how much weight do you allow for primer,paint and clear?

[littleZracer]

Just as it says. Im trying to get close before paint and clear. Thanks Z

[sporty]

It's going to depend on the type of paint, how much primer is used. How many coats. stuff like that.


I try and be under 5 grams of paint and ect added on. But many are around 8 to 10 grams, who put it on thick and many coats.

less than 1. 1/4x1/4x1/4 tungesten cube.

I recommend being 10 grams light to 12 grams, this should eb safe if you are painting lightly.


or if you do not have a gram scale.

4 1/2 oz with weight / wood / axles and wheels on the scale, you want under 4 1/2 oz before you paint. It's easier to add some tungsten putty or lead, rather than trying to drill it out or take it out.

Sporty

[Darin McGrew]

At our workshops, when we weight the kids' cars, we try to leave 5-7g for paint and other finish materials. That seems to work pretty well for most of the cars.

Of course, I've been known to add more than 1oz (yeah, >28g) of paint and other finish materials to one of my cars...

[Stan Pope]

Of course, I take exactly the opposite course: since my painted car weighs around 4.5 to 4.75 ounces, I just slop on the paint. When it dries, I figure out how much my trim weight must weigh. After the trim weight location gets settled and the trim weight gets glued on, the hand drill or craft knife extracts enough to bring the weight back down to 5.00 ounces!

[ah8tk]

Here are 2 other posts about this same question:

Weight Before Assembly/Paint
Painting for about .2 oz?

[VWAffe]

I second, third, or whatever the recommendations above... it really depends on the type of paint you use.

We usually use a coat or two of sanding sealer, two-three coats of primer (first one thicker, others thin), and some body putty.

I've settled (again) on using lacquers for the finish coats - they just go on thinner and lighter than anything else, dry to the touch fast (5 minutes tops) and the final finish is hard and durable. One color coat, and about 2 gloss coats. Combined with the above prep, it all adds a little less than 1/2 oz, or 10-12 grams.

The year we used enamels, it was more like 3/4 oz or more, and they take much longer to dry (12-24 hr), but are easier to use/find. I expect acrylics will dry faster, but will be just as heavy.

Whatever you use, it's easier to leave room to add a little weight than to have to grind a hole in a beautiful finish.

Cheers!

[FatSebastian]

It's going to depend on the type of paint, how much primer is used. How many coats. stuff like that. I try and be under 5 grams of paint and ect added on.

Agree. We sometimes use sanding sealer and how much sealer is soaked up depends on the density of the wood. It also depends on how much wood there is to paint.

We usually have a minimal amount of wood to paint, and also take a minimalist approach to painting. (Because the car is going to end up covered with graphite anyway, we aren't too concerned about a concours finish.) After sealing, we tend to rattle-can spray a thin coat of primer and two thin coats of color with no clear topcoat. If we don't paint the bottom, then we tend to budget at least 3 grams, or 0.1 ounces, for the paint job, based on past experience.

[rpcarpe]

'Bout the same here.
The builds I've worked on this year have all fallen into the .1-.2oz of primer/paint/sealer. The wide variance is because the kids are 'rattling-can spraying'. They can get a bit zealous with the paint.

[Shade Racing]

installing the weight is the last thing I do after paint is finished & wheels installed I router the weight pockets & drill axle hole first & use 1/4in. tungsten cubes

[Pinewood Daddy]

Always allowed 6 grams for paint. Weight was installed before painting. Used lead golf tape to add the final few grams and to allow adjustment at the race.

[pgosselin]

I use my wife's digital cooking scale to weigh everything before paint. I try to get the weight to 4.8 oz. or so. Even after paint, it's still well under 5 oz. so I use Tungsten putty to get it the rest of the way to 5 oz. In my experience, spray painting primer, color and clear coat adds less than .1 oz. of weight. We use automotive spray can (nitrocellulose lacquer) and do three coats of each.