I am working on my Tamiya P-47 Thunderbolt ‘Bubbletop’ and a couple of clear parts are wingtips lights. As instructed in directions, one is to be painted clear blue, the other clear red (I used Stop light metallic). I painted them as directed by carefully filling in the colors in the indented spots in the inside.
My question is how do you glue them onto the wingtips without ruining the paint? Do you add a coat of gloss on the inside? Would you try to put a piece of Bare Metal over the insides before gluing to wingtips? I was thinking of doing that to give it a silvery look yet maintain the blue and red lights I painted in to give it a realistic look. Thoughts or advice/suggestions?
if you want a more “real glue” then use the same clear parts glue that you used to attach canopies,Aleene’s Tacky Glue, Gator’s Grip glue, etc (or watch cement if that is your preference)
along with tarnship, using the same adhesive works great. sometimes after painting the insides, I use the same paint (enamels) or clear gloss/flat. I don’t care for the bare-metal technique, but some folks do…
The more I think about the bare metal application, the more I thought… hmmm… sticky is the dull side. I wonder. Oh well doesn’t hurt to take a look-see…
I paint the area on the wing that will be covered by the light a silver or aluminum. Then I glue the lens on with micro glaze or some other canopy/window cement. That stuff is not real strong, but for a tiny item like a light lens it is fine.
Personally, I’ll paint the inside edge (that one to be glued to the wingtip) with red or green (port or starboard) very lightly, and then behind it paint a bit of steel or silver. This gives the look of the reflector behind the lens. Then I’ll set the piece in as mentioned either with future or white glue (white glue dries transparent). As Don mentioned, you’re not really going for structural strength, just setting it in place. The white glue I use is Testors Clear Parts glue, probably not the greatest, but it works.
I’ve also been pondering better ways to do this. Thanks for asking the question, BlackSheep and to Rex, Humper, Don, and Andrew for some really good ideas. This one is getting filed in my tips and tricks folder for sure.
If they are bulbs, you can carefully drill a small indentation on the back of each light then use red and green paint to fill in the holes and wipe off the rest. If its a colored lens then paint the inside. To glue it use either Future or Testors Clear Parts Cement for a better bond.
Rather than paint, I usually color the inside of lenses and other transparent pieces with a colored magic marker. That stuff is usually quite translucent when used on plastic. In cases where the inside is a weird shape I have also used markers on the outside and it works great.
we’ve come a long way in materials at hand than we used to have,I have a couple of planes on the shelf yet that have the light areas painted in Testor’s Silver covered with clear GlossCoat tinted with food coloring (it took about 2 coats of tinted clear)