interior textures

[tubbs]

I am wondering what techniques, paints or other things you guys use to get different textures in your interiors? I have painted interiors flat colors, then rub them out with my finger, which give the look of leather, but that's about it. how would you achieve a burlap type look you see in street rods, or cloth inserts found on muscle cars. what about spraying at a distance to let the paint "dry" a little before it it's the seat for some texture. I know they sell faux (sp) spray paints, never used it, any good? how about package shelves, I sometimes use roughed up paper then paint it..... I don't know, what do you guys do?

[Ramfins59]

I usually have just used either flat paints, rubbed a bit to get a vinyl like sheen, or semi-gloss paints for the same effect. I've also used gloss paints if I couldn't find the right colors in flat paints, but then give them a coat of dullcoat to knock down the shine. For textured seats I use mostly flocking in various colors, and I've tried masking tape trimmed to size for a different texture. Tom Geiger had a good suggestion for simulating a burlap finish by using the napkins from Taco Bell glued down with thinned Elmer's Glue. Another Forum member suggested using a type of bandage wrapping cut to size.

I'm sure you will get a lot of other good ideas and suggestions from Forum members here.

[sjordan2]

You can also get real cloth for inkjet printers at hobby shops like Hobby Lobby, A.C. Moore, etc.

This example is several years old and has been stuffed in a file folder. The blue stripe at the left is an experiment in using T-shirt paint to indicate leather or vinyl piping. I'm told that Aleene's Tacky Glue is the best adhesive, but I'm sure there are others that won't bleed into the fabric.

See John Teresi's thread in Trucks, Under Glass, on the Mercedes Transporter.

Edited March 19, 2014 by sjordan2

[64SS350]

A can of spray I have (one of the Testors line) is called interior gray, it actually dries with a textured look

[Harry P.]

If you are talking about 1/24-25 interiors, in my opinion they are too small to worry about any texture other than carpet. Whatever texture you're talking about, like cloth seats, vinyl seats, etc. can be created very convincingly by using the correct level of gloss, not actual texture. Any cloth or leather texture would be literally invisible scaled down 24 or 25 times.

Take note of the various levels of gloss on the interior of a real car. Leather can vary from flat to shiny, same with vinyl. It's a matter of looking at photos of the real thing, and then doing your best to recreate the different levels of gloss to get a realistic interior.

About the only item that I think would actually have any visible texture in 1/24-25 scale would be carpeting, and even there, flocking is (in my opinion) grossly out of scale. Real automotive carpeting is almost always fairly smooth in real life, and again, if you scale that texture down 24 or 25 times, it virtually disappears.

A lot of people like to use flocking to simulate carpeting in scale, and most people, when they see it, are so impressed by the fact that there's real texture there that their brain fools them into thinking it looks "realistic," when in fact it's actually out of scale. A better choice for scale carpeting is embossing powder, IMO. And remember, carpet is not shiny, your model's "carpet" shouldn't be, either.

Of course, if you're talking large scale, like 1/12 or 1/8, there are various materials you can use to create realistic texture, like fine muslin or silk cloth, velour for carpeting, various vinyls to simulate leather, even actual thin leather, etc. But what looks "right" on a 1/8 scale model would be completely out of scale on a 1/24 scale model.

[Ace-Garageguy]

A very well reasoned response from Harry.

Edited March 19, 2014 by Ace-Garageguy

[Harry P.]

Truly a reasoned response from Harry.

You betcha!

[Tom Geiger]

Per Rich's comment, here's my burlap seat covers. It's a tan Taco Bell napkin that has been glued to the plastic seat. I didn't thin the clear glue or get the surface of the napkin wet. And I think it came out pretty well.

Here's one of the few interiors where I flocked the carpet. Sorry Harry. And I'm not really a big fan of flocking. Sorry Rich. I never flock anywhere near where I work on my models since the stuff is microscopic and I'd be getting it into paint jobs. And I don't like seeing model cars at shows with bits of flock that have been drawn to the glass by static electricity. The seat is painted with the Scale Motorsports interior sprays that give it a bit of texture. Then I just masked off the center and sprayed it with Testors flat brown.

I pretty much just want to give my interiors some color since they are inside the model. I hate black interiors that are just lost in a dark cavern.

and there's ways to add patterns. I have an old box of this business card with the embossed stripe. I use them for headliners, seat fabric centers and door panels.

Masking tape can done to replicate a pattern. The cheaper brands of tape have the most defined patterns for seats. This seat was wrapped in masking tape then sprayed. I had previously cut holes in the plastic seat, so I just poked the tape through from under for this effect. Add some cotton for stuffing.

Here's a pair of buckets going into my Chevette project. The real car had gray fake lambs wool seat covers. I think the flocking replicates that decently. I sprayed them with hair spray to keep the flock from escaping.

Everything in this interior was scratch built. The flooring is just paper from my printer, using a floor pattern from a doll house site that had printables. I got the Welcome mat there too. The bed... mattress is shaped balsa covered with a tissue. The pillow is also made from tissue. The covers were a painted napkin. You can use a lot of materials like this if you watch how big the embossed pattern in it is. The pattern on the blankets is a bit too large.

The couch is just balsa cushions cut to size and shaped. The covering is a fabric bit from Walmart. It's difficult to find patterns that are small enough to be convincing in scale. The fabric itself is a bit too large here. As Skip said, you can print your own fabric or get some from the doll house store. I plan on trying the printing method in the near future.

Hope these ideas help!

Edited March 20, 2014 by Tom Geiger

[tubbs]

If you are talking about 1/24-25 interiors, in my opinion they are too small to worry about any texture other than carpet. Whatever texture you're talking about, like cloth seats, vinyl seats, etc. can be created very convincingly by using the correct level of gloss, not actual texture. Any cloth or leather texture would be literally invisible scaled down 24 or 25 times.

Take note of the various levels of gloss on the interior of a real car. Leather can vary from flat to shiny, same with vinyl. It's a matter of looking at photos of the real thing, and then doing your best to recreate the different levels of gloss to get a realistic interior.

About the only item that I think would actually have any visible texture in 1/24-25 scale would be carpeting, and even there, flocking is (in my opinion) grossly out of scale. Real automotive carpeting is almost always fairly smooth in real life, and again, if you scale that texture down 24 or 25 times, it virtually disappears.

A lot of people like to use flocking to simulate carpeting in scale, and most people, when they see it, are so impressed by the fact that there's real texture there that their brain fools them into thinking it looks "realistic," when in fact it's actually out of scale. A better choice for scale carpeting is embossing powder, IMO. And remember, carpet is not shiny, your model's "carpet" shouldn't be, either.

Of course, if you're talking large scale, like 1/12 or 1/8, there are various materials you can use to create realistic texture, like fine muslin or silk cloth, velour for carpeting, various vinyls to simulate leather, even actual thin leather, etc. But what looks "right" on a 1/8 scale model would be completely out of scale on a 1/24 scale model.

WOW Harry, thanks for the "professor's" viewpoint. haven't really thought about the flocking that way. new carpeting was not shiny, just didn't register that the flocking was out of scale. I will continue to use flocking, just won't look at it the same way again. great reply, thank you.

... and after you get done reading Harry's response, you read his Groucho quote..... from one end to the other Harry.

Edited March 20, 2014 by tubbs

[tubbs]

Per Rich's comment, here's my burlap seat covers. It's a tan Taco Bell napkin that has been glued to the plastic seat. I didn't thin the clear glue or get the surface of the napkin wet. And I think it came out pretty well.

Here's one of the few interiors where I flocked the carpet. Sorry Harry. And I'm not really a big fan of flocking. Sorry Rich. I never flock anywhere near where I work on my models since the stuff is microscopic and I'd be getting it into paint jobs. And I don't like seeing model cars at shows with bits of flock that have been drawn to the glass by static electricity. The seat is painted with the Scale Motorsports interior sprays that give it a bit of texture. Then I just masked off the center and sprayed it with Testors flat brown.

I pretty much just want to give my interiors some color since they are inside the model. I hate black interiors that are just lost in a dark cavern.

and there's ways to add patterns. I have an old box of this business card with the embossed stripe. I use them for headliners, seat fabric centers and door panels.

Masking tape can done to replicate a pattern. The cheaper brands of tape have the most defined patterns for seats. This seat was wrapped in masking tape then sprayed. I had previously cut holes in the plastic seat, so I just poked the tape through from under for this effect. Add some cotton for stuffing.

Here's a pair of buckets going into my Chevette project. The real car had gray fake lambs wool seat covers. I think the flocking replicates that decently. I sprayed them with hair spray to keep the flock from escaping.

Everything in this interior was scratch built. The flooring is just paper from my printer, using a floor pattern from a doll house site that had printables. I got the Welcome mat there too. The bed... mattress is shaped balsa covered with a tissue. The pillow is also made from tissue. The covers were a painted napkin. You can use a lot of materials like this if you watch how big the embossed pattern in it is. The pattern on the blankets is a bit too large.

The couch is just balsa cushions cut to size and shaped. The covering is a fabric bit from Walmart. It's difficult to find patterns that are small enough to be convincing in scale. The fabric itself is a bit too large here. As Skip said, you can print your own fabric or get some from the doll house store. I plan on trying the printing method in the near future.

Hope these ideas help!

thanks Tom, I will use some of these ideas. thanks for sharing. do you have a link to that doll house stuff? thank you.

[astroracer]

I posted this in the Household materials thread.

Look at the textured lids off Yogurt, butter, Peanuts, what have you, in the grocery store. They are a thin foil and have the texture embossed right into them. I just opened a can of mixed nuts last night and that lid is about 5 inches in diameter and has a "button tuft" pattern. I'll get a pic tonight. This stuff glues down easily with Tacky Glue.

Mark

[Tom Geiger]

thanks Tom, I will use some of these ideas. thanks for sharing. do you have a link to that doll house stuff? thank you.

I can't find the site I'm thinking of, but try this link. There are many sites with doll house printables. Some of it is cool and some of it is downright hokey. There are many fabric, blanket and flooring patterns that work well. But you can salvage pieces of the hokey stuff. I didn't want to fold up cardboard appliances, but the controls on them worked good on my scratch built ones! and remember full size doll house is 1/12, half scale is 1/24.

https://www.google.com/#q=doll+house+printables&start=0