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alecras234

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Hi my name's Ash and i live in north wales.  I'm building a 1 35 airfix mini cooper s,  i've nearly finished the build but im a the stage now where im to add the clear parts.  The head lights and rear lights are next, I'm a little apprehensive because i don't want to ruin my build at this stage.  Do i paint the headlights, if so where on the headlights or do i put paint on the model where the headlight/brake lights go?

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I would suggest that you paint the back of the headlights with silver enamel or, better still, use a liquid chrome Molotow pen.  For the tail lights, try painting the outsides with translucent acrylic orange/red, as appropriate.  Attach the lights with Kristal Klear, and then seal them in place with gloss acrylic varnish.

Looking forward to seeing the results.

Trevor

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Do i paint whole of the back of the clear part?   This guy is doing the same model as me but i can't tell where he's painting on the front and rear lights.  e starts painting the parts at 14:48

 

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I see what you mean.  A commentary would have been useful.

Paint all the back of the headlights.  This recreates the effect of the glass in front of the reflectors at the back of the light unit.  For the rear lights I still suggest painting the outside with translucent paints.  If in doubt, have a look at a real Mini.  If the colour looks to be on the surface, paint the outside.  If the colour looks to be "deep" inside the lights, paint the interiors.

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Hi thanks for your help.   I brush paint with acrylics, so what you're saying is to paint the back of the headlight,  should i paint the back area a watery grey or should i leave the center of the headlight unpainted?

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It's hard to see what's going on in that video, but I found a build/review elsewhere.   It seems to me the only part of the clear headlight lenses you should paint is the trim around the outside.   There is a separate headlamp part to glue into the body - paint that silver, with a drop of amber for the indicator lamp.  The clear lens is then fitted over the painted headlamp bucket.

 

For the rear lenses, paint the outside as klubman01 suggested.   Don't paint the inside, like the guy in the video, otherwise it'll look like the lenses are 3" thick.

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I'd second the above. Your best bet is to paint the front and rear reflectors silver (or even better the Molotow chrome pen mentioned above if you have it) - this is the nearest you'll get to how a real car light is structured. I've tried both inside and outside for adding clear red to the tail-light lens, and in my opinioin six97s is correct in saying to paint the outside rather than the inside unless the tail-light is completely enclosed by 'metal' on all sides (i.e. you can't see the edge of the clear plastic when built).

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I take it you're looking at putting clear varnish onto the clear plastic? If it was me, I would leave the clear as is as much as possible - if there's any small scratches on there you're probably better off polishing them out than varnishing the window. In terms of whether it will react, I don't know but would expect probably not. If you want to see how it will look and whether it will work, it's probably worth trying on some sprue first.

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If you want to clear your windscreen have a look at AK Gauzy Glass Coat.  I have used the Gauzy gloss on their metals and it is pretty good.  It might also be self levelling, so will brush well.

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23 hours ago, alecras234 said:

what varnish should i use?

If you're talking about varnishing the clear parts, I've heard that quite a few people use Pledge Clear (now called Revive It) but I have no experience of varnishing clear parts at all.

 

If you're asking about clear coat on paints, there's lots of options. Personally I use Revell if I'm going to be covering decals (beware it tends to go soft with handling so best handled with gloves after application) or Tamiya if not covering decals as it's tougher (but tends to eat decals if not very careful)

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