Ford Explorer Sport-Trac with Flames
When it was time for my dad to retire his PT Cruiser body, I set him up with a Bolink Ford Sport-Trac. While Bolink has some nice alternative designs that aren't offered by anyone else, I still prefer a Pro-Line body. Pro-Line's new bodies offer thicker lexan, and all Pro-Line bodies come with a large set of stickers for detailing the headlights, grill, and other areas. Bolink bodies only come with window masks, so you don't cover them while painting. However since he owned a Sport-Trac, I thought this body would be appropriate.
This body will be used on a Stampede, even though it was intended for a Maxx. It will work fine, as many other Maxx bodies will. However you will need to either raise the body up some, or enlarge the fender wheels slightly, so there's no clearance issue with the front tires. It also looks much better if you have a wheelie bar installed on your Stampede, because this lengthens the Stampede overall, and helps to match the length of the body itself.
For the flames I used a design I created myself. You can download this design from my Masks and Templates Section.
I used the following colors.
I brushed on several coats of liquid masking and, after drawing the flames by hand, then cut the flames out. Following that, I also cut the areas that would get a carbon-fiber look. These areas were the the lower sides of the truck. I did not give a carbon-fiber treatment to the bed, since it's surface wasn't smooth. The ribbed area of the bed, would not have been very conductive to this sort of effect, making it very difficult. The front of the vehicle would have a solid black bumper area, and some of the grill, which was trimmed as well.
The first step was the flames. I trimmed away the liquid mask covering this area, and applied a couple of light coats of Faschange Blue, followed by Fasescent Purple on the far end of the flames. Then I filled in the rest of the flames with Fasescent Blue, and backed everything with Faswhite. The result is that the whole flamed area has a very subtitle blue highlight in it that appears and disappears as you rotate the body. It looks very cool, but is very difficult to capture in a picture.
Next I addressed the carbon fiber treatment. I removed the liquid masking from these areas, and then cut the toolbox matting so that it fit the area I wished to paint. I started by spraying several coats of Faspearl Charcoal. Then I removed the matting and sprayed a light coat of Faspearl silver over the unpainted squares, followed by Fasblack as a backing. I also sprayed Fasblack over the front bumper, grill, and truck bed areas at this time as well.
The last thing to need addressing, was the main body color itself. I decided to give a color change treatment to the main body as well. So I started by spraying several light coats of Faschange Red on the body. Then I used Fasyellow to add highlights in certain areas of the body. Following that I used several coats of Faswhite as a backing for the whole truck. The result, is a subtitle red highlight in the yellow/white areas that may or may not be visible depending upon the viewing angle.
Click on a picture to enlarge it.
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