Behold! My first body.

[Form]

After about 4 months (!) of owning my Savage X SS I finally found the time (and courage) to paint my first lid. I did this on two days since applying and drying the liquid mask took a while. (many pics below)

What I did:

1- Drew my design using colored pen on the template sheets I made for the stock body (https://www.hpisavageforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9962)
2- Drew the design outline on the exterior protector film on the body.
3- Applied 5-6 layers of Bob Dively liquid mask on the whole inside of the body, drying it with a fan for about 1h (until completely dry) between each layer.
4- Cut the liquid mask part to be painted in black (while the body was still see-through) (make sure to use a very sharp, i.e. new, x-acto blade else you risk lifting the mask from the body instead of cutting it).
5- Applied 3-4 layers of Tamiya black (until almost completely opaque), drying the paint with a hair dryer for about 10-15 mins between each layer.
6- Cut the liquid mask part to be painted in green (I could see the cut outlines in the liquid mask so this was easy).
7- Applied 3 layers of green.
8- Backed the green with white.
9- Cut the liquid mask part of the body to be painted in grey/silver (officially grey).
10- Painted the borders grey (3 good layers).

Then it was time to ...

11- Remove the protective film...
12- "OMG" moment.
13- "Hell Yeah I Didn't Screw It Up!" moment.
14- "Awesome!" moment.

And the result is this:

Needless to say I am very happy with the results, considering this was my first lid ever and I did all the lines by hand without a ruler (I was not so sure after doing those, they looked curved with the black marker visible behind them). I think it's not bad at all! In fact I didn't expect it to look even nearly as good as it does.
:jumpers:

Way too much pics of the process and results:

 

[frddyj]

ok, pm-ing my addy so you can send that to me.

came out killer Form. thanks for posting how you did it.

think imma try some of your techniques on my next shell.

+rep

 

[Pope]

Nice job man I like it alot.

 

[maximusraylius]

nice job ... came out clean... nice step by step how to as well.... good stuff....repped ya ....

 

[MikeK1981]

Awesome job man! I've never used liquid mask but now that I've seen your pics it really inspires me to do something like this on my first savvy body. Thanks for all the pics! I've done bodies for my super nitro and used adhesive paper stuff for custom masking but that liquid stuff looks cool.

 

[Form]

Awesome job man! I've never used liquid mask but now that I've seen your pics it really inspires me to do something like this on my first savvy body. Thanks for all the pics! I've done bodies for my super nitro and used adhesive paper stuff for custom masking but that liquid stuff looks cool.

Thanks a lot everyone! Mike, liquid mask does work very well indeed. I've never used anything else (since this is my first body) but I did not have any bleeding problem with the liquid mask and as long as you have a (relatively) steady hand the lines it produces are perfect, very sharp and clean. I heard the Bob Dively works better than Parma's liquid mask, but I didn't try the latter. I don't see a reason to switch brands though, I'll use Bob Dively's for sure next time.

 

[Fx]

You did such a good job. Be honest, was that really your first? I believe you. Killer job.

BTW- You have to resize these jumbo pics man. 800x600 is a good size.

 

[Form]

You did such a good job. Be honest, was that really your first? I believe you. Killer job.

BTW- You have to resize these jumbo pics man. 800x600 is a good size.

Thanks man!

And regarding the photos, I've always liked jumbo photos; you can see the details that way. Still I've downsized them a lot from the camera, I think those are 1200 pixels wide... next time maybe I'll make those 1024 pixels wide or 800x600. Anyway, thanks for the feedback!

 

[Scott]

WOW!! Killer job there Form...

 

[Blinko]

That is a wicked first time job. I really like it.. and the liquid mask worked so well.

 

[Wheelin Rev]

Awesome work! Kudos for a superb job. And thanks for laying out the process. I've always wondered what was involved in painting a lid. Now I know. Thanks again! Dave

 

[Form]

Awesome work! Kudos for a superb job. And thanks for laying out the process. I've always wondered what was involved in painting a lid. Now I know. Thanks again! Dave

Thanks to you for the feedback! Glad I could help with the little "how-to".

 

[Shaun]

great job and very well illustrated.............

 

[whipnet]

Man, that looks great for someones 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th lids.

Nice work man.

*

 

[Javage]

That looks great! I'm for sure going to try a custom job on my next body.

 

[Crash]

GOT anymore pics?


lol

jj nice work

 

[what the FLUX]

Nice job Form, it looks great.

 

[texasavage]

Wow! Looks like you've had alot of pratice, it's hard to beleive it was your first one. Nice layout as well. Great job bud! :10:

 

[Form]

Thanks a lot for the feedback guys!

I'm noticing air tends to leak under my stickers on the borders and I guess as soon as there's gonna be some dirt in there they won't stick at all and slowly peel away as I bash. Got any tips for making them stick there for good?

 

[whipnet]

Clean the body with denatured alcohol before putting the stickers on. This is also advised to do before painting as well.

*

 

[Form]

Clean the body with denatured alcohol before putting the stickers on. This is also advised to do before painting as well.

*

Unfortunately it's a little too late for that... all the stickers are already in place and it didn't cross my mind to wash it, as I just removed the protective film and the body was super clean and shiny.

 

[whipnet]

Unfortunately it's a little too late for that... all the stickers are already in place and it didn't cross my mind to wash it, as I just removed the protective film and the body was super clean and shiny.

I've done a dozen lids for the Savage alone. There will be others. Learn a little each one.

*

 

[Blinko]

This I'd what I do on my dirtbikes plastic with new decal stickers: first tip is if you have an air bubble in the middle of the sticker or you just can't seem to get the bubble to make it's way out. Take a sharp pin and pop the center of the bubble than work the air out of the bubble and smooth it out
now the next tip is for stickers that seem to have an edge or lip sticking up this could be caused from different reason. Mostly not a clean surface area cuz of dirt. What you can use is cement glue or even super glue. Just run a thin layer around the outside edge of the sticker and let dry. This makes the edge of the sticker even more protective and I never had a decal or sticker ever start peeling.
Common sense: if the sticker does have a raised edge caused by dirt or whatever you can also just razor blade cut the raised edge off so the edge is once again flush with the plastic. To protect from further rising of the sticker.

 

[Form]

This I'd what I do on my dirtbikes plastic with new decal stickers: first tip is if you have an air bubble in the middle of the sticker or you just can't seem to get the bubble to make it's way out. Take a sharp pin and pop the center of the bubble than work the air out of the bubble and smooth it out
now the next tip is for stickers that seem to have an edge or lip sticking up this could be caused from different reason. Mostly not a clean surface area cuz of dirt. What you can use is cement glue or even super glue. Just run a thin layer around the outside edge of the sticker and let dry. This makes the edge of the sticker even more protective and I never had a decal or sticker ever start peeling.
Common sense: if the sticker does have a raised edge caused by dirt or whatever you can also just razor blade cut the raised edge off so the edge is once again flush with the plastic. To protect from further rising of the sticker.

Yeah I though about the cement glue but I thought the glue would make a white stain where applied when it dries. Doesn't it do that?

Very good tips, thanks Blinko! I'm gonna consider putting cement/super glue in there for sure.

 

[Blinko]

No I never had any white streaks. I never applied it to clear plastic tho. Just make sure it's a thin layer going across. Half on sticker half on plastic (the edge of sticker, not whole sticker)

 

[Promc]

Awesome job Form,that shell looks great:resp:.Great tut as well .

 

[Form]

Regarding the "stickers not sticking" problem I talk about above I just re-read part of an Xtreme RC Cars magazine I had in my stuff and there was a tip in there that recommended using some 3M adhesive spray to make stickers stay put. I'll try to find the exact name but if I remember well it was this: http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/3M-Super-77/Super77/

(Thanks Promc btw!)