Red Tails Complete

[halxi]

Well thanks to pikespeak3g for hookin me up with the paint (since im not over 18 no hobby store or parts store will sell me spraypaint, so that kind of screwed me over for the most part) its not quite as red as i would like it to be, but all i had was half a can to work with and i think it came out pretty nice.

Here are the pics:
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/7/web/775000-775999/775231_60_full.jpg

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/7/web/775000-775999/775231_57_full.jpg

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/7/web/775000-775999/775231_58_full.jpg

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/7/web/775000-775999/775231_59_full.jpg

All in all, im happy with the outcome. :cool:

[halxi]

Here are the before and after shots.

Sorry for the crap quality, my digi's not the best.

Before:
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/7/web/775000-775999/775231_36_full.jpg

After:
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/7/web/775000-775999/775231_61_full.jpg

Tomorrow Im going to wetsand the tails and get the clearcoat off so I can lay down another cans worth of red. This time I think Ill pull the tails out of the car :lol:

[PikesPeak3G]

Nice job man, they look good.

[88accordhb]

lookin good.

[mr eff]

quite good. nail that trim next!

[halxi]

Tomorrow im going to sand them down a little and repaint them (got my mom to go with me to wal-mart for another 2 cans to paint um with) so i can get the color i want.

Yea, thats what im planning on doing next! I need to replace a couple pieces that are bent/rotted out first though. Ill probably have the body molding pieces done by the end of the month, but all of the trim wont be done until at least july.

[mr eff]

haha, i hear you. my trim was terrible for the longest time. having a clean trim is really important in my opinion.

[gfrg88]

i just used that tire shine on my trim it worked good for me :)
tails are lookin good, hopefully u like em better when put the other coat on.

[halxi]

More pictures, i finally got the shade i want... took me 1 1/2 cans after completely sanding all of yesterdays paint off. Here are a few pics:

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/7/web/775000-775999/775231_67_full.jpg

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/7/web/775000-775999/775231_65_full.jpg

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/7/web/775000-775999/775231_75_full.jpg

[kaltenacht]

Looks good, I was considering doing that to my car, until I can either purchase or make clears... What brand paint did you use?

[myaccord7]

that looks great. im going to do mine in a few weeks.




zach

[Robs89LXi]

I always thought they were supposed to be painted from the inside. No?

[halxi]

I used Testors Transparent Candy Apple Red with a couple coats of Duplicolor Clear Coat over it. Turned out pretty good i think.

Rob, if you paint the inside, its red on the inside, not the outside. It could work for JDM tails, but since most of us are in america we have the USDM lights and the plastic is colored, not painted. So if you paint the inside its still going to be orange on the outside, makes sense right?

[gfrg88]

i wonder if u can somehow make them more red? they would look even better

[Robs89LXi]

I used Testors Transparent Candy Apple Red with a couple coats of Duplicolor Clear Coat over it. Turned out pretty good i think.

Rob, if you paint the inside, its red on the inside, not the outside. It could work for JDM tails, but since most of us are in america we have the USDM lights and the plastic is colored, not painted. So if you paint the inside its still going to be orange on the outside, makes sense right?

Well, shows how much I know. I guess I'm thinking about the "blacked out" look; those are done on the inside, right?

[88accordalltheway]

Well, shows how much I know. I guess I'm thinking about the "blacked out" look; those are done on the inside, right?
no, even the blacked out ones are painted form the outside. If you paint the inside, youll still have the stock colors on the outside.

They look alright. What made you decide to paint the entire taillight instead of just the orange part? IMO, it looks better when you just do the ornage part, that way youre not adding red to red, ya know?

Good job, be sure you sand the living hell when you do the trim, or else youll end up repainting it like i had to.

[halxi]

i decided to repaint all of it because there were a few major sctraches/blemishes that you could see and 17 years of sitting in the sun had taken its tole, as you can see on the paint/trim lol.

The 2 colors (amber painted, and red paint) actually pretty much match, its just the camera that throws it off. My dad got the camera out of one of those Marlboro Miles magazine things so its not really that great, i need to get a better one sometime.

The blackout tail mod is done the same way as this, only you use Testors Transparent Black or Tint something or other, ive never looked for it so i dont know the exact name, but im pretty sure its something along those lines.

Thanks for the comments, and suggestions. Keep them comming :)

EDIT: The only thing i did wrong that id like to change, MASK OFF MORE OF THE CAR!! id say at LEAST to the back of the door (the front door if you have a 4door) there was some mild overspray that hit my fender and even a little bit of my trim. Mainly just particles from the paint landed all over the car (the windows, tires, trim, etc.) but that was an easy fix, it all washed right off since it wasnt sprayed on directly.

[88accordalltheway]

actually for blacking the tails out you want to use VTH nightshade. From what ive seen, it looks the best.

[halxi]

really? thats news to me, but then again ive never looked because i dont like the "blacked out" anything look, it just doesnt look right at all in my opinion.

[Busted_Blue]

what I have realized is that Testor paint fades eventually. I did my corners with testor smoked tint paint and it was a good 3-4 coats and I put clear coat over it. THe clearcoat is there but the color of the tint faded to next to nothing. I dont know if this applies to any of their other paint but it does to my window tint.

current:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y61/busted_blue/519ad4c7.jpg

before:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y61/busted_blue/Timeline/July0403.jpg


It is soo strange only the tint faded but not the clearcoat...but it has been almost a year so I expected something to fade.lol. I hope your red tails don't just suddenly fade like that. That would suck.

That camera does show there is a contrast in color between the turn signals and brake lights and I dont like that. If you say in person it is as almost the same color, then good job. Thats what I like :D

[halxi]

Yea, they almost match in person, you really only see the main difference when the sun reflects off of them or shines on them. I like it though, and i am expecting it to fade eventually, hopefully not within a year though lol.

[bullard123]

Look at BD Accordguy's tails. They are the best I've so far.

[gfrg88]

hey bullard do you know what type of paint he used on his tails??

[halxi]

I didnt like his tails, there was just TOO much red in them.

[Cheeseburger]

looking good bro

[bullard123]

hey bullard do you know what type of paint he used on his tails??
Yes. He used a spray paint called TESTORS. Its found in Walmart in the model car section. Its in a tiny can and the color you need is candle apple red transparent. You might want to buy between two or three cans depending on the shade of red you want. I think it costs around 2.47 a can.

[SQ is the SQUAD]

what type of paint should i but if i wanted to tint the orange part of my tails black link oldschoolswap?

[BDaccordguy]

Look at BD Accordguy's tails. They are the best I've so far.
Hey thanks! Yeah, I was pretty impressed with the way they looked. For more pics check out the link in my sig.

[w00tw00t111]

Hey halxi good job! I have the same problem as you...stupid 18 year old rule :( I don't understand why anyone would want to get high on Spray Paint, Bondo hardner, and this is the hardest for me to understand...Fiberglass resin. I mean come on a few bad apples spoil it for all of us...under 18.
On a side note...If you were to use a higher quality paint...I.E. PPG, AutoAir, or the like in a Candy color candy apple red for instance do you think the amount of time it would take to fade them would increase? Since it's made from better materials I can only assume that it would resist the UV's better then paint designed for models.

Just a thought. :)

[2ndGenGuy]

Something else cool you can do is replace the bulbs with red LEDs. The red light from the bullbs will actually cause the amber lenses to light up red when your turn signal flashes. I guess it's not really the same, since it looks like you want the lenses to always be red, but it's a cool effect nonetheless, amber lenses that light up red.

[Mike89Accordcom]

Looks nice, that was one of the first changes I did to my Accord, it was cheap and easy, and looked awesome!!

[snoopyloopy]

nice. i think i'll hit that up when i go home in two weeks since i can finally buy my own paints legally. except here in alabama, of course. because someone thought 19 as a legal age would be funny.

[SQ is the SQUAD]

you guys make me feel so old

[Deadhead]

do you guys realize how old this thread is?

It's from last year, Halxi did that 6 months ago lol.

[snoopyloopy]

lol....more like 9 months. and i didn't even notice. but my plan of action still stands.

[Cheeseburger]

dam... back from the dead

[SQ is the SQUAD]

yeah, i searched for tail light paint and brought it back from the grave. when i go into work tomarrow ill look in the paint section and try to find some good shit

[halxi]

Ive actually redone them and i have another thread floating around somewhere. In that thread there are also alot higher quality pics that show the true color better.