So a lot of newbies are wondering how they can trick up their ride.
A great paint job is a good start and adding lots of bling is cool too (although expensive).
The cheapest and easiest way to customize your car is with decals or stickers. Now there are some kits out there that allow you to print waterslide decals with your inkjet but as any of you knows from personal experience - it can be a bit hit or miss. There are some guys that swear by them so do a search in the forums for some advice on how to use these.
Alternatively you can click on this link.
However, this article is primarily aimed at the beginner - and that means stickers!
I decided a while ago when I was new to the RC world, that the colour scheme for my cars would be orange and black - if anyone can guess what team I'm supporting for F1... 50 points to you! I also decided that for the TCS I would use a car not typically used. I wanted a Nissan but there is no Tamiya R35 GTR shell so... The Z Xanavi is my shell of choice. Now because the car and stickers come in silver and red - and I want black and orange... a customized paint job was the first thing on the agenda (find the tutorial here).
That done, I now needed to replace all the "Xanavi" stickers with "RCRacer.com.au" stickers. First thing I did was to scan in the original Xanavi stickers. Then I got hold of the RCRacer sticker artwork from Ben. The colour of the logo didn't quite work for me so a little modification was necessary. Next I resized the new logo so that I had all the required sizes to replace the Xanavi stickers.
You can download a higher res version here and an alternate version here.
Note: for original stickers you can create your own logos, scan in artwork from magazines, posters, etc. When scanning remember to keep your resolution at about 200 - 300 dpi.
Next thing to do is head off to your local Officeworks or newsagents and get some of these. The inkjet stickers on the left have a white background and the ones on the right have a clear background. Use the white ones for white or light coloured stickers and the clear ones for primarily dark or black stickers.
Then you need to do a test print. Cut out a piece of paper 100mm x 148.5mm (4" x 6") and set your printer settings/paper to the same size. Now print off a test.
Did it print okay? If not check your settings again until correct.
Then put in a piece of the sticker paper and print with the following settings:
paper - plain paper (the sticker paper looks glossy but if you choose that option it will flood the paper and it will smear) and either the draft or default setting (again the "Best" setting will flood the paper).
When it has printed leave it to dry. Then you should seal it with about 4 light coats of acrylic sealer. You can get this at most hobby stores, Games Workshop or Spotlight.
It's worth sealing the stickers as they aren't very fingerprint resistive.
Note: some acrylic sealers will give your stickers a slight yellowish tinge. I can only vouch for the sealers I have used. Okay, now that's done, it's time for the tricky part... If you have printed your decals on the clear background, it's just a matter or cutting around the outside with scissors or a scapel, peeling off the backing and applying it to your shell.
With the white background there's a bit more work involved. Some of you can just cut your stickers out and adhere but if you're like me you want your car looking trick.
When redesigning the RCRacer logo I placed a heavy black line around the outside.
I cut around this line with a sharp scapel (please watch fingers!) and I also removed any unnecessary parts in the middle. I then took a permanent marker and marked the sides of the sticker in black - if you don't and your sticker is sitting on a black background, it will look strange.
I then removed the backing paper and carefully applied the sticker. You will notice that I have left off the number 1 sticker that is usually on the doors and bonnet - the reason for this is that in the TCS they put a racing sticker in the same spot. Hopefully the sticker is easy to remove (edit. It peels straight off) and doesn't wreck my customized stickers. If it does, I can just print some new ones. Although I think that correctly applied waterslide decals look great (because they are so thin and this adds realism) they can be a bit tricky for the beginner and I think you would agree that standard inkjet stickers can also be a good looking solution if you take the necessary care and attention. |
