So I’ve never painted much larger than tiny headlights with clear acrylics and now have these larger pieces to paint. What are some techniques to get a good finish if doing by hand brushing? It’s the part labeled ‘ D’.
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Hand painting transparent colours can be pretty tough to get consistent coverage. Like you, I’ve only done small items. As I haven’t done anything like this, these are only untested ideas that popped into my head.
1 - Mix some food colouring with “Future” or whatever else you use for clear parts and dip them like you would to clear an aircraft canopy. Perhaps you could mix the Tamiya with the Future instead. This would most likely require multiple dips to get the colour you need.
2 - Just dip the whole part in the Tamiya clear and then set it aside to dry. I don’t know if this would allow the paint to adhere properly and consistently.
Both of these techniques would allow you to remove the paint easily if it doesn’t work out as planned. Hopefully someone else here may have other (better) ideas.
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Good idea on future & mixing. Guessing they are compatible materials? Do you know best way to strip clear part ( without fogging it up )if process doesn’t work?
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Windex removes future without damaging the plastic, you may have to soak it for a bit. It should also remove the Tamiya acrylic paint as well, though I haven’t tried this.
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That looks a bit larger than anything I’ve painted, but I have had to brush paint the Tamiya clear red and clear blue a number of times. It’s a challenge but the two things I’ve found that helped are: thin the paint (maybe 50/50) so that it’s not too goopy and flows better, and avoid going over the same spot twice since that tends to make it bunch up. A couple of thinned coats works better than one thicker coat in my experience. Hope this helps!
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Whatd you thin it with? Tks!
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I use Tamiya X20A Thinner
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I’ve airbrushed the clears on. Needs to be thin, pretty good. Several light coats.. sprayed on the inside of the of part.
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Agree, these look too big to be hand brushed.
Steve
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Yikes! Ive never AB the clear paint. Im not so sure i can do that…. Do you think dipping with it being thinned is possible??
Orrrr, maybe ill have to branch out
Ughh. No way? Think itll get goopy doing that?
Possibly. It would have to be pretty thin. You may have to dip it more than once.
had a little down time to try dipping today - tamiya clear red mixed with pledge floor care. Im not sure the pledge & red clear are compatible - when I added some red to the pledge cup, the paint congealed somewhat. I mixed by hand at first and the result was a red coloring with streaky blobs floating in the cup. I then mixed with a mixer and waited for the bubbled to settle. still some clumps in the bottom and floating. I tested own a clear piece of sprue and I couldn’t see the red at all! I waited a bit and dipped a few more times and the red on the sprue was invisible! So plan B - whatever that is…
Wow, I’m surprised that didn’t really show any colour at all. I thought it would have some result. I know you said you wanted options for brush painting, but maybe you’ll have to spray it after all.
If you do paint it, brush or spray, make sure you do in inside and not outside. This way, you still have the smooth gloss of plastic on the outside for the final finish.
Good luck with your next try.
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Here’s a crazy idea. Simply pour the clear red (not mixed with anything) into the dome. Swirl it around, gently!. Pour it back into the bottle. Sit the dome, round side up, on some toothpicks to keep it elevated above the surface. You may have to spray it, if that doesn’t work. It’s easy to spray clears.
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Done. Thinned a little and poured inside and drained out and left overnight, rim down on mat to settle. A little gooey around the rim at spots and a few bubbly areas in one dome. But ill have to work on this when i get back in town later this month. Now drying more this this:
I noticed the bubbling shortly after 1st swirl and tried to “remove” them by adding a tad more paint and swirling again hoping they would be grabbed and settle to the bottom rim - but no cigar ! We’ll see.
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