Back gummetal spray with something before red goes on?
 

I'm trying out a new colour scheme...

Tamiya PS-23 Gun Metal has already gone on the back of the car. The rest of the job is a red stripe around the edge of the gunmetal, then a white nose. All Tamiya sprays.

Now, should I back the Gun Metal with something (perhaps the white) before spraying the red? Or will the red go over this darker metallic without affecting the shade too much?

I use Tamiya gunmetal and white and I find the gunmetal is fine backed with white. I usually back all metalics with silver but with the shell being for racing I didn't want too many layers so I just backed with white and it came out fine :). When I do the chrome for the windows I tend to spray over the lot and it makes the white pop a tiny bit. I'd deffo back with white or silver before applying the red tho. Being a strong colour it will dull the gunmetal.

http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/d...9072010269.jpg

http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/d...yson/TRF01.jpg

Thanks for the quick reply!

Looks like I will go gunmetal/white backing/red/white for the shell... red over white is sure to be a bad idea, isn't it?

Yea. Always start with the darkest colour and work from there. Be warey of the candy type tamiya metalics like bright silver and the translucents, they can eat through the other layers due to their high laquer content. The safest red to use is normal PS-2, its a bit plain but it shoudn't eat through the white :)

Silver if you want the colour to stand out and be neutral
Black if you want to darken it a little
White to lighten it a little

I always back gunmetal with black. no matter what colour goes on after. Just stops any possible bleeding.

Your post has convinced me to get a can of PS-5 black... it'll also do a nicer job of the window trims than the white would have.

I hope this shell turns out OK... I've invested more in paint for it than I have for all my shells since 2004!