Painting on clear plastic

[Axineton]

So I’m getting close to attaching a canopy or cover on my Starweaver and the book I’m using for the paint guide has pics of the canopy being painted. I’m just wondering do you prime the bit in these pics or just paint straight on them? 
 

[Bung]

Depends in the look you want.

Personly i would mask the canopy and do primer and colors like the Rest of the vehicle.

[Axineton]

Well that pic is the actual guide I’m using and going with mate. 

[Bung]

Ah.

Well i mask the parts which should stay clear and fix the canopy with some sort of Blue Tac and Just paint everything with an airbrush.

[Lovecraft0110]

Hi, I would recommend using a clear lacquer paint (like Tamiya Clear Smoke) to tint it. It will look much cooler.

[Imren]

Hi, I would recommend using a clear lacquer paint (like Tamiya Clear Smoke) to tint it. It will look much cooler.

If you do this, then make sure you use an airbrush and thin the Tamiya clear paint with X20A thinner, 1 part paint and 2 parts thinner. Then you do test runs on pieces of clear blister pack plastic to get the feel and hang of it (if you never did it before), During your test runs you will discover that:

• You will need to keep some distance (15-20 cm depending on nozzle size and air pressure) in order to avoid paint pooling and running.
• You will need to make 5-10 passages to slowly build up the clear paint layer in order to get a consistent equal tint across the canopy.

 

So to sum up, use airbrush, thin the paint more than what your normally do. Keep distance to avoid pooling, do many sweeps with the airbrush.

 

Brush streaks of clear paint shows much more on clear plastic than opaque paint on regular plastic. I strongly advise you to use an airbrush. And remember that you only have one shot at this on the actual canopy. You cannot fix/clean up a mess-up of pooling/spidering once it occurs, your will just mess it up even more. So keep distance with airbrush and thin the paint it with alcohol for fast drying (X20A if your use Tamiya clear paints). I also strongly advise your to do several practice runs on pieces of clear blister pack plastic to build up the skill before doing the actual canopy.

 

Good luck!

Edited June 2, 2020 by Imren

[Axineton]

 

Hi, I would recommend using a clear lacquer paint (like Tamiya Clear Smoke) to tint it. It will look much cooler.

If you do this, then make sure you use an airbrush and thin the Tamiya clear paint with X20A thinner, 1 part paint and 2 parts thinner. Then you do test runs on pieces of clear blister pack plastic to get the feel and hang of it (if you never did it before), During your test runs you will discover that:

• You will need to keep some distance (15-20 cm depending on nozzle size and air pressure) in order to avoid paint pooling and running.
• You will need to make 5-10 passages to slowly build up the clear paint layer in order to get a consistent equal tint across the canopy.

 

So to sum up, use airbrush, thin the paint more than what your normally do. Keep distance to avoid pooling, do many sweeps with the airbrush.

 

Brush streaks of clear paint shows much more on clear plastic than opaque paint on regular plastic. I strongly advise you to use an airbrush. And remember that you only have one shot at this on the actual canopy. You cannot fix/clean up a mess-up of pooling/spidering once it occurs, your will just mess it up even more. So keep distance with airbrush and thin the paint it with alcohol for fast drying (X20A if your use Tamiya clear paints). I also strongly advise your to do several practice runs on pieces of clear blister pack plastic to build up the skill before doing the actual canopy.

 

Good luck!

 

That’s way too much effort for a little window on a Starweaver I’m just going to paint the rim so I can move on to the next thing in my queue. 

[Lovecraft0110]

I don't even know what a Starweaver is, but I did this on some clear plastic for my Warhound's "eyes" on the first try with zero issues.

[Axineton]

Harlequin vehicle mate. I’m just gonna paint the bit in the pic at the top and that’s that. I’m not faffing around with masking it all off and airbrushing although I probably would if I was a pro painter but alas I’m not.

 

Thanks everyone for the tips much appreciated. 

[Bryan Blaire]

You could also use Contrast paints thinned with the Contrast medium and paint that on with the brush if the surface is adequately cleaned if you wanted to tint the interior of the canopy without resorting to airbrushing or other stuff.

 

You can use a brush on primer as well to just paint the rim of the canopy - it will apply fine on a clear canopy piece.

 

I realize that this is all frowned upon by those that want to “take it to the next level”/airbrush, etc., but I find for gaming pieces it works just fine. Personally, I have a hard time investing the money for something I wouldn’t use beyond base coating anyway, because I don’t like the appearance of what most folks with airbrushes push out, so it’s not for me.

[Axineton]

Horses for courses mate. No worries and great suggestion by the way. 

[happyslugger]

I tried tinting the spare one that came with mine Axineton but didn't workout well.  I have just applied the screen as is and will use some black to paint the rim with my brush...Just need some paints to turn up.

[Spacecow]

When using a brush, I’d suggest applying a varnish first. You want to have a underlayer the paint sticks too. Then you can apply tints ( ink/ glaze / contrast paint/ smtg transparent.) without it being so streaky.

[Axineton]

That’s good to know slugger thanks mate. 
 

Spacecow cheers good idea I reckon.