I'm new to this site, but I frequent Hisstank. I could use some expert advice.

The project I'm just starting on is repainting an Elite Force helicopter.

It's a bit dusty, how should I clean it? Warm soapy water? Will that mess with the paints in any way?

I have Tamiya acrylic and Testor's Model Master enamel paints, I use acrylics for the plastic right? I used PermEnamels before on Marvel Legends figures, but then they didn't work so well on a Shipwreck custom(tacky)

The decals arrived today from CobraStickers(Love them btw). Do those of you who customize vehicles with decals apply a finish coat of Dullcote or Glosscote over the decals?

Any tips would be great! Thanks!

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Yes, warm soapy water should work fine...just dry it or let it dry. And I would only use acrylic paint, not enamel cause it dries tacky on alot of the softer plastics.

I have not gotten into stickers so I got no good advice sorry. Good luck.

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I've stuck some of the older Joe vehilces in my dish washer's top rack and that's cleaned them nicely and taken care of old decals too. Not sure how it works on the newer, softer plastics.

I've applied factory decals, CobraSticker decals and 334th decals and sprayed them with Testor's Dullcote and it works just fine most of time for dulling the shine on the declas, just make sure that the the decals are applied flat and with no air bubbles.

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Don't focus so much on 'acrylics versus enamels' as the key is whether the paint is water- or oil-based, really. You can get both acrylic and enamels in both sorts of bases. Just make sure the paint you're using is water-based (which should be clear by the bottle saying it's water-washable) and you should never have any problems with any custom project you have.

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Thanks so much guys! I didn't realize that enamels and acrylics could be water or oil based. All these years I thought that was the difference between the two. I'll be posting some more pics as I get started! Thanks again!

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I've had great experience using automotive paint, it looks more scale real then some of the other stuff I have tried.

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You could alwasy try spray paint too, at least for your base color. Kylon Fusion is good stuff and yo uwill want to use a primer as well.

Jolly Roger, that thing looks fantastic! Can you tell me/us a little about how you went about it?

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Jolly Rogers,

Sure would like to see more pics of the Coastie Chopper. Please?

A couple pics of the Work in Progress. The disassembly and the first coat of semi-gloss black. Took longer than expected because the airbrush had to be beaten a bit before it started working again.









Didn't realize how much paint it would take, so I have to go back and get a couple more bottles of black to apply a couple more coats. The previous camo pattern was part gloss, part flat, and it affects the new coat some. Hopefully a couple more careful layers will resolve that, as well as a matte overcoat when I'm done.

What color would you paint the interior if this were your project? It's going to be Destro's personal chopper(PoC/ME-ish, not RoC). I think red would be too over the top, and silver is just garish. I was leaning towards leaving the interior black but painting the chairs a reddish brown leather color as well as all the control surfaces in accurate detail as best I can. I think I'd like the inside of the doors to be a different color, though. Any ideas?

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Reddish brown sounds good to me. Something I haven't tried yet, but have been curious to is flocking. Hobby stores sell jars of it to simulate upholstery in model cars, I think it could be a cool look. Looks like you're well on your way with this, it's looking good. My general rule of thumb for paint is if the plastic is softer, like nearly every part of current Joes, avoid enamels, if the plastic is hard, like the majority of vehicles or current Joe torsos and upper legs, then enamels are fine. It's not a hard and fast rule, but it's generally true. Anyway, I like what you've got going here, any plans to arm it?