Should I respray my chassis...Take a look, PS THANK YOU TBCS

[Joey1558]

Hello TBCS!!!
I am so happy I found this forum, you guys are GREAT at modding, and have provided tons of info for the novice...Just wanted to start out by saying thank you! Anyway I am about to start on my first build! I have the chassis of a Raven 01, and am going to build the whole shell from scratch. My question is the chassis is a little scratched up, mostly in places that wont even be seen, but i kinda want this to be perfect...Based on the pictures should I give this a whole new respray or powder coat or w/e would be best, or should I just touch it up? As you can see the majority is in good shape, and I want the color it has right now, but those scratch are pretty bad. Lemme know what you think

I am going to start a work log, and have TONS of great ideas! I hope it all works out as this is going to be my first build, any recommendations/ advice/ help would be greatly appreciated and I'll post a link the the work log in my sig shortly



Again thanks for all your help, and lemme know what you think!

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[slaveofconvention]

It'll be a pain in the butt, and a lot of work, but if you DON'T go ahead and fully repair that damage, it'll niggle at you lol.

As for ideas - you'll get more responses on that front once you start your worklog as we can get an idea of what kind of look you're actually hoping to end up with.

And finally, welcome to the assylum. You did read the "Careful, enter and you may never leave" warning above the door, right?

[Joey1558]

haha Thanks buddy, and nahhh I didn't see it :) as for right now I am just going to be doing a lot of research on proper technique in such...I dont want to post repeated threads 10000x's, but I cant find the beginners guide to painting...all the WIKI links dont work : \

anyway I am trying to keep the paint as factory as possible, like idk if i should be powder coating or spray gun, or what...can you point me in the right direction?

[slaveofconvention]

If you're trying to keep it looking stock, I think I'd buy a couple rattle cans of satin black, give it a gentle rub down with something like 800 grit wet n dry, and then just give it a few dust coats until it looks fairly uniform. Just remember to use some newspaper or something to mask off the parts you don't want paint hitting

[blueonblack]

You used the word "perfect", but that's open to interpretation. The only way to get it truly prefect will be to sand the whole thing down to bare metal and start over.

That may not be necessary to make it "perfect enough" for you. If it were me I would do as suggested above and sand out the damage, prime and repaint. Since you will never match the color it is now "perfectly", I would paint the whole thing. Or better yet, if you have the cash, send it out for powder coating. (Unless you happen to be lucky enough to be able to do that yourself.)

Oh and also, welcome to TBCS. The members here are an awesome bunch of people, but watch out for the staff. Unpredictable at best.

[Joey1558]

What is going to give me the BEST look, back to stock...like a flat black look...MOST resistant to scratching...cus this OEM paint WILL NOT scratch haha...I've tried...Idk how those other scratchs got on there, but right now its great...is powder coating the best or spray gun? with great prep

[blaze15301]

powder coating is nice i think and probably the best, but its very expensive from what i hear. if you have the means and the patients to spray it your self id say go that route. its going to be cheaper and a bit more fun.


edit welcome to the site!!:) if im not mistaken most case like that come powder coated, and its a bitch to get off. i had to sand my entire armour+ case down it was kinda hell but i found if you soak it in pain thinner for a few days it will kinda come off in layers. i was also doing all this by hand to so i had it a bit harder.

[Joey1558]

Great! thank you for the advice...My main concern is to make sure the paint wont scratch easy and is durable, and I think powder coating is exactly that....as for the cost...I purchased a air compressor a few months ago for my car detailing, and I can use that and buy a $20 sandblaster gun + cost of sand to remove everything....next is the Powder coating gun...this is like $75 at cheapest i think...sooo I'll have to look into a used one or if its worth investing in, but It seems VERY fun...as for the powder its like $9...I was going to just use my oven to cure it, but I heard you shouldnt do that : \...but now im excited...even though it doesnt need it, I want to sand blast and power coat : )...I'm stickin with flat black though!

[diluzio91]

the powdercoating isnt neccesary, the sand blaster would be good regardless. But i have had awesome luck with sand, self etch primer, sand, paint, light sand, paint, ls, final coat of paint. for rattle cans, i recomend using engine enamel in flat black, the $10 can at menards (cant recall brand), once it cures its almost impossible to scratch. key word is when it cures. After a week its great... i only waited 48 hours and the case door scratched off some. Retouched a bit, and waited a week and it looks great

[SgtM]

First off, welcome aboard! Have a look here (http://www.youtube.com/user/AirbrushTricks) for a great case painting guide. For me, I would go in with my airbrush or touchup gun, and just fix the imperfections.

[SXRguyinMA]

paint is the quicker less expensive option. however for abrasion/scratch resistance go with powder coating. find a reputable shop and they should be able to do that fairly cheap. I had an entire motorcycle frame, complete with engine mounts, swing arm ,etc etc done for $425. This included the acid bath, sand blasting and coating.

The shop will take the case (make sure to show them where you want masked - i.e. screw holes, etc) and sand blast it to get rid of the powdercoating or paint that's on it currently, then dip it in a cleaner, then tape it off, respray and bake (make sure there's no plastic parts anywhere!) There's tons of different colors, textures and finishes that you can go wild with it! (or just leave it all black like you wanted lol)

Here's the shop I used for my motorcycle parts, just to give you an idea of the process.

http://www.centralmasspowdercoating.com/

[Joey1558]

excellent help from all of you guys!!! thank you, I havent decided yet but I might powder coat it all because i want to go with a flat black look with glassy black accents, or flat black with gold accents, ill show you pics in my work log when I get it up to...Once again thank you all!!! I'm excited...btw although im extremely excited about this case...I have a pretty big deadly especially for my first build because the comp and design is for a portfolio peice for a college app to the the #2 engineering school in aerospace in the US!!! can you guess haha

[Joey1558]

couple VERY noob unrelated questions...right now I am looking up "how to make an effective work log..." to not piss of the admin, however I cant find it anymore haha, and for some reason....I CANT FIND THE SEARCH FUNCTION!!! on this forum haha...can someone help me out

found it : ) heres my Work log so far : ) http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24292

[interceptor1985]

I have used Krylon black primer and flat black spray paint with fantastic result's after the paint is fully dry *wait a day or two* scrub the flat black lightly *DO NOT PRESS HARD OR YOU SCRATCH THE PAINT!* with a soapy scrub pad like the ones you use for dishes... dish soap works great for cleaning the metal and plastic parts. I'd take a picture of some of my work but my kid dropped my camera on cement and broke the screen.

If this is your first time I recommend practicing on junk before you spray your project.

[x88x]

If you have the time, patience, and/or money, powdercoating creates an awesome finish. If not, I would go the route of sanding around the scratches and spraying. You might also want to give the whole case a good sanding and prime/paint the entire case, to ensure a uniform look.


You're doing a good job with the worklog you have going right now. Lots of pictures, and good explanations of what you are doing are the key.

As for the search function... ;)
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/searchFunction.png

Oh, and never be afraid to ask questions. Remember, we were all noobs once. :D

[mDust]

Remember, we were all noobs once. :D

Especially that x88x guy...

Wait, is he going to see this? How do I delete this?

Crap.

:D