Howdy y’all,
So my plan is to do a diorama for my old unit, the only problem is I was stationed at a heavy base so, the only options I have for models are 1/144th scale and I have to have the vehicle 3D printed. Since the paint is easy (who woulda thought painting Fuel trucks gloss green was a bright idea), the other issue is the windshield (windscreen for our UK friends on here), what would be the best color to mimicking glass?
There are a couple of venders of window material for models. It is like a thick white glue, but not sure of the chemistry. It is white like white glue, but dries transparent. Testors and Micro both make it. I think the Micro stuff is called Micro Glaze (too lazy to go down to my basement to check).
It should work fine for that scale- I use it a lot on 1:144 airliners.
Yes, but your airliner fuselage is hollow, the OP’s 3d printed vehicles are not, so he is forced to paint the windows (if I’m interpreting this right)
I remember making an HO resin (also solid, not hollow) pickup truck in HO scale long ago. I painted the windows black and on the front one painted two or three tiny white hashes. I saw it in a book somewhere back then, it was surprisingly effective. I guess it fools the eye and mimicks a reflection or something like that.
I sure wish I could attach the picture but the truck (it was my favorite, of course) was a casuality of the domestic reoganization.
That would be correct. I might be able to contact the vendor to make the windshield part hollow.
Another thought might be to do it black and give it a coat of the Micro or Testors…Micro is Crystal Clear and there is another out there, Pacer Formula 560. Is a canopy glue that dries clear. Is a heavy bodied white, like Elmers.
For airliners, I paint the windows black, on the inside, before assembling the fuselage. Or I paint them from the outside, after I have main assembly complete and have laid down the base colors. I’d do the same thing with your vehicle’s windows.
Ah, so there is no space behind it to paint black? Then what you can do is paint it with virtually any color of gloss paint. If the windshield is almost vertical, I would use gloss black. If it is at an angle, one can paint it two colors, one sky blue and the other green, with the top blue and bottom part green, but fading the line between to make it gradual in the vertical direction.