Clear instrument panels

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

Good morning everyone,

Okey dokey…I picked up an Accurate Miniatures TBM-1C. I have to say that the kit looks like a whole lot of fun. That said, I am wondering how you folks go about dealing with clear instrument panels. I paint with acrylics so I prime everything but I can’t quite figure out what I would do with this part. I have a few ideas but was wondering what you good folks thought.

Thank you

Mike

2

I’ve only ever done one of the clear versions, but I wasn’t using acrylics at the time. I put a little drop of liquid masking on the face of the dial, then gave the thing a quick coat of dark gray, removed the liquid mask & carefully picked out the raised details afterwards. (Also gotta paint the back of the IP black.)

3

I’ve tried or heard of a few approaches:

  1. Brush painting. Obviously takes a steady hand.
  2. Masking the instrument faces with tape. Using a punch to make round masks works well.
  3. Use a liquid masker. I’ve not tried this myself.

Another idea going back to the old days would be to drill out the instument faces on the molded panel, paint the panel and then glue a clear piece on the back to simulate the glass over the intruments.

Mark

4

why are you trying to preserve the clear surfaces? just treat it like you would a normal styrene panel & use future/crystal clear for the faces …

5

My understanding of the clear panels is that the clear plastic holds much sharper detail when injection molded instead of the colored styrene. It’s the same reason why they mold 1/350 a/c in clear.

I believe the previous poster is correct. Just paint as you would any other panel My recollection of the AM TBF was that there isn’t anything to show through from behind in any case. Although I seem to recall that one of them has a reverse printed decal that went on the back side but I don’t think it’s this model. In that case mask the circles with tape as suggested earlier.

6

Can’t speak to the AM TBF specifically, but I built the AM SBD-3 Dauntless not too long ago, and it had a clear IP/rudder assembly. Mine came with gauge decals that you were supposed to apply behind the panel, but the scale thickness would’ve been ridiculous.

I had an Eduard PE set on hand, so I just shaved the panel down, primed it, painted it, and stuck the PE dials and panel facing on top.

If I were doing it without PE, I’d just prime it and then paint it up like any other panel.