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Posted

Yeah, it's not an easy task!

I still just use a brush, a lot larger one than most guys probably use, but I have better luck with paint "flow" with a larger brush.

If I have to stop every 1/8 inch to load more paint, I wind up with a mess!

I just try to moderate the amount of paint I need to load onto the brush. Too little & you're stopping & starting. Too much & it runs all over.

It's a balancing act! :wacko:

Steve

Posted

I've used black sharpie before that worked out well.

I can see how that would work.

I think I'll try that on my next one.

With each passing day, my hands get a little less steady. :)

Steve

Posted

Here is a trick that I have done before. Take some fine copper wire strand, wrap it tightly around another stiffer wire, get it about 2" to 3" inches in length, paint the wound part black. slide it off of the stiffer wire. Now you have a convincing split loom. You can sand off some of the kits wiring detail , and glue on the improved looking stuff, it remains flexable, routable, and you can add some of the thinner wire bits to it easily, allowing you to connect wires to Alternators, Voltage Regulators, Wiper Motors, any accessory found under the hood.

Posted

If it's a GM or Ford car (musclecar era), the firewall will almost always be semigloss black, and so is virtually all of the wiring and hosing found on the firewall. I paint the firewall semigloss black and get on with my life. (Rookie mistake I've seen dozens of times: painting the wires on the firewall silver, as if it were bare wire.)

On a Chrysler, the firewall and underhood area are typically body color. I'll either use a fine-tip black pen for the wiring, or black paint and a fine brush, as the mood strikes me.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted (edited)

IMG_1664-vi.jpg

I've dry brushed the wires in the past and have also used Sharpie pens. I've recently come to the conclusion that it may almost be easier, and certainly will look better to sand them off and replace with thin wire. See above photo of a Trabant engine bay. Some of the wires were molded in and I painted them, but look at the real wires that run front to back on either inner fender. Those are on reference photos I have of real cars, but weren't on the kit so I added them. Next one of these I build I will sand off the molded in wires and add real wire as well. It's not a challenging thing to do. Anyone who can cut, twist and glue a wire can do this!

Edited by Tom Geiger
Posted

Sharpies of different colors work well on chrome for a anodized look or just

as a way to detail.

Posted

I personally use a very fine fineliner black pen not the best result but it works for everything from wires to gauge dials and panel lines

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