Painter Jim McShea the airbrush artist behind the paint schemes of Grave Digger, Bulldozer, El Toro Loco, and Blue Thunder had a new challenge of painting the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Monster Truck - Raphael.

Before Jim painted the truck needed to get ready for paint. The shell is one of the most contoured monster truck body pieces in existence. 36 hours of work base coating and sanding the body left the truck a pure primer white.

On the shell, the base color was a military green. Each segment of the shell was then touched with airbrushed white highlights and black lowlights.

The head of the truck needed two base colors: red and green. The green was applied to the entire head section first. Each coat was allowed to dry before coat was applied. After the green was completely dry, it was covered with paper (masked) and the section of the shell that needed to be painted red was left exposed. The nose, body, and the shell were then all painted.

The time period from the first coat of red to the last coat of green was approximately four hours. The body was completely assembled and disassembled twice during the masking process to make certain that the masking lines matched perfectly to each of the three pieces of the body.

After the turtle was dried Jim decided to do some airbrushing. Jim went to work first with black carving out the turtle's red bandana. Overnight the turtle's details were completed in the clean room. All that remained was to clear-coat the beast, so Raphael is ready for the track! Great Job Jim!