Monster Truck Madness – Matching Paint

Hey gang and happy holidays!

You know, for those of us that do rattle can paint jobs there is often a misconception that you are limited in palette by the available cans of paint versus the crazy amount of stuff out there for airbrushes, where it’s common to mix paints and pigments and create all sorts of crazy stuff.

You can still mix and match cans of paint to get desired effects and colors, it can just take some touch and, in many cases, experimentation! I had an e-mail come in this week that gives a great example to talk about, and how a seemingly simple paint job done with rattle cans can actually be quite complex.

Hi,
I’m building a 1/10 monster truck, and am trying to decide on the main color. Could it be possible to get information about the paint of Jeremy Mark’s Taurus? I love the 1988 Chevy of his. Is it Tamiya clear red backed with silver, or is it something completely different?
Thanks, and happy holidays!
Andy

Great question, because this answer is a bit complex.

The Taurus monster truck in question is the one at the top of this article. My friend Jeremy Mark has a FB page dedicated to his Taurus R/C monster truck racing team, and he runs them in the Trigger King series. We get a lot of questions about his stellar replicas, so this isn’t that uncommon of a request.

Before we get to the r/c paintjob, if you are younger and unaware, the Taurus monster truck was one of the original rigs back in the 1980’s. It was famously known as the first monster truck to crush buses, and went on to be one of the most popular on the circuit throughout the mid-90’s.

Now the replica. For the red, it’s Tamiya PS-37 translucent red, backed by PS-48 metallic silver, backed by PS-5 black. For the silver bumpers, the above colors minus red. The bed cover is black. If you paint the stripes, it’s PS-6 yellow backed by PS-1 white, and then white. If they do hard bodies or plastic rims, Tamiya white primer, topped by TS-76 mica silver, topped by TS-74 clear red, topped by TS-13 clear.

For both reds, 1) use light coats so it doesn’t run or you will have dark spots. And, 2) the amount of red used determines how dark it gets. If you stop at full coverage like I do, it’s a darker candy apple red. If you empty the entire can, it’ll be a duller maroon.

There you go Andy, hope that helps! And hopefully those of you out there who have previously just used one solid color and maybe a backer will see you can do some experimenting with translucents, silvers, etc to get different types of pigments!