Chrome Headlights

[av405]

I'm currently working on a kit with chrome headlights and I'm trying to make them look more realistic. I've thought about painting them white, but the body is white as well and I wouldn't want the headlights to match the body in color and look. Any suggestions?

Thank you in advance.

[BigTallDad]

What are you contemplating painting white? the lenses?

What kit are you working on?

[av405]

There are no lenses. The headlights themselves are chrome.

 

I'm working on an AMT Ford Taurus.

[StevenGuthmiller]

If you don't want to go all out & drill them out & replace them, I've found a mixture of clear acrylic paint with a dab of white & maybe just a tinge of metallic silver works pretty well.

I've heard that some guys will give them a very light black wash first.

 

Steve

 

 

 

Edited November 2, 2016 by StevenGuthmiller

[gtx6970]

Did this one in a mixture of testors white lighting and just a drip of silver. then some clear over them once dry . Ps, they are NOT as white in person as they appear here

[gtx6970]

Found out by accident if you take testors chrome silver , don't shake it up and just barely dip the brush in you get a very thin almost clear silver color out of it ,,as shown then same clear top coat

 

Edited December 4, 2017 by gtx6970

[Foxer]

https://www.google.com/search?q=gmc+source%3Amodelcarsmag.com&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#hl=en&q=site:modelcarsmag.com+chrome+headlights

[Snake45]

Did this one in a mixture of testors white lighting and just a drip of silver. then some clear over them once dry . Ps, they are NOT as white in person as they appear here

I've been playing with White Lightning for things like parking lights and backup lights. Haven't yet tried it for headlights, though.

One thing I've done that helps "chrome" headlights a little is to cover them with a coat or two of something like Micro Krystal-Kleer or Elmer's Glue. Not a perfect solution but seems to be at least some improvement.

[av405]

I ended up spray painting the headlights with Tamiya Pure White and then brushing Tamiya Smoke over the white once it had dried. I think it came out okay. I'm almost done with the model so I will post pictures once it is complete.