I'm fairly new to prop building and had little experience when I got started about 6 months ago-I'll tell you a little about what I've learned. Once you're ready for paint, prepare the surface with some 400 grit sandpaper-just sand the whole surface lightly. Then clean the entire surface to be painted with denatured alcohol or the like to get all the oils from our hands off, thus making the paint adhere to the surface. Primer the surface using sandable automotive primer-I tried the testors primer and when I had to resand and repaint after messing up, it was a mess. Once the primer is dry, lightly sand it with 400 grit sandpaper and reclean the surface and prepare for paint. If you have to mask anything off, buy some of the "blue" masking tape you can find in any hardware store. It won't pull up the paint when removing it after painting. It's a bit pricey but worth it. Once everything is masked the way you want it, then paint. That's the in a nutshell version, but I'm sure it'll at least get you started. If you have any questions, this is the place to ask them as well as the Heroes, Villians, and Mandalorians site-there's a great bunch of folks there also. Good Luck!
