Protective film on the underside of the rear wing?
 

I am in the process of painting my Durango shell. The protective overspray film is on the underside of the rear wing, but surely this is the side you paint? Or am I going completely mad?

I cut out the wing, sprayed the underneath of the wing and then backed it with white. I have just come to peeling off the film and it's underneath. Therefore I have peeled off all the painting I have done (just one block colour).

Feeling pretty stupid here!

Well, at least you haven't ruined your wing!

Just remove the film and mask by hand if it is supplied on the wrong side (it's on the wrong side with every wing I've seen for manufacturing reasons).

So it looks like I am right to think the paint goes underneath and the film should be on the top?

Thanks for clarifying! It's not something I noticed while cutting and washing it beforehand.

No, the film shouldn't be on the top. The sheets of lexan are supplied with the film on one side, and because of the way the moulds are made, the film always ends up on the outside. Because the wing is moulded inside-out compared to the body (otherwise you would not get the endplates sticking up), the film ends up on the wrong side of the wing relative to painting.

So you just take it off and re-mask the other surface of the wing, I just use masking tape.

most wings were molded with the shell so the protective plastic for the wing is always on the side you paint,i use it as the mask for the wing and cut lightly with a scalpel,

Your not the only one to have done it at least once:blush:

I sprayed a full on body for a show once. Applied the 97 decals and then found the overspray film was still on.

Cracking!

I can't remember what meeting it was (might have been oxon national a long time ago) but someone was stickering up their shell in the Lawson tent, turns out it still had the protection film on it...

even world champions do it... :woot: :thumbsup:

I once sprayed a Losi wing with the film still in place, in my defence, Losi stuff at the time came unprotected, I did a little check, thought, right, no film, and sprayed :P

Been there, done that. Even forgot to mask the windows once. Not my finest hour.

Does anybody know of a trick to keep the paint attached to the wing. My colour scheme is flourescent red so it is backed with white. It flakes off after a single crash so I have now fitted an unpainted wing, but it looks a bit ding. I've made sure previous wings have been cleaned thoroughly prior to painting and that the paint is room temperature, but it still flakes off. Is this something we just have to live with as mud pluggers?

nope, make sure the wing is washed with a good washing up liquid, rinsed off with HOT water, dried and then painted, with Fluro, light coats is the answer, and allow to dry between coats, then a few light coats of white, then a backer, like a liacquer.

Also try Nitro block.
A couple of light coats gives it a nice hard protective coat.

yeah, nitro block is good to!!

think that was colin brenan??:lol:

If you have a design on your wing, you can cut it out of the protective film rather than taking it off and re-masking it. :)
thats what I do.
Just did one for TD and the rear wing design was a bit mental (maybe Adam has a pic of it), but using the protective film it was really easy to do. No washing needed either, as the surface hasn't come into contact with any release agents. ;)

Try it, it works.


If only they could mould the shell with the protective film inside the shell. Then laying down masks would be a thing of the past.

Telboy, out of interest what do you use to cut out the shells? When I cut the body for my Durango I really struggled to get a nice cut in the 'recessed' parts at the front. Lexan scissors were OK but they're best just for straight lines. I tried using a Dremel and that just chewed it up.

I just use lexan scissors. Just use the tip section to do the fiddly bits.

Lots of people score the shells with a hobby knife and then snap the lexan off, but I've had bad experiences this way.

Others use a small dremel tool and grid the tighter sections out.


..but I just uses lexan scissors.