Painted body with custom vinyl paint masks

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Messages
115
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136
Location
FL
Arrma RC's
  1. Senton 6s
I decided to put a J Concepts BAJR body on my Senton 3S. I love this body for a beach basher, and had been looking at it before I got the car. I wanted to go to monster truck tires, as the SCT tires aren't wide enough for loose sand. Fitting MT tires was challenging. I had to take a lot of plastic away. I took the springs out of the shocks then hooked them back up to check clearance. Here is the final fit.
Bodyfit1.jpg


Bodyfit2.jpg


Bodyfit3.jpg


I had seen the paint masks like those at xxxmain , but I wanted custom ones that I could design myself. I figured out you needed to use vector files (.SVG) for the best results, so I taught myself a bit of the program called InkScape. It is like a freeware version of adobe illustrator. I got some free vector art off the net and I traced the Arrma logo from a jpg. I ended up modifying some of the ones I used. You then lay them out on one sheet to the exact size you want. It came out like this:
ALL3c.png


To test the fit I printed it on my normal B&W laser printer, and they print out to scale. I could then try them on the car, and make small adjustments. I then found someone to cut them out of vinyl for me.

The front of the car, and the roof scoop will be black, and the rest silver. So on black parts I laid out the image itself, on the silver parts I laid out the negative of the image. The sabre on the side will be cut in half by the color change, so that I weeded (removed unwanted vinyl) right on the car. It was hard to get them perfectly centered and lined up, but I got close enough that you can hardly tell. Here are some masking shots
mask1.jpg


mask2.jpg


mask3.jpg


Here I put down the tape and weeded the sabre positive on one side, and reverse on the other
mask4.jpg


Here is the rest masked off. Note there is tape around the edge of the car on the outside. This is because I dinged up the protective film trimming the body and I didn't want overspray there.
mask5.jpg


Here she is after black has been applied and the masks removed
paint1.jpg


paint2.jpg


paint3.jpg


And after the silver
paint4.jpg


I finished the last of my can of black darkening the inside and put down some drywall mesh and E-6000 (shoe goo). Just a bit to strengthen the extremities and link the hood and deck lid to the sides better.
paint5.jpg


And here she is all done
paint6.jpg


paint7.jpg


paint8.jpg


paint9.jpg

Check out my build thread to see it on the car!
 
Last edited:
I decided to put a J Concepts BAJR body on my Senton 3S. I love this body for a beach basher, and had been looking at it before I got the car. I wanted to go to monster truck tires, as the SCT tires aren't wide enough for loose sand. Fitting MT tires was challenging. I had to take a lot of plastic away. I took the springs out of the shocks then hooked them back up to check clearance. Here is the final fit.
View attachment 81880

View attachment 81881

View attachment 81882

I had seen the paint masks like those at xxxmain , but I wanted custom ones that I could design myself. I figured out you needed to use vector files (.SVG) for the best results, so I taught myself a bit of the program called InkScape. It is like a freeware version of adobe illustrator. I got some free vector art off the net and I traced the Arrma logo from a jpg. I ended up modifying some of the ones I used. You then lay them out on one sheet to the exact size you want. It came out like this:
View attachment 81883

To test the fit I printed it on my normal B&W laser printer, and they print out to scale. I could then try them on the car, and make small adjustments. I then found someone to cut them out of vinyl for me.

The front of the car, and the roof scoop will be black, and the rest silver. So on black parts I laid out the image itself, on the silver parts I laid out the negative of the image. The sabre on the side will be cut in half by the color change, so that I weeded (removed unwanted vinyl) right on the car. It was hard to get them perfectly centered and lined up, but I got close enough that you can hardly tell. Here are some masking shots
View attachment 81887

View attachment 81888

View attachment 81889

Here I put down the tape and weeded the sabre positive on one side, and reverse on the other
View attachment 81890

Here is the rest masked off. Note there is tape around the edge of the car on the outside. This is because I dinged up the protective film trimming the body and I didn't want overspray there.
View attachment 81891

Here she is after black has been applied and the masks removed
View attachment 81893

View attachment 81894

View attachment 81895

And after the silver
View attachment 81896

I finished the last of my can of black darkening the inside and put down some drywall mesh and E-6000 (shoe goo). Just a bit to strengthen the extremities and link the hood and deck lid to the sides better.
View attachment 81897

And here she is all done
View attachment 81898

View attachment 81899

View attachment 81900

View attachment 81901
Check out my build thread to see it on the car!
Awesome work!
 
I decided to put a J Concepts BAJR body on my Senton 3S. I love this body for a beach basher, and had been looking at it before I got the car. I wanted to go to monster truck tires, as the SCT tires aren't wide enough for loose sand. Fitting MT tires was challenging. I had to take a lot of plastic away. I took the springs out of the shocks then hooked them back up to check clearance. Here is the final fit.
View attachment 81880

View attachment 81881

View attachment 81882

I had seen the paint masks like those at xxxmain , but I wanted custom ones that I could design myself. I figured out you needed to use vector files (.SVG) for the best results, so I taught myself a bit of the program called InkScape. It is like a freeware version of adobe illustrator. I got some free vector art off the net and I traced the Arrma logo from a jpg. I ended up modifying some of the ones I used. You then lay them out on one sheet to the exact size you want. It came out like this:
View attachment 81883

To test the fit I printed it on my normal B&W laser printer, and they print out to scale. I could then try them on the car, and make small adjustments. I then found someone to cut them out of vinyl for me.

The front of the car, and the roof scoop will be black, and the rest silver. So on black parts I laid out the image itself, on the silver parts I laid out the negative of the image. The sabre on the side will be cut in half by the color change, so that I weeded (removed unwanted vinyl) right on the car. It was hard to get them perfectly centered and lined up, but I got close enough that you can hardly tell. Here are some masking shots
View attachment 81887

View attachment 81888

View attachment 81889

Here I put down the tape and weeded the sabre positive on one side, and reverse on the other
View attachment 81890

Here is the rest masked off. Note there is tape around the edge of the car on the outside. This is because I dinged up the protective film trimming the body and I didn't want overspray there.
View attachment 81891

Here she is after black has been applied and the masks removed
View attachment 81893

View attachment 81894

View attachment 81895

And after the silver
View attachment 81896

I finished the last of my can of black darkening the inside and put down some drywall mesh and E-6000 (shoe goo). Just a bit to strengthen the extremities and link the hood and deck lid to the sides better.
View attachment 81897

And here she is all done
View attachment 81898

View attachment 81899

View attachment 81900

View attachment 81901
Check out my build thread to see it on the car!
NICE!! I've been using Inkscape for years and also have a vinyl cutter, It's very easy once you get the hang of it (y)
 
NICE!! I've been using Inkscape for years and also have a vinyl cutter, It's very easy once you get the hang of it (y)

Sweet! I wish I had a cutter, but not sure if I would do enough to make it worth buying. Being able to make any vinyl mask is awesome. You can pretty much put anything down in paint, only limited by how fine of detail you can do, and your imagination.

I forgot to mention, but this is the first time I've used vinyl masks, first RC body I've painted, and I don't have any significant experience painting anything else. And it turned out great! It looks as professional as the factory painted bodies. The lines are crisp and perfect.
 
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