[Billfred]

I'm proud to say that 2815 has never competed with a bare-metal robot. The method we've used to achieve this has varied:

2009: Painted red at the district career center's auto body shop
2010: Anodized garnet in a shop in-state
2011: Wrapped in black gaffer's tape and garnet racing tape (yes, that's what it was sold as) in the pits
2012: Spray-painted flat black just outside our shop

In the years we've painted, 2009 and 2012, we painted the main assembly once it was put together for final assembly. In 2009, we removed our ball dumper and had just that painted; the unpainted C-Base drivetrain was nearly impossible to see behind the bumpers. In 2012, we decided to strip the entire robot down and painted all the structural metal (C-Base included).

2011's tape job was a back-up-and-punt move for lack of time in our shop; it was noticeable up-close, but from the distance the field mandates, it's pretty hard to tell. The tape also saved us time on filing, as it covered many rough edges. The paint came out so much better, but I'd do this if the alternative was a plain robot.