Karmann Ghia advice

[dougwintz]

Hi. Having fun building Tamiya's VW Karmann Ghia. But the bottom side trim (two horizontal trim pieces) are proving difficult to detail. I've tried a number of methods:

1) bare metal foil - but the trim pieces are really thin and difficult to cut the foil thin enough

2) masking and painting with a chrome marker - but the paint leaks through the paint edges

3) doing a "dry brush" of chrome - but again, rendering a thin straight line is really difficult.

As of now, I'm think my options are to either sand off the trim and repaint or cut my loses and finish the model without that detail. I'm usually a stickler for detail, so I'm not crazy about that last option.

Any other techniques you've tried out there?

Thanks. Doug

[FredRPG]

If you go with the masking tape method, sometimes a light coat of clear before the silver will stop the bleed.  Probably telling you something you already know, but I believe this trim is aluminum so you don't have to get real shiny.

[rsxse240]

Having delt with the exact issue with the exact kit, I can tell you that after several failed attempts, I finally decided to foil both pieces of trim with one piece of BMF, then paint over the foil and carefully clean the trim off with some paint thinner.  

[THarrison351]

I've had some success with using a machinist scale (ruler) and a fresh blade to cut narrow width strips of foil the size of the trim, long enough to lay past the area to be foiled. Then I stretch it gently to keep it straight and lay it on the trim. Slowly burnish it, careful not to move the foil around and it usually works.

[dougwintz]

6 hours ago, THarrison351 said:

I've had some success with using a machinist scale (ruler) and a fresh blade to cut narrow width strips of foil the size of the trim, long enough to lay past the area to be foiled. Then I stretch it gently to keep it straight and lay it on the trim. Slowly burnish it, careful not to move the foil around and it usually works.

Thanks everyone. I'll give these tips a whirl. 

[espo]

I would follow rsxse240's suggestion of using chrome foil. I would add a suggestion that I use if you're not already doing this. The moldings are very faint and hard to see where to cut the foil if you just lay it down on the body. What I have done is to out line the moldings with an Exact O knife before applying the foil. I will then burnish the foil lightly, this will give me a distinct cut line to follow. I use this method on all chrome trim and usually start out lining the trim when it is even bare plastic before even before the first coat of primer since every coat of paint seems to make this type of fine detail harder to see.    

[dougwintz]

So...I tried all of the advice, and could not make the foil work. So, I took the car into surgery. Sanded off the trim and repainted/blended/resanded. Not my finest hour, but it came out ok. I actually ordered thin silver decals, which might have worked, but by the time I received them I had already started sanding. Next time, more thinking and planning ahead. 

[jaymcminn]

Looks great. Half of the reason I went cal-look custom with mine was because I didn't want to deal with that rocker trim!