discussion Painting surfaces already the right color?

[christos_swc]

Hi guys,
my next build will be a Tamiya Porsche GT1 car.
The large surfaces like the bodywork and floor are already the correct color, as in white and black respectively.
What do you think I should do, should I paint these surfaces so they look less plasticky or is it just a waste of time?
I was thinking I would just apply a coating of gloss varnish on top of the plastic to make the bodywork shiny and be done with, on to the decals.
Now for the black surfaces I know Tamiya may suggest any of the black/semi-gloss/matt variations so in some cases I will follow that guideline.
I guess after I have finished it I will have an idea if it was the correct choice or not not to paint but I thought I might ask here the modellers that have already been through it and make the right choice.
I do need to stress that I have no artistic talent whatsoever so I am not very serious about making my kits super realistic and I've also been using a brush so far.
So while I do not have expectations of perfection, I do at least like my kits to look interesting and certainly not like cheap toys.
Thanks!

 

[tigersteve]

I think you will find most, myself included will always paint all parts. However if the bodywork is in perfect condition out of the box and you are happy with the colour, I guess your idea will look fine, especially if it is this one that I also have to build one day - plenty of decals too !

 

[Ian M]

Personally I would paint it. I gave seen some car models where the plastic has been polished. Looked OK.

 

[Guest]

Decals often adhere poorly to bare plastic, so that would be a good reason to paint the body on a race car with all its advertising etc. Also, if you have to remove seams, scraping or sanding them will leave a very visible scar in that the colour of the plastic will change, so that’s another reason to paint parts even if they are already moulded in the right colour.

That said, I build very few cars — I think the last one was at least 30 years ago — but when I get round to building the Tamiya Tyrrell P34 Formula 1 car I bought a few months ago, I will definitely be painting the body that’s moulded in blue, blue

 

[Tim Marlow]

Only time I have painted a part was on a motorcycle build with a black vinyl seat. I found sanding and polishing the black plastic gave a good impression of vinyl plastic. Certainly wouldn’t do it on a car body though.