LosTxSouL's Painting Guide Thingo!!!!
G'day everyone! I'm late as heck with this guide, but it's here! About halfway it goes a bit pear-shaped because I realised I made a mistake. But that's par for the course, I guess. Learn from my mistakes!
I hope this badly worded and thought out guide helps you customise your Beylauncher grips or even gives you ideas on improving how you paint. This is my first post on any forum like this. I really hope it helps!!
Also! Be careful when clicking the pictures. I didn't anticipate how big they were and they are massive pictures. They may slow down your browser or change the layout of the thread. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
PAINT AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!
Just saying this just in case any of the environmental factors make your product come out not as intended. As with everything, you take apart and modify your products at your own risk.
NOW! Disclaimer: My techniques used in this guide aren't universal. It might work for some, might not for others. These are the ways I like to use when I paint. Feel free to modify them to your climate and/or area. For first time painters, where you live on this spinning blue basketball affects how your paint dries and how the finish comes out in the end product.
Please do this in a well ventilated area such as your back or front yard and NEVER spray any aerosol paint indoors! It is a health hazard you anything with lungs! It is very dangerous to do so and could impact your health negatively which may cause permanent damage to your respiratory system!
'Kay. Now we can get started!
What you need!
So to start off, you need a few things. Besides your Beygrip or whatnot, you need a your chosen paint and a clear coat to finish it off.
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Here are some Tamiya acrylic spray cans you can get at nearly any hobby shop. You can also paint brushes, airbrushes, enamel spray paints, etc. The only thing that you definitely need is a clear finishing coat. This seals in your paintjob and helps protect it from the wear and tear of being used and constantly held in your hand. I like and recommend these paints personally as I've used them in the past in my other hobbies and I've had almost no problems with them.
I went with TS-10 French Blue for my main colour and TS-13 Clear Gloss.
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IMPORTANT! Tamiya paints come in 2 (two) different flavours. You have the TS line which I'm using which are made for spray painting model kits and the PS line are for Polycarbonate bodies you find on RC cars. MAKE SURE YOU GET THE TS PAINTS! The PS paints are meant to be flexible and I guess overtime will wear off quicker than the TS paints
Now that the type of paints you need are out of the way, here's what I would suggest using while painting.
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These are what I use to protect myself and help the paint process along. From left to right: we have disposable rubber gloves. You will notice there's only one. This is only for my left hand as I will be painting with my right hand controlling the spray can.
Next is a mask. This isn't needed, but if you value your ability to breath it's a good idea to use a mask with disposable filters. If you don't have one any mask that covers your mouth and nose are better than no protection. My filter is overdue it's 2 year life span. If you have a mask like this, PLEASE USE IN DATE FILTERS! Don't risk your lungs like I stupidly do!
A hairdryer! Yes, a hairdryer. This is used to help speed up the drying process between layers. Just don't have it too close or too hot as you could strip your paint and/or melt your plastic.
Last but not least, a roll of painters tape. This is more or less used to mask off areas on your grip if you wanted to do a funky two or three tone paintjob. I use it in this guide, but for nothing special.
Step 1: Take them apart!
No pictures unfortunately. May add them at a later date. Oops!
Remove any launcher and accessory you have attaches to the grip. On the rear side of your grip, there are five Phillips head screws. Remove them and pry it apart. The sticky-outy bits are only held in by a few molded in pillars. Remove them and place them aside if you're not intending to paint them.
Step 2: Preparation
So first off what you should typically do with the item you want to paint is prep the surface by sanding it. With my knock off BeyLauncher grips being a different quality of plastic, it sanded a bit differently than an official TT grip you will more than likely have.
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This was taken a day before painting. Prepping your grip a day in advance is preferred. Basically you want to sand as many of the flat surfaces of it as possible but lightly until you make the surface appear dull.
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This ensures that the paint particles have something to grab onto. Although, if you don't want to sand it for whatever reason or don't have access to sand paper, you can also use a primer which makes a surface for the paint to stick to. I recommend anything from 400 grit up. I used 350 and made deep scratch marks I didn't see until I was nearly done painting. If you have the official BeyGrip, be careful around the lettering on the handle. You do not want to fill that in with melted plastic from sanding too roughly. Take your time with this stage.
For those who don't understand sandpaper grits it's very simple. The higher your number on the back, the smoother the other side is. So an 80 grit for example is VERY rough while 1200 grit is very fine and smooth. That's why as you sand something, you gradually go up grits to get a smoother finish on whatever you're sanding.
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Here you can slightly see my mistake in the sandpaper I used. If you have scratches like these, DON'T PAINT! Unless you're going for that type of finish, take the time to get your sanding to how you like it. Once that paint goes on, there's no easy way back.
Now that your Beygrips are sanded and have no shiny bits it's time to wash the grip handles! This may sound silly, but it's kinda a good thing to do. Washing your grip after handling it and sanding is highly recommended as it removes the flakes made by the sanding and any contaminates such as the oil from your hands and dust that may have settled on it while resting it somewhere.
Set up your kitchen or bathroom sink the same way you would set up for washing the dishes like in the picture below. Use dishwashing liquid as it has the additives that remove grease and oily substances from your dishes.
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Get some plain white paper towel to dry it off afterwards. If there is water and soap trapped on the mold structure inside don't worry about it. Just get rid of as much moisture on the outside as possible. Any water droplets will interact negatively with your paint and give you an undesired effect.
Now empty out your soapy water and replace it with warm water. This may sound crazy but you are then going to put your spray cans in the warm water. No, seriously. I'm not making it up!
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What this does it warm up the contents inside the can and help the pressure feed through your nozzle more effectively and efficiently. Be sure to shake it for 1 minute to mix the colour pigment in the can thoroughly. Let them sit for a while in the water and give them a spin like you're rolling a log in water to get even heat distribution and then you're ready to rock!
Step 3: PAINTING!!!!!
Okay! Granted if you've done everything in the guide up until now, you're ready to paint! You will need to stick your two halves onto something as once wet paint is on these babies, you want hand-to-grip contact as minuscule as possible. Ignoring my fat hand I have stuck my grip halves onto the bottom of plastic party shot glasses with Blu-tac or poster putty. This makes it easier to handle while painting with little risk of ruining the paint work.
Now there is a certain way to pain anything in whatever hobby you're in. I have made a handy GIF that I hope shows up to help you get an idea of what I'm talking about!
![[Image: FriendlyBleakAnophelesmosquito-size_restricted.gif]](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/FriendlyBleakAnophelesmosquito-size_restricted.gif)
What is demonstrated here is the proper way of painting something. You start off by spraying off the item you're painting and making a sweeping motion across it only stopping when you've swept off the item. What speed you use is, again, up to you. Using this technique you want to rotate the grip as you spray and come from every angle to hit every possible spot you can. This is why I like shot glasses and I can almost twirl it in my left hand to get all the angles I need to hit.
While painting I recommend some sort of entertainment to keep you preoccupied while you're doing this. You're going to be at this a while. If you do entertain yourself while painting and you're using your phone I suggest placing it in a ziplock bag made for wraps. Although you could listen to music or an audio book, I chose to watch a video. This isn't necessary, but it helps while waiting for each layer to dry.
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First layer down and you want it to be a light dusting to start you off. Don't pile on your paint at the very start as you will end up with runs and streaks in your paint work and make the result look pretty bad. You want your first layer to look something like this.
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Once you've then laid down a layer, attack it with your hairdryer to speed up the drying time. After a quick once over let it sit for maybe 1-2 minutes before the next coat. I've sprayed both one after another to help speed up the job and keep it relatively constant.
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I stupidly didn't take too many pictures of the inbetween. You want to slowly add layers of paint onto the grip all the while hitting it with the hairdryer to speed things along. I would recommend maybe 3-5 layers of paint.
I used the whole can on mine to hide my deep scratches. On the Takara Tomy grip, take it slow and keep an eye on the lettering and make sure that the paint doesn't clog it up.
My advice is take it nice and slow and keep an eye on the process to make sure that you're getting an even coat all the way around. Once you use your clear coat, you can't fix your mistakes!
This is what I had before I sprayed it with the gloss. If you look closely and it's not too compressed you may see the marks barely showing through.
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Once you're happy with what you have it is time to apply the final layers of clear to seal everything in!
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I used 3 layers of gloss clear on mine using the technique the GIF showcases. Again, the hairdryer is your friend to help dry the coats quicker and the amount of layers you use is up to your discretion.
Here it is with the gloss coats on in the sunlight. A good clear layer has a uniform gloss, satin or matte finish depending on what version of clear coat you use.
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And you're basically done! Here they are sitting on my Burst tool box drying completely. To be sure that it dries completely, leave it aside for anywhere from 24 hours to 1 week just to be sure. If you're impatient you can handle the grip halves after 1 hour and assemble them.
Just be mindful that you've now changed the thickness of your grip by microns. As you attach and detach accessories and launchers, your paint will start to chip off and trade paint with whatever rubs too hard. Keep that in the back of your head when you go to attach a white string launcher to a red grip. It will stain and be difficult to remove. This is just how it will be considering how little wiggle room there actually is.
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CONGLATURATIONS!!!! You have customised your Beyblade Burst launcher grip! You have added an unique twist to a common item everyone uses! Sit back and enjoy your handy work and be glad you made it through my wall of text!
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I would love to see your grips or anything else you painted posted in this thread! Here's mine!
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Any feedback about this thread is welcome. Let me know what I did wrong and what I did right. This thread is also subject to change. I will more than likely comeback and either cut some unnecessary fat or change something around.
Thanks for reading and hope this has helped you in any way!
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Well thought out and this was worth the effort. ![[Image: giphy.gif?cid=790b76119fe9a5792461042c88...y.gif&ct=g]](https://media3.giphy.com/media/T3VmyELskbSGCcwGRB/giphy.gif?cid=790b76119fe9a5792461042c8862ce72e02280cf08406c6d&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g)