Lunch Box Build Update 5 - paint!!

I finally eked out enough time to prep, prime, and lay down the first coat of color on Lunch Money's gorgeous 70's Dodge  can body. I followed Justin Noble's great article "How to paint R/C cars" on RCknowhow.co.uk. 

First I filed off any burrs, high spots & flashing left over from the molding process. Then I sanded the body with 1200 grit Tamiya sandpaper. 

I used Tamiya White Primer and laid down a couple coats, letting each iteration dry for at least 2 hours. The shell then looked like this:

What is really hard to see here is the rough texture left by the primer. After the last primer coat cured for 24 hours, I used some 1200 grit again to smooth out the really rough patches. 

Finally, I got to use the color!!  The manual calls for Tamiya spray paint color TS-16 for the main body color. Apologies for the harsh fluorescent lighting, but I can only paint in my garage...it's too hot anywhere else outside. So the first coat looks like this:

So far, so good, though the cans of paint are so small that I think I need to drop by the LHS tomorrow to pick up at least one more. I'm shooting for 5 coats as more color coats only improve depth and lustre. I plan on wet sanding between coats 1, 2 & 3, and then lacquering everything after final detail paint and decals. 

Stay tuned for the next installment!