authenticity. Looks great.

I'm doing a red 78-79 Ford body for my buddy's trx4. I started on the inside of the body- silver/ rust/ silver/ rust/ silver/ black ( for backer and window trim/ seals). I added the light rust to make the "metal" panels appear more weathered ( to more realistically represent scratches and trail damage when that begins to happen on the outside of the body). Next I'm going to hit the inside windows with tint to finish that off. We'll also tape off an interior portion and hit that with red to keep it factory correct. Outside we're going to start with a light rust coat then gray primer, then the red body color. Fine steel-wool and sandpaper are being used between some of the paint stages ( as well as on the lexan itself). At some point we'll be doing some dust pigments as well as external 2 stage rust spots. Also planning towards the end, to lay down some matte clear.

Final result we're after, will be a weathered faded red body, that when it gets scratched up will reveal primer, a little rust, and weathered sheet-metal.

Again yours looks very good... not overdone which is sometimes difficult to achieve.

[Oney]

Originally Posted by high plains drifter

@Oney- That color fits that truck perfectly regardless of authenticity. Looks great.

I'm doing a red 78-79 Ford body for my buddy's trx4. I started on the inside of the body- silver/ rust/ silver/ rust/ silver/ black ( for backer and window trim/ seals). I added the light rust to make the "metal" panels appear more weathered ( to more realistically represent scratches and trail damage when that begins to happen on the outside of the body). Next I'm going to hit the inside windows with tint to finish that off. We'll also tape off an interior portion and hit that with red to keep it factory correct. Outside we're going to start with a light rust coat then gray primer, then the red body color. Fine steel-wool and sandpaper are being used between some of the paint stages ( as well as on the lexan itself). At some point we'll be doing some dust pigments as well as external 2 stage rust spots. Also planning towards the end, to lay down some matte clear.

Final result we're after, will be a weathered faded red body, that when it gets scratched up will reveal primer, a little rust, and weathered sheet-metal.

Again yours looks very good... not overdone which is sometimes difficult to achieve.

Thanks and that sounds like its going to look awesome cant wait to see how it comes out and how it looks after a few good long trail rides

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[FeersumInjin]

Hi gentlemen. New guy here and new to RC so excuse me if I ask silly questions!

I was reading this thread because i want to have a dab at weathering my rig.
The above comments are very helpful already! Thing is my body is already painted (it's a RTR) olive green on the inside with a mat clear finish on the outside.

You all think it would still be doable weathering over the existing clear coat or am I better have starting with a new body?

Thank you for your time!



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[mikemcE]

Start with what’s there. You’ll like to practice. I can post a few later


Hang up and Drive

[FeersumInjin]

Yeah was planning too. Just don't wanna ruin the thing. Quite happy with it cept for the fact it's all a bit too "shiny" I love the look of those weathered, dusty rigs. Looks so much better.

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[smog]

You can definitely weather that stock body. If you want to create patina you will need to layer some paint on the exterior. Now that you have matte clear coated the exterior on your green body, you have visually drawn the color to the surface. The body could easily be painted to a weathered look on the outside of that clear coat.

There would appear to be many ways to go about creating a weathered look. I have tried several that all seem to work. All on lexan. Dive in, its a lot of fun!

[FeersumInjin]

Originally Posted by smog

You can definitely weather that stock body. If you want to create patina you will need to layer some paint on the exterior. Now that you have matte clear coated the exterior on your green body, you have visually drawn the color to the surface. The body could easily be painted to a weathered look on the outside of that clear coat.



There would appear to be many ways to go about creating a weathered look. I have tried several that all seem to work. All on lexan. Dive in, its a lot of fun!

Good to hear! I've ordered some paint and cheap accessories. Will have a go at it this weekend. Thanks for the info!

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