Painting light lenses (clear orange & red etc)

[nowinaminute]

Just looking for some advice/opinions, really.

I've been trying to paint the rear light clusters and indicator lenses on a couple of models with mixed success.

One of them is my bruiser clone and some others are WPL D12 and D42.

I started off going with the easiest way I had heard, which was to use sharpie pens. This actually worked very well for red, applying it to the inside of the lenses. The only problem was when I came to do the orange and after a few coats, it basically became red, too and didn't look orange at all. Doh!

So, back to the drawing board, I went with the next most popular option which was Tamiya Acrylic clears. Turned out the model shop didn't have those so I grabbed mr hobby aqueous which as you may know, is very similar in post aspects.

We all know such acrylics aren't particularly suited to hand brushing but between using a little thinner and painting on the inside, the bruiser clone lenses came out great, very happy with them.

The trouble started with the WPL units. Whereas the bruiser ones are relatively flat and just attach with screws, the WPL ones are "snap fit" and have clips on the rear side as well as raised edges meaning the back is like a shallow bowl or tank. Some of them have LED light sockets, too. I'm having trouble getting a nice finish with these for two reasons. The first one is that because of the clips etc on the back, you have to cover everything, otherwise, if, for example, you don't paint the clips, they will show through the front as clear plastic. The other issue I'm having is that because they have all sorts of shapes and angles etc, the paint inherently accumulates more heavily in some places than others, giving a very uneven finish and adding more and more coats doesn't seem to make the finish more consistent but instead, the areas with a heavier coverage start to look opaque.

I feel like I have two options left, really. The first one is to airbrush them, instead. I know this way will give a much more even and consistent coating but on the other hand, it's a lot of faffing for such tiny parts and will probably involve some wastage. 

The other choice is to hand paint the outside, instead. People prefer to paint the inside for better protection and to get than "lexan effect" where it looks nice on the outside even if it's crummy on the inside but I figure it should at least look better than hand painting the inside because it's a smooth uniform surface so I won't have the same accumulation problems.

Any of you guys been in a similar situation? Starting to wish I had just bought rattle cans now lol. But I must work with what I have.

Sorry for rambling on, it's just one of those small things I end up spending a lot of time thinking about.

Here's an image of some of the WPL lights just to show you what I'm working with:


 

[Willy iine]

I borrowed @Re-Bugged's recommendation and brush applied Tamiya's acrylic clear orange.. worked great imo.. looks real in person.

(turn signal on the Bug.. have a cola while you're at it  ) 

[nowinaminute]

1 minute ago, Willy iine said:

I borrowed @Re-Bugged's recommendation and brush applied Tamiya's acrylic clear orange.. worked great imo.. looks real in person.

(turn signal on the Bug.. have a cola while you're at it  ) 

That's essentially what I've been trying, only with Mr hobby equivalent paint (broadly speaking the same kind of stuff) the problem I'm having is the inside of the parts are so busy it's preventing the paint from being evenly distributed.

Did you paint the inside or outside? I know painting the outside will help but I'll lose the protective benefit.

[Willy iine]

4 minutes ago, nowinaminute said:

That's essentially what I've been trying, only with Mr hobby equivalent paint (broadly speaking the same kind of stuff) the problem I'm having is the inside of the parts are so busy it's preventing the paint from being evenly distributed.

Did you paint the inside or outside? I know painting the outside will help but I'll lose the protective benefit.

I painted the inside.  Basically a dab application until evenly spread, dry fully, repeat.  I don’t have any professional wowing tricks up my sleeve, sorry.  

[nowinaminute]

2 minutes ago, Willy iine said:

I painted the inside.  Basically a dab application until evenly spread, dry fully, repeat.  I don’t have any professional wowing tricks up my sleeve, sorry.  

Hmm yes. That's what I've been doing. Worked fine on the brusier type lights but the "topography" of the WPL parts makes it trickier to get an even result.

For example, this part sort of has a recessed "pool" in the middle and no matter what I try, the paint accumulates more heavily around the edges and accumulates at the bases of the two tabs, as well. The difference seems to be too great to even out with multple coats.

[Willy iine]

I see.. have you considered air brushing it on? 

[nowinaminute]

36 minutes ago, Willy iine said:

I see.. have you considered air brushing it on? 

Yes lol

1 hour ago, nowinaminute said:

I feel like I have two options left, really. The first one is to airbrush them, instead. I know this way will give a much more even and consistent coating but on the other hand, it's a lot of faffing for such tiny parts and will probably involve some wastage. 

 

[Willy iine]

14 minutes ago, nowinaminute said:

Yes lol

 

There you go!  I’d go with that.  

GL!!

[OoALEJOoO]

On 1/24 scale models my technique has been to apply the clear orange/red from the inside. Apply multiple coats as they dry. I've found this type of Tamiya paint is better to brush with minimal thinning, pretty much by dropping a blob and then spreading it (unless it's a very large area).

After this I would recommend backing, ideally with silver. Make sure the clear orange/red is very dry before painting silver. I normally would use X-11 Silver Chrome as thick (un-thinned) as possible to prevent mixing up with the clear red/orange. Without backing, the lens will look darker once you fit it into the car. While it is not attached to the car it will look bright, but once you fit it, light will not hit its back and will get darker.

[WillyChang]

12 hours ago, nowinaminute said:

the paint accumulates more heavily around the edges

soak up the excess paint with blotting paper straight after applying

[rich_f]

Some other ideas, but I don't know if they would work:

- tinting/dying the clear plastic. In a previous job I used to tint plastic spectacle lenses by dipping them in vats of hot dye, and the result is a uniform clear colour. It probably depends on the dye and plastic formulation, but might be an option

- clear tint film applied to the outside?

[topforcein]

when i did the lense on my bruiser i just did it free hand with thin brush and tamiya transparent paint in the jars

[nowinaminute]

I just ended up hand painting the outisde for now, worked much better because it's just a smooth surface. Gave the same sort of result as painting the bruiser style lights apart from being on the outside.

All the internal structure in those parts just doesn't lend itself well to hand painting clears.

Not the most robust solution but 3 coats and I had a perfectly acceptable result.

 

[SuperChamp82]

+1 for tinted lens films 

Google ‘Wrap Up Next RC film’ + there are loads of excellent colours / textures 

Not cheap but superb if you back the inner lens with translucent silver

LEDs look almost 1:1 👍