Step 2 (body detailing)

I find it helps loads if you have some good new paint & not those old little pots of years old drying up paint.
With the Mounty body you have 3 different parts to do. Front grill, Front body (cab) & rear body (bed) I did them one at a time, Well I tried to anyway. Maybe moving from one to another when waiting for paint to dry etc.

First up is the front grill. With the spraying done it's all ready for parts to be fitted.
I did the headlights first. Make sure you are very careful cutting out the chrome parts & the glass parts. Nothing hard here, Just make sure the lenses are the correct way up (there's a small notch in the bottom) When gluing them in use very little glue near to the edges & put a little on after they are seated in the grill. 

The indicators need some paint first. I use the Tamiya clear orange for all my indicators on all bodies. It's a superb colour when used right. Paint 2-3 coats of the orange on the rear of the lenses. Always on the rear, So you can't see those brush strokes. When dry, Fit these in with the chrome holders holding them in place with glue. Now fit the alloy bracket that secures it to the main body, This can be helpful on the next bits.

Doing the small Toyota badge is not as bad as you might think. Just get a really fine & soft brush, & apply your paint from nearly a flat angle to the badge (Lay the brush down) don't try & paint it, Just touch it all until covered right. Make sure the body is steady on the surface your working on & your hand is also resting on something to keep it steady also. Get comfy before you paint. When that's dried you can apply the red out line around the Toyota emblem. This is the correct way around, Check out the front of a Bruiser box. Some people think it's red in the middle, Not the case.

Number plates are easy, I just spray them with some white primer while still on the tree. Cut them out, Touch up & stick on.  If you want to jump the gun like I did, Cut into the nice expensive decals & stick the number plate one on first.

Steady hand time as the side lights are a pain to paint! Do them in white as it says in the manual, But try & mask as much as you can. It will help as they are difficult to get right. Finished front grill!

Onto the rear of the body. I buy the white TOYOTA decal from RC4WD.com.  Saves so much time & looks perfect on the tail gate. If you do get one, Cut it all up first before applying.  Because it's a rub on type decal you can't see where it sits if you don't. Put some masking tape across the top of the Toyota on the tail gate & line up all the letters separately. Done!  

Before I painted the chrome detail, I did the indicators first with satin black. Yes black. It's for the nice thin black edge around the indicator. Open up your chrome silver paint & do the tail gate hinges/locks, Indicators (masked up) & where the rear lights sit. These look superb when the coloured lenses are fitted over them. The rear lenses are difficult to get right, But look very smart when done correctly.
You need some Tamiya clear orange again & clear red. These can both be painted on the rear of the lenses. Put about 2-3 coats on evenly for a nice deep colour. The black edging around the lights is the hard part. Use the technique I mentioned above for the front grill Toyota badge. Keep the brush flat & go around covering the risen edge of the lights. When done make sure it looks ok from different angles, If you miss a bit it will show when fitted to the body.

One of my favourite bits next.. Fitting the roll bar & spots!
Be ever so careful cutting out all the pieces for the roll bar/spots. The chrome can come off real easy if your not careful. I always cut the parts off the tree first with sharp cutters, Then trim with a sharp knife. No matter how good you are there will be bits of chrome missing on the spots. Screw them together keeping them bits out of sight as much as possible. It all screws together easy. So onto the spot light decals. A pleasure & easy to fit, Just make sure they all line up right & in the centres.  Now fit the roll bar to the rear bed.. Looks well smart!

The rear lights & number plate can be fitted now. And time to stick on the other number plate decal too (Make sure it's the correct one) Last thing on the rear section for now, Is to finish off the indicators with the clear orange paint. Just go over the silver with a few coats letting it dry in between. They now look like proper lenses.

Now for the front cab. Some tricky bits here. Like I said before use masking tape wherever you can. All window detailing & indicators. Indicators can be done exactly as the rear ones as mentioned before. Black, Silver, Then clear orange. All window rubbers/surrounds are in satin black. Easy to mask up, But don't bother with the round corners. Just do them free hand, Only a few millimetres to paint. Keep all your masking tape too the straight bits. Unless your better with the stuff than me!

The tricky part is the side 'Hilux' badges. Paint them satin black again. Keep the paint thin if you can & neat as possible (Paint tips above) Then when dry, Use the silver very carefully going around the badge working from the outside inwards if you can. This is hard though & if you go wrong, Let it dry & cover with some black again.

Last detailing is the silver chrome gutters on the edge of the roof going down the window pillars. Mask again, But the inside edge is a pain. I tucked my masking tape into the top of the doors & it worked great for painting. Make sure all paint is dry before fitting the glass. I fitted the glass temporary & marked with a knife a few points around the top of the windscreen. So I could take it out & apply the TOYOTA window decal in the correct position. Worked a treat! Don't try fitting the decal with the glass in place. Now fit the window glass properly. Oh & if you have any marks on the glass, Try car polish. It's superb on plastic glass if your careful.

The front grill can be fitted also, Making sure it all lines up nice adjusting the screws as you go along.
I didn't bother gluing in the rear cab glass, Just slot it in (tight anyway) & fit in with some strong tape at the top (clear is best) It's held in with the interior & rear bed as well. I never use glue if I can help it. The interior is easy also. I got myself a can of Tamiya TS-1 (Red brown) & just sprayed the seat all over, Back & front. Then apply the two decals when dry. Then fit the steering column & wheel after painting them satin black first.

Time to fit the two body half's together!
But first, Fit in the side mirror. So cut it out very carefully & glue the two mirror parts together carefully, With the metal bracket in between them. Back to the body. Make sure they line up the best you can get them. Don't worry, They will not be perfect as the mouldings are out of line along the lower side body line (just above the chrome) Fit the lower screws first, Then the top screws as you need to fit the interior now. Remember though to use the correct screws, I've seen soo many of these trucks with the wrong screws used & they have damaged the outer body as the screws were too long.

Nearly done! Just those decals to finish her off now.
These are not much of a problem. Believe me after fitting the Bruiser ones these are a breeze! Put down a nice clean soft cloth to cushing the whole body & keep it safe. If you're like me I always go for the easy decals first. I did the bonnet ones to start off, Then onto the sides. I chose the black lines next down both sides in the middle of the doors. I used a guillotine to cut all the long straight edges. Works great. You need to trim a little off the black line as it's too wide to fit in the body moulding gap. The door coloured stripes are the next ones. Then you can line up the rear side stripes ok. Both easy decals to apply as they are straight. Just make sure you cut out those door lock holes perfect, Then you can use this as a guide. '4X4 OFF ROAD' are the easy ones to apply. Keep em straight! I left the chrome decals around the bottom until last as I thought they were going to be a pain. Not the case. I just cut them out again with the guillotine, Making sure I cut off all the black lines that depict the edges. There are three holes to cut out also on the main door decals. Do them with a very sharp knife, Keeping to the black circles on there. If you do this all right they fit great. And take care fitting them, As you can't re-apply chrome decals very well. They mark & stretch if you pull them back off.

One more thing I nearly forgot. The side guards that fit at the bottom of the doors. I sprayed them with the white primer along with the number plates when I did them (On same tree) These fit with two screws either side.

Done! Wasn't that easy?