# How to paint plastic



## SarahFair (Aug 25, 2014)

My niece is in her senior year of cheering and has asked me to paint her megaphone

It will be used in football games,  practice,  and travel back and forth in her truck so the paint is going to have to hold up. 

I have not seen it yet but I'm guessing it's a hard plastic. 

What do I need to do to prep,  what type of paint,  and finish do I need for this type of project? 

I've read I'll need 120 grit sandpaper,  but honestly I'm scared to death to be sanding on this thing. 
She wants her name and a dream catcher on it. 
Im use to painting canvas where a mistake can easily be fixed. I'm afraid  sanding it is going to make it hard to fix mistakes. 
What do I need to have on hand to fix this? 

Any tips on painting a perfect circle on a rounded surface?


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## Razor Blade (Aug 25, 2014)

Sarah , first off , i am no expert on this. Here is what Rick on the Restorations show on tv said to do when preparing plastic to paint. First was to wash and scrub with a scotchbrite pad and comet cleanser, said this would clean and lightly scratch the surface. next was to rinse and dry well. Next , use a plastic prep spray that etched the surface, then paint. The frisby they painted seem to work out. 

    I have seen guys use the " plastic " spray paint. It would not stick to the plastic very well, but i think its all about the prep of the work you need to do. I dont know how well the paint will hold up to riding in the truck and all, but maybe this will help. Scott


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## GAstumpshooter (Aug 25, 2014)

Testors model paint should work fine make sure you remove all oils from the surface and like razor blade said scotchbrite where you will be painting. If you apply a clear coat over your painting it should blend the sanded area in.


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## SGADawg (Aug 25, 2014)

Good advice above. For the circle. Cut a circle of paper and lay it on the megaphone and trace around it.


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## SarahFair (Aug 25, 2014)

I got it late this afternoon and it's definitely a lot more of a porous plastic than what I originally thought. 
I'm not as scared to sand this a little. 

Good idea with the paper.


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## SarahFair (Aug 26, 2014)

Does anyone know how to drain the paint out of spray paint?

We dont have a Hobby/Craft store close enough to where I can just run down the road. Itll take me 3 hours to get there and back. 

I found this website that shows a method, but Im not sure how fast I have to work with this stuff. 
http://www.ghostofzeon.com/diy/paintxtract/xtract.html


I found a paint pen made for plastic, but low and behold, they only had one color I needed.


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## fireman32 (Aug 26, 2014)

120 grit will leave to deep of a scratch for spray paint to fill in.  The scotchbrite pad will work, but you will need to use a plastic adhesion promoter/primer. Go easy on the coats, multiple light coats will be far better than 1 or two heavy coats. And be sure you paint in the shade the sun tends to keep the paint sticky for a prolonged time. The most important thing with plastic is getting and keeping it oil free. Be sure to wash your hands with dish soap before handling it, any type of oil does terrible things to plastic being painted.


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## Razor Blade (Aug 27, 2014)

Yep, i forgot about the oily finger prints. Sounds like somebody has painted plastic before.....


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## SarahFair (Aug 28, 2014)

Okay, so I sanded with 400, because that's all I had
Then I cleaned it,  tapped it off, cut out the lettering and part of the design and sprayed it with 3 coats. 

The paint itself looks great,  but it all kind of falls "flat".

She said she wanted the lettering black and purple,  but the purple is so dark it almost looks black,  so shadowing I don't think will work well in my favor. 

Any idea how to bring it more to life?


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## killerv (Aug 28, 2014)

what I would have done, scuffed up lightly with some 220 or finer. Then give it a coat of Krylon Fusion (for plastics). Paint letters on with a decent acrylic craft paint, walmart should have some with I'm sure different shades of "purple".  If you are painting purple on black, it may take a few coats to make it pop as opposed if you started with a lighter base coat. Then hit it with a few coats of krylon acrylic clear, comes in gloss, matte, flat.


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## SarahFair (Aug 28, 2014)

I want to thank everyone for the tips! 
Finally,  I'm finished
It's not perfect,  but I'm proud. I've not worked much with spray paint/paint pens and plastic so it was nice to try something new


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## Razor Blade (Aug 28, 2014)

Nice job Sarah


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## GAstumpshooter (Sep 9, 2014)

looks great


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