Pro-Line RC paint, airbrush colors and spray

Why polycarbonate paint is different

Polycarbonate paint is formulated to key into a flexible clear shell and stay there. It is sprayed on the inside, so the color is seen through the plastic — which is why it looks deeper than paint on a hard body, and why the outside surface stays glossy without a top coat.

The order is backwards from normal painting. Detail and masking go on first, the main color next, and the backer — white, silver or black — goes on last to make everything opaque.

Candy, pearl, metallic and backers

Candy colors are transparent and need a reflective backer underneath to glow; silver behind candy red gives a deep automotive finish, white gives a brighter one. Pearl colors carry a fine shimmer and want a white backer. Metallics have the flake built in and sit happily over black.

Fluorescent colors fade in sunlight faster than anything else in the range, which is a fair trade for being visible at two hundred feet.

Airbrush bottles or aerosol cans

Bottles give you control, blends, fades and the ability to mix. Cans give you an even coat in two minutes with nothing to clean. The pigments are the same, so a can and a bottle of the same color match — useful when you repair a shell you painted last year.

Whichever you use, two or three light passes beat one heavy one. Heavy coats run, and a run on the inside of a clear body cannot be sanded out.

Can I use normal model paint on a clear RC body?

No. Enamels and lacquers are rigid once cured and will craze or flake the first time the shell flexes. Use polycarbonate paint, which stays elastic.

Do I paint the inside or the outside of the body?

The inside. The clear polycarbonate then acts as the gloss coat and protects the color from stones and brush marks.

How many coats do I need?

Two to three light passes per color, letting each flash off, then a backer coat to make it opaque. Light passes also stop the paint pooling in the window masks.