Washing the bodyshell is very important. Manufacturers put a release agent on the moulds that the bodies are formed on and if you don’t wash that off your paint will adhere to that and not the body, and will easily come off. Warm to hot water with some washing up liquid, then rinse it thoroughly and dry it with some kitchen towel.
  
 
If you’re body is only going to be one colour you’re ready to apply that now,but remember lots of light coats, allowing drying time between each. Laying one thick coat on will cause the paint to flake off after crashes. If you are going to use more than one colour a couple of points to remember. One, if you can always mask the body in such a way as to paint the dark colours first, and two, if you do have to paint a darker or similar colour on top of a light colour (say orange over light blue) always apply a blocking coat of silver over the first colour to prevent the second changing the first where it oversparays.
  
 
Mask the edge of the panel (pink) then fill in the area to be masked with tape. On this body the red was painted first and then the white.When masking panels on bodies it is a good idea to laydown an outline first using tape that has been cut down to 3 or 4 mm wide and then filling in with 18 or 24mm wide after. This method has two advantages. Firstly when tape is cut that narrow you can tease it into gentle curves, and secondly you can make sure that it lays down to the contour of the body, around body lines without coming away.
  
 
Most bodyshells now come with a set of pre-cut vinyl window masks. Some fit better than others, so you may still have a little trimming to do. If you find them tricky to get on right try this. Lift one piece of masking from the backing sheet and to check how well it fits lay it sticky side up on the appropriate window on the outside of the body. This way you can slide it around to find the best fitting position and even put some alignment marks down to help get it on right when you apply it on the inside.
  
 
Don’t use ordinary automotive masking tape when painting R/C bodies, because the adhesive layer is quite thick on this stuff and the tape itself is not completely flat. You will probably get the paint “bleeding” under the masking, leaving somewhat less than a clean, sharp edge. There are plenty of paper tapes now available (see the Trickbits section) which do a good job so use them if you can.