As shown, the bleeds have been cleaned up and another clearcoat has been sprayed over the design. After the clearcoat has dried overnight, wet-sand the car with 1,000-grit sandpaper to remove any built-up edges from the graphics. It will help the pinstripes go on a lot more smoothly and will allow easier fixes if you make a mistake with the striping. |
Striping (or outlining) can really accentuate a design. In this case, it really makes the flames “pop.” I used House of Kolor’s striping enamel for this step and mixed Chrome Yellow (U-07) and a dab of Green (U-13) to make this color. For smoother brush strokes, you must thin the paint with House of Kolor’s Striping & Lettering Reducer (U-00), as it dries to the touch in about 10 to 15 minutes. |
I used a slash-stroke pinstripe. It gives the truck a very different look from the sedan delivery’s, but the designs complement each other. The colors I used for this pinstripe are House of Kolor’s White (U-02) mixed with a touch of Process Blue (U-30.) |
After the pinstripe paint has dried completely, clean off all grease, dirt and dust. Then apply another clearcoat to protect the graphics. After that coat has dried, wet-sand with it with 1,000-grit sandpaper to flatten the layers of paint and graphics. Notice the white clearcoat residue left after wet-sanding. Be careful not to sand too hard or you’ll sand right into the graphics. |
Evenly apply a heavier final clearcoat to finish the paint job. This is one of the most enjoyable steps because you really see the art and design come alive after all your prep work and careful painting. |
Allow the clearcoat to set up and harden for a couple of days, and then wet-sand the surfaces of both vehicles with 2,000-grit sandpaper and polish them to a glass shine. After wet-sanding, I used Meguiar’s medium to light polishing compound and finished with the mirror glaze. In some cases, you might not need to do this, but if you really want a fantastic smooth finish-especially when there are a lot of graphics-this final step will make it that much better. The proof is in the finish. This concludes the lesson on one of the many ways to custom paint a die-cast car. Some of you might recognize that these graphics are the same as the ones used on the production 1:18-scale Hot Wheels® “Scrape Modified” that was released not too long ago. In future issues, I will explain other ways to customize die-cast cars, including stretching them, opening doors and hoods, using styrene and integrating parts from other cars to come up with a new design. Also look for coverage of major custom contests. For more information on customizing, visit me at kustomcity designs.com. |
