# Paint Backer?



## Cyndric

Hello.

I just bought an airbrush setup to paint my car body with and i'm a little confused on how to use "backer" paint.

I bought some Spaz-Stix Orange paint, and some Spaz-Stix Candy Apple Red paint to use on my RC Car body. I'm new to airbrushing, so i decided to buy a cheap model car to put together so i can practice using the airbrush before i move onto my RC body, because i want it to look nice. 

So after putting the model car together, I painted it with the Orange paint and the paint is very light and the white plastic still shows through even after 5 light coats of paint. After looking online, for the orange paint it says "For optimal results back with Mirror Chrome". I found the Mrror Chrome paint, but i'm not sure how to use it. Does "back" mean paint the inside of the body with it, or do I paint it over the Orange?

The Candy Apple Red paint says "Can be backed w/black or white Spaz-Stix Backer" This is the color I want to use on the RC body, and i want the car to actually be Candy Apple Red, but i'm not sure how that would be if i painted over the red with black or white backer.

Can someone please explain how to do this? I'd greatly appreciate any help i can get.

Thank you so much!

(edit)

I just thought of something... do I put the "backer" on BEFORE I paint with the orange or candy apple red? If so, will the red cover the black backer, or should I use white? Anyone know if the Spaz "backer" paint it says to use is special is some way, or can i just use normal white/black airbrush paint for a backer (once I figure out when to put the backer on)? 

Sorry for the extra questions, just want to get it right the first time since I don't have any spare lexan to test with and it's too late to try it with my model car. So again, any help is greatly appreciated!


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## OvalmanPA

I'm assuming you have a "plastic" body you decided to practice on. I'm not sure the "backing" method would work on something like that but if it did, you'd have to put the backer on first and then spray your main color. With the typical lexan body, you paint it on the inside so you put on your main color (in this case orange or red) and then spray the backing color over it. The spaz-stix paints are really designed for lexan painting I believe.


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## IndyRC_Racer

If you are painting a plastic model where the paint goes on the outside of the model body, you want to apply the base coat or primer coat first. You could call it a backer because it will be on the "back" of the color that you will see.

When we paint clear lexan bodies for R/C cars, we basically paint in reverse order on the inside of the body shell. If you are painting a solid candy red R/C body, you would paint the candy red color first on the inside of the body. Usually with transparent paints you will use multiple coats of paint to achieve an even look. Even with multiple coats of candy red paint, it will still appear transparent. To achieve a better result you then paint spray a backing color over the candy red. Again, this is from inside of the R/C lexan body. 

Depending on the result you are trying to achieve, you can back candy colors with silver, black, white or any color of your choice. It is best to follow the paint manufacturers recommendation if you are new. The biggest thing to remember is on R/C lexan bodies (clear plastic) is that you paint on the inside.

Here is a tutorial from HPI (Europe) on painting an R/C body. (http://www.hpi-europe.com/walk.php?lang=en&id=2). Hope this helps.


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## Cyndric

Thank you very much for the replies! The model car was just for testing how the paint would turn out. I knew it'd turn out a little different on the lexan since the model car is white plastic, but i thought it'd give me a general idea.

I was just confused on when to put on the backer, but you have cleared that up for me! I also just read somewhere that i can cut a 2 liter bottle in half and practice on that, so that's what i'm going to do now. 

Thank you very much for your help, and for the great link on painting RC bodies. I appreciate it!


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## SuperXRAY

It takes VERY LITTLE chrome to back paint. You will hardly even know you put it on if you do it right.


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