Ol'Rusty - dents & weathering on a lexan body

[rockspider]

Once upon a time there was a Proline Early '50 Chevy pick-up body, meant for trucks like Stampede, for E-maxx, Twin Force and similar monster trucks of the period.

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I had bough one, for my Kyosho Twin Force, cutted and drilled for body posts, but never got it painted, then changed up my mind, and the body ended up in the unused parts bin. For years, literally.

One day I needed some lexan scrap to test a primer paint, not lexan specific. There it go, painted the whole body red oxide, and tested for adhesion. Then thrown in the bin again.

Then a couple years ago it resurfaced, and by curiosity I tried it on top of a freshly built CFX-W chassis. It had the front grille cutted away, do not remember why. Anyway I got the idea to use it as a test mule for dents and weathering, a few techniques I wanted to try on lexan.

Started with a little propane torch, heating here and there, trying to give dents a shape with stones and everything that was laying around, just to see if I could achieve realistically shaped dents on a lexan body. well it was a test mule, so didn't really care if getting carried to far with dents. It ended up chewed and spit like there's no tomorrow...

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Ok, worse than this...
I had a few alu scraps around and tossed together sort of a Mad Max style grille&bumper... It started showing some potential...

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Let's try some paint weathering then...
Some acrylic brown, water thinned, by brush, and when dry, removed with an abrasive sponge

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Then applied some acrylic matt white, by spraycan, all over
Then more brown by brush

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and when dry, again with the abrasive sponge, those 3M non-wowen pads

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slowly the abrasion was exposing the different layers, giving depth to dents and wear to panels... I definitely liked the way it was growing...

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then it was time for a thinned light sand color, by brush

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and more abrasion

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happy with the general weathering, it was time to add a little bit of steel color by fingers. a tiny drop of water based steel color acryl on my fingers, rubbed between fingers until almost dry, then massaging the spots where steel would likely appear on dents and damages

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Funny how it got that old rust patina, almost by itself!

To keep with the Mad Max line, a more aggressive bumper was added...

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then a few other details, plastic pipe bent for side exhausts, and a scrap leftover of a honcho rear cage as a bed rollbar

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To seal it off the elements, a matt clearcoat
It also enhanced the color contrast

Here the maiden voyage, on the rocky shore

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[rockspider]

Oops, I was forgetting interior.

To keep it up with Mad Max saga, interior was carved up with lexan scraps, bent and painted by hand, plus some leftovers like axial chain steering wheel, rifle and tools

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For the interior, the base color is matt black, then steel by fingers, then some brown dust effect by liberally brushing with water thinned light brown acryl

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So, that's all. It was really fun.
A body which was throwed in the thrash bin for years, now suddenly has become a show stopper wherever I go


Have fun!

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[mash914]

That looks terrific. I especially like the first picture with the thinned brown on orange, and the final result with the steel color rubbed in - what an effective effect. Very nice.

[high plains drifter]

Looks like a truck with a million stories to tell... each one more crazy than the previous lol. Yep... looks fantastic.

So... specific brands here? Specific colors? I'd like to see a more detailed list of what exactly you used. Up to you. Looks great regardless.

[JimInMiami]

Wicked!!! Thanks for sharing.

[rockspider]

Forums are for sharing, I have no trade secrets

I've used very normal water base acrylics, mostly from the Americana line from DecoArt brand.
I've found that some general use diy primers (spray can) are labelled for galvanized, aluminium and plastic surfaces also, and from experience if the Lexan surface had been scuffed with a 3M abrasive sponge pad, they will stick perfectly and provide a good base for any other paint. Its important to read the label, if it is enamel or nitro or synthetic, leave it there. If it's acrylic, it will work.
Also a white or grey or dark red lexan spray can (Pactra, Tamiya, you name it) provide also a good base to start on, when applied on external.

[themountain]

Great...but the roll cage looks out of place

[smog]

Excellent, you have done some neat stuff there.

Sure is rewarding when experimentation yields such reward. Have the rocks scratched down to the lexan much? It appears there is no appearance at all of the orange base underneath whatsoever. I would have expected it a hard color to keep buried.

[B-MOW71]

Excellent detailing and the rusty metal areas look great!

Great job on the interior too! The "Ol'Rusty" name fits it well!!

[rockspider]

Thanks for the nice comments!

The paint is holding surprisingly well, even after a few rollovers.
On the maiden voyage I was careful, but last week on the hill with friends i tried some steep lines they use for competition, so a few rollovers were inevitable.

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And this is how it looks now

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Bruises are not visible, they naturally blended with the rest...

Two things to note. The primer color is not orange, the first pics with artificial lighting should have been compensated. The colour is a dark red, close to Ral3011.
On the hood and fenders there are spots you can notice the red coming through the worn coating.

Second consideration is this rig is quite lightweight.
It a 2400g cfx-w in running conditions, with micro outrunner, micro X , small battery, custom overdrive transfer.
Its very nimble

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[high plains drifter]

Thanks very much for the additional details. I keep coming back to that drive-side headlight bucket... looks so much like twisted up steel.

[smog]

Originally Posted by high plains drifter

Thanks very much for the additional details. I keep coming back to that drive-side headlight bucket... looks so much like twisted up steel.

X2

It’s a significant detail to convince the critical eye. So well done