What to do with chrome headlights?

[envious8420]

specifically the ones from the fox body mustangs from amt.

these things are hideous.

what can i do with them, to make them a bit more realistic other than turning them into "light covers"?

[Foxer]

I have always covered chrome headlight lens with thinned Elmers White Glue. It tones down the chrome and is a simple thing to improve the look.

[jeffs396]

You can always drill out the offending unrealistic headlight & glue a chromed bucket behind, use a new lense & transform it completely. I modded a Scout grill this way...

[Scalper]

I have used Aluminum paint.

[Casey]

I think it's best to remove the chrome plated, molded-in headlamps, then replace them with clear lenses. The round molded in headlamps have no visual depth since they are convex rather than concave.

I remember Pat Covert mentioning MV lenses in his SAE column years ago. Has anybody tried them?

[MrObsessive]

I did that for years & it does work well & looks really good, but once I read Bill Geary's technique with the pearl white nail polish, saw the photo & tried it, it looks much more realistic, giving the "glimmer" that the glass lense of a 1/1 headlight has.

Both ways are simple but very effective means of making a chrome headlight look better.

Mark, here is the car you're talking about.................

Nevermind the unfoiled emblem! It has since been foiled since this pic was taken.

Actually, the paint is an RC color called Faskolor Pearl White. It's a water based acrylic, and I find it to be very realistic if one doesn't want to go through trouble of drilling out the chrome headlight, finding a suitable lens, etc.

[Steven Zimmerman]

I drill out the headlights,then use an appropriately sized piece of polished aluminium tubing to simulate the chrome headlight trim ring,and place a parts box headlight bucket inside it with a clear lens.....I 'scour' parts boxes at swap meets for clear headlight lenses; you'd be surprised at how many differant diameters of headlight lenses that are available.........'Z'

[Zoom Zoom]

Honestly none of the painted headlights shown look very realistic to my eyes. You have to look at a real headlight to get an idea what colors to use for the reflections and depth. Just covering them with a single different tone/color just gives a bit of contrast. The Fox Mustang headlights as mentioned are worse. You can't use one color of paint over the whole thing and get anywhere near what they'll really look like.

If I don't have a clear lens/reflector handy (that is going to be the best solution; Mark's idea is by far the best), I'll render the headlights a lot like you see the stickers/decals for drag cars and stock cars. That will look a lot more realistic than thinned out Elmers, or other single tone colors. Seriously...look at a real headlight, get your paint, pens, small brushes out and copy what you see on a real headlight. It works quite well with a little practice. A little white, light blue, earth tone, a dark tone to show the horizon line, and some white or silver cross-hatch lines over that. Don't shy away from using a 2D rendering technique on a 3D surface.

[Foxer]

That's easy for you to say, Bob, but Art Center rejected the stick figure on my application.

Blending colors as you mention is not that simple a task for most of us. I understand what you're saying, but the execution is where I think I'd fall down.

I'd love to see a few images of how it looks.

[Zoom Zoom]

That's easy for you to say, Bob, but Art Center rejected the stick figure on my application.

Blending colors as you mention is not that simple a task for most of us. I understand what you're saying, but the execution is where I think I'd fall down.

I'd love to see a few images of how it looks.

I'm not at home at the moment, I'll look through my Fotki at some point to find a couple models where I did a quick & dirty version that I mentioned. You can get pretty close with doing a bit of careful scribbling with a black pigment liner pen (same one I use for panel lines, grilles, etc) and a few quick dabs of slightly watered-down white paint.

This one I just scribbled a little with the black pigment liner, making a horizon line across the middle, and bringing it up the sides a bit.

These both have scribbled black horizon lines added down the middle. Gives the illusion of depth...add a little white wash, don't have to be too careful, and it will look even better.

Look closely at this one, I did a little rendering on the headlamps to make them look better. This was done w/paint and transparent colors.

A little more of the pigment liner work on this one (hard to see at this angle)

Edited March 26, 2010 by Zoom Zoom

[envious8420]

wow Bob those lights on that 454SS very realistic.

[Foxer]

Those DO look really good!

[Casey]

On a related note; if anyone builds one of the older Monogram muscle cars, (such as the 70 GTX), or the recent diecast based Revell kits, (like the 67 Mustang), which has the molded in post on the back of the headlights, & a matching hole in the headlight bucket to locate that post in, here's a tip to make that look much more realistic.

I paint the back of the post silver before gluing it into the headlight bucket. That helps to make the post "disappear" & makes the headlights look much better. I learned this from a Monogram 70 Challenger T/A build that Tim Boyd did for SAE several years ago. It improves the look of those headlights 100%!

Even better is to use the headlamp lenses found in the Revell '67 Coronet R/T kit- they drop right into the GTX's headlights buckets, have no 'posts', and do have the cast in lens texture.

Replacing the chromed H/Ls is much easier when they're round I'll freely admit.

[Zoom Zoom]

On a related note; if anyone builds one of the older Monogram muscle cars, (such as the 70 GTX), or the recent diecast based Revell kits, (like the 67 Mustang), which has the molded in post on the back of the headlights, & a matching hole in the headlight bucket to locate that post in, here's a tip to make that look much more realistic.

I paint the back of the post silver before gluing it into the headlight bucket. That helps to make the post "disappear" & makes the headlights look much better. I learned this from a Monogram 70 Challenger T/A build that Tim Boyd did for SAE several years ago. It improves the look of those headlights 100%!

That doesn't always get rid of the shadow effect from the peg when it goes into the receiver hole. If it's still too visible:

Remove the peg completely; carefully nip it off and polish the area (this takes some practice, a tiny round Dremel bit helps), then put a bit of foil over the receiver hole, and glue the lens in place with any white glue or clear paint that dries invisibly.

[MikeMc]

On the pin style lenses....a drop of clear blue will give the HID look.....

[Jon Cole]

I don't have enough spare headlights. I wish we could get someone in the aftermarket to clear cast a bunch of headlights.

I tried finding photos that I could trim, size, and print. Still need to work on this. The idea would be to cut them out (first cover with shiny Scotch Magic Tape) and glue in place.

Funny cars have "printed" headlights, and look convincing.

The item below has some hope for headlight, the trim ring is "okay".

And of course, MV lenses.

[Jon Cole]

Another thing I like to do is use the side of the felt tip of a Sharpie marker to edge a headlight lens (before assembly). I think it gives depth to the look.

Edited March 27, 2010 by Spyder

[camaroman]

Another thing I like to do is use the side of the felt tip of a Sharpie marker to edge a headlight lens (before assembly). I think it gives depth to the look.

Man, THAT does add depth to them ... thanks for the tip!!!!

[sjordan2]

If you have a clear lens, why not find a suitable photo of a headlight and make a clear decal out of it to the proper size? The white highlights would show through to any chrome below. You might be able to make a clear lens by using the Squadron Thermaform process for duplicating clear parts (originally intended for duplicating aircraft canopies; also works well for copying windshields and other glass).

http://www.squadron.com/reviews/review-sq9003.htm

PS: You can do the same thing with almost any thin, clear sheet and you can use a heat gun. This process isn't foolproof for anything with fine detail, though I did make a reasonable reproduction of a quarter.

Edited March 27, 2010 by sjordan2