Pro-Line 50’s Chevy Body – Sharpies and Rattle Cans???

Brian handed me a Pro-Line Early 50’s body and basically said ‘wow me’.

Had to do something different with this one so here goes…. I wanted something that was easy enough that anyone could do it with some basic household items and a little imagination. The only paints used are common rattle can paints available at any local hardware store or even Wal-Mart. No Airbrush’s … No Vinyl cutters just run of the mill stuff…

Keep reading for the step by step…

Basically I used Rattle cans that say they are made for plastics as often as I could. Used a dull black, Red and Grey Primers and some Clear and Dull coats. All the Silver you see on the Truck is Silver Sharpie that’s it… It works pretty good but it won’t do an entire paint job as it has a tendency not to completely fill in large areas that well. Even in the smaller areas it will leave small gaps, but for this look it was totally perfect.

To start I cleaned the inside of the truck with some warm water and a good de-greasing dish soap.. Don’t use anything with lotions or oils as it could affect paint adhesion. I placed all the normal window decals in the inside and noticed I wasn’t completely happy with the size or shape. So using a NEW Blade on my hobby knife and some light pressure  I was able to trim back any sections I didn’t want (BE VERY CAREFUL when using any knife especially a hobby knife… it’s basically a SCALPEL and we all should know when those get used). Then I took my Silver Sharpie to all the details I wanted silver …. in this case the Bed Rails, Window, Hood and Headlight Trim as well as the Grill and the front bumper. Don’t worry about making mistakes with the Sharpie a little rubbing alcohol on a Q-Tip or paper towel and its Gone baby Gone! Let any sharpie detail work you have done dry for at least 20 minutes then you will need to back all sharpie lines with a spray on color of your choice. Again if you dont back the sharpie all your work will be for naught. I used a simple matte black for the backing color in case all the paint ever did come off the top it would still be black.

Moving on to the outside and here is where you again will need that hobby knife, instead of just yanking off all the protective film I used it as a paint mask for all the areas I wanted the silver to come through. Again very light pressure with the knife is all you will need, if you press too hard you run the risk of cutting all the way through the body and possibly your body as well. Since I wanted a lot of depth and several colors to come through on this weathered look I went ahead and added a good couple of layers of the same matte black I used on the inside. Then I went with a couple coats of the Grey then finally finished off with the final Red primer. The amount of coats and covering is entirely up to you… You can just put some thin spotty coats of any color on and leave it at that, but since I wanted the wear marks to be in specific areas I chose to do full coats. Let the final coats dry at least 24 hours before you move on to the weather look. Depending on how thick the paint went on you may want to remove the outer masks when the paint is still a little tacky. Next step was basically take some Scotch-Brite and some good alternative music and went to town on scuffing up pretty much everything. Went really hard on the spots I wanted the lower layers to come through. This part is all up to you… more scuffs.. less scuffs more red, grey or black… have at it! Then I cleaned the body really well and added all the decals that came with the truck I wanted to use. I was actually pretty surprised that the decals where not pre-cut, but I probably would have cut them to my liking regardless. Then I went back with a black sharpie and placed some strategic body lines and light shading. To lighten up those lines I went back over them with a Q-Tip and rubbing alcohol. Since we are now working on the Primer it likes to take any color really well, so make your lines carefully and lighten them quickly.

Once I was happy with all the decals I added few good coats of clear to help reduce some of the edging on the decals. Then of course the truck was a bit too shiny so then I went back with a couple coats of matt finish to bring the dull back.

Again the goal here was to make an awesome looking truck that anyone can do with Zero high end tools or anything you couldn’t accidentally slip into the shopping cart on you’re next Wal-Mart run!!!

Here are some final shots on the Traxxas Stampede. The pictures don’t really do it justice..

Thanks for taking the time to read my babble and stay tuned to BigSquidRC for more tips and tricks on everything RC!!!

Here’s a direct link to the Pro-Line Body in case you are looking to do this one yourself! Make sure to send us pics!