roadkillontheweb Posted November 18, 2009 Posted November 18, 2009 I am making custom taillight bezels for my 1960 thunderbird 3/8 scale powercar and I will have to admit that I have never been a model builder but I make a lot of parts. So I need some advice on detail painting so it looks good. The mold is on the top of the picture and the white part is the raw casting that needs some finish work before I paint it chrome and then try to fill in all the little squares with black paint? what would work best? needle and thinned paint? or do I need to get really talented with a brush? SInce I will have spray painted the whole thing chrome all I need to hand paint is the black areas This will give you a little sense of scale but my hands are those of a 6'6" man so it is a little off. I use Tamiya clear red on my lenses since they are illuminated. Here is a shot of a lens installed in the bezel in vacuum formed clear plastic prior to painting. PS the bezel was made using a CNC router, lathe, scrollsaw to make wood masters then I made silicone rubber molds to make the individual parts (13 of them) that were glued together to make the master form. Then I made another silicone rubber mold that you see part of in the top photo so I could make as many solid bezels as I need and I cast mounting bolts into the plastic while it forms. You can see the head of one in the shot with my hand
roadkillontheweb Posted November 18, 2009 Author Posted November 18, 2009 OOps I just read the post that states we have to have our names in the post. Sorry but I have been known as roadkillontheweb for many years but the real name is Lee A little introduction is in order? I am a model car buff, but my scale of choice is a little odd. 1/4 and 3/8 scale powered versions of vintage production cars that were used to promote the cars when new. Think of the promo cars the dealer used to give you on steroids. http://www.jrcentral.com is my website And here is an example of the cars I deal with. This is a 1967 factory promo shot of a 67 Mustang JR electric kids version. They also made a gas powered version for adults in the same scale.
Foxer Posted November 18, 2009 Posted November 18, 2009 I was going to say that looked like a pretty big tail light .. and it IS! That is some buckets of resin for a mold like that. Maybe just make a template with one square and use that as a mask to spray or brush on the black. It might get tight close to the tail lights.
BigGary Posted November 18, 2009 Posted November 18, 2009 Last idea seems a little tedious, so try this. Spray the thing Chrome Silver then mask the grid and spray Satin Black. At 3/8 scale that should be a little easier. Gary
Harry P. Posted November 18, 2009 Posted November 18, 2009 There is no quick and easy way to do this, the problem is how you cast the piece. If you had cast the taillight bezels and the backing plate as separate pieces it would have much easier... the backing plate could have been sprayed chrome silver, and you could have actually vacuum-plated the bezels. But too late for that. The easiest way to get those little squares black now would be to first paint the whole piece silver, then "flow" some thinned flat black into each square by getting a brushful of paint and carefully "plopping" the paint into the center of each square... and just letting the paint flow and fill each individual square to its edges. Slow, yes. But I don't see a faster or easier way.
LUKE'57 Posted November 18, 2009 Posted November 18, 2009 (edited) Spray the whole thing black and then paint the chrome sections with Alclad using a semi-dry brush technique on the cross hatch parts with side strokes and the brush hanging of the edges at a 90 degree angle and laying flat on the ridge? Or maybe one of the small sponge brushes? Never used Alclad so I don't know what its brushed on properties are so I'm shooting in the dark here. Edited November 18, 2009 by LUKE'57
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now