Realistic lights

mike_espo · Post by **mike_espo** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 6:30 pm

What color paint should you use if you are trying to replicate "lights"?

I just bought the 1/1400 PNT NX-01 and it is solid resin, so no lighting is possible.

thanks

Post by **TER-OR** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 8:06 pm

I like to use white base and overcoat with clear red, green, blue, yellow whatever and then coat with Future. You can use silver, too, depending on the effect you need.

G-man · Post by **G-man** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 8:49 pm

who ever said solit resin cannot be lit, just look at nicolassagan doing the resin Nebulon B medical frigate. sawed it in half, and a few other pieces, then hollowed it out and added fiber optics..

...it is doable, you just have to think about it

G-man

Gerry · Post by **Gerry** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 10:55 pm

Clear colors over silver base.
Silver or gloss white... I like silver but white is quite nice.

BERT aka MODEL MAKER · Tue Apr 19, 2011 1:46 am

I don't know how big or small your model is or what the windows look like
if you want lit windows how about buying relfective tape used for vehicles ? It comes in white, red, yellow and silver. you could cut out the small shapes you need to fit what you want to do and as soon as a light source hits it, it will look like it is illuminated. if you took a picture with a flash, it would look like the ship has bright interior lights.

mike_espo · Post by **mike_espo** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 10:22 am

Thanks! Ill use chrome silver enamel for the base.

Thinking of using AlcladII aluminum for the overall color. Not so sure which shade to use though...

Post by **TER-OR** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 8:00 pm

do a test with both white and silver. See which looks best for your subject. For big lights, I think white will.

Testors Model Master Chrome is my go-to for this purpose. It has a mirror shine and no visible grains. Plus, it's easily hand-brushed so you can just do points.

mike_espo · Post by **mike_espo** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 9:19 pm

TER-OR wrote:do a test with both white and silver. See which looks best for your subject. For big lights, I think white will.

Testors Model Master Chrome is my go-to for this purpose. It has a mirror shine and no visible grains. Plus, it's easily hand-brushed so you can just do points.

Yes. I have found that also.

nkuzmik · Post by **nkuzmik** » Tue May 31, 2011 9:22 am

What about mixing a white base coat with some Krylon reflective paint. Follow that with a thin, almost translucent color coat. Finally top it off with several layers of clear coat.

Several layers of clear over the reflective base should create some depth. Kind of like painting the eyes of a Gundam model from the back of the part.