Painting Instrument Panels
spaceman
Any ideas on painting the instrument panels in aircraft, besides the
standard time patience and a small brush.
Thanks in advance.
J. Heilig
Nope, just patience and a small brush. That's the only trick I've
ever learned (besides the glass of beer on the workbench...that helps)
J
J. Heilig
J. Heilig
J. Heilig
spaceman wrote:
>
> Any ideas on painting the instrument panels in aircraft, besides the
> standard time patience and a small brush.
> Thanks in advance.
Nope, just patience and a small brush. And beer...beer helps...
J
Brian Cable
spaceman wrote:
>
> Any ideas on painting the instrument panels in aircraft, besides the
> standard time patience and a small brush.
(blue-green for modern Russian). Once dry, use a very sharp white
artist pencil and go over the raised detail. Not high-tech but
effective.
Art Murray
"J. Heilig" <jhe...@gate.net> wrote:
>spaceman wrote:
>>
>> Any ideas on painting the instrument panels in aircraft, besides the
>> standard time patience and a small brush.
>> Thanks in advance.
>
>
>
>J
I was afraid this would happen. The stress of being the ultimate
repository of all modelling information the group needs has finally
inflicted Jennings with the dreaded Uncontrollable Multiple Post Syndrome
(UMPUS). To fight this dreaded disease, please send your contributions
(cash) to:
Sally Struthers Crusade to Defeat UMPUS
c/o Art Murray
The Royal Bank of Extracurricular Air Charter Services
Governors Square
Grand Cayman, W.I.
It may be too late to help Jennings (Understatement of the Year) but who
knows where
where
where
where
where it may strike next?
Art
PS: Hurry! It's getting worse!
Stephen Tontoni
In article <324ECC...@erols.com>, Brian Cable <cab...@erols.com>
wrote:
> spaceman wrote:
> >
> > Any ideas on painting the instrument panels in aircraft, besides the
> > standard time patience and a small brush.
> > Thanks in advance.My best success is to paint the panel flat black or dark grey
> (blue-green for modern Russian). Once dry, use a very sharp white
> artist pencil and go over the raised detail. Not high-tech but
> effective.
Ever try one of those paint markers? I picked up a white one and a silver
one; I'm going to try that on my next project.
The other thing I like are stainless steel PE for instrument panels; you
paint the dials however you like, and then lightly rub it on a piece of
fine sandpaper taped to a piece of glass. Instant perfect steel bezels.
---Stephen Tontoni
BucholtzC
Well, this solution may smack of AMS... but here goes:
When I'm doing a control panel - kit or aftermarket - I usually give it a
base coat of the bezel color (with WWII U.S. types, usually a lightened
black like Floquil tire black or grimy black). After that's dried
THOROUGHLY, I go back and cover the entire panel with water-based paint,
usually a black that's been slightly lightened. When that's dried
THOROUGHLY, I take a cotton swab moistened with denatured alcohol and
remove the water paint from the high spots. If you can get your base coats
and you top coats within a shade, the effect is noce and subtle. If you're
working on a modern jet, with contrasting instrument faces and panel, then
it's easy. At that point, for small color details, you're back to the
"pointy brush and patience" technique.
As for the instruments, I've been using photo-negative style dials and
drilling the faces out, so painting kit instruments isn't my cup of tea
any more...
Hope this helps!
--Chris Bucholtz
Kevin Carroll
Art Murray wrote:
>
> "J. Heilig" <jhe...@gate.net> wrote:
> >spaceman wrote:
> >>
> >> Any ideas on painting the instrument panels in aircraft, besides the
> >> standard time patience and a small brush.
> >> Thanks in advance.
> >
> >
> >
> >J
>
> I was afraid this would happen. The stress of being the ultimate
> repository of all modelling information the group needs has finally
> inflicted Jennings with the dreaded Uncontrollable Multiple Post Syndrome
> (UMPUS). To fight this dreaded disease, please send your contributions
> (cash) to:
>
> Sally Struthers Crusade to Defeat UMPUS
> c/o Art Murray
> The Royal Bank of Extracurricular Air Charter Services
> Governors Square
> Grand Cayman, W.I.
>
> It may be too late to help Jennings (Understatement of the Year) but who
> knows where
> where
> where
> where
> where it may strike next?
>
> Art
>
> PS: Hurry! It's getting worse!
Actually, Art, I think it's more a case of the brew....that was four
glasses of beer in less than one minute by my count.
Sad........so much *potential*....
Kevin
Kevin Carroll
>
> > spaceman wrote:
> > >
> > > Any ideas on painting the instrument panels in aircraft, besides the
> > > standard time patience and a small brush.
> > (blue-green for modern Russian). Once dry, use a very sharp white
> > artist pencil and go over the raised detail. Not high-tech but
> > effective.
>
> Ever try one of those paint markers? I picked up a white one and a silver
> one; I'm going to try that on my next project.
>
> The other thing I like are stainless steel PE for instrument panels; you
> paint the dials however you like, and then lightly rub it on a piece of
> fine sandpaper taped to a piece of glass. Instant perfect steel bezels.
>
> ---Stephen Tontoni
Good tips. And, not to beat the "Future" thing to death, but a tooth-pick
applied drop of the acrylic floor finish in a countersunk or bezel-rimmed
instrument (ex. Tamiya's 1/48 Corsair) really adds a nice finishing
touch.
Kevin
Mike Settle
J. Heilig wrote:
>
> spaceman wrote:
> >
> > Any ideas on painting the instrument panels in aircraft, besides the
> > standard time patience and a small brush.
> > Thanks in advance.
>
> ever learned (besides the glass of beer on the workbench...that helps)
>
> J
Ah, Jennings, I'm disappointed. I thought that at least with you it
would have been a horn of Mead, lifted delicately to your lips by one of
the numerous scantily clad, luscious beauties about your castle that
leap to satisfy your merest whim.
Mike (I gotta serve myself) Settle
--
(Our problems are mostly behind us. What we have to do now is fight the
solutions. --Anon. )
Steve Collins
spaceman wrote:
>Any ideas on painting the instrument panels in aircraft, besides the
>standard time patience and a small brush.
>Thanks in advance.
About the only extra things I can suggest to you are using a finely
pointed white drawing pencil to simulate the markings in the
instrument faces and using Future or clear gloss paint to simulate the
class in the instruments. Other than that, it _is_ the standard
time, patience, and a small brush.
Steve
José Herculano
> Ever try one of those paint markers? I picked up a white one and a silver
> one; I'm going to try that on my next project.
Tried it, poor results. Hope you fare better.
--
José Herculano
Mark Cartagine
I've found that most of the kit-supplied instrument panels are pretty
inaccurate, so I substitute them with Reheat Model's generic instrument
decals, and an assortment of bezels on a piece of plastic sheet cut to
size.
Granted, the generic instrument decals may not be completely accurate,
but I can usually find a good match. They're also much more "in scale"
for God's scale aircraft, and since the bezels are separate, I can paint
them much more easily than would be the case with the original panel.
You can get these things from Meteor Productions or Aviation Usk - both
will give you pretty good deals.
Mark
Kekker
"J. Heilig" <jhe...@gate.net> writes:
>
Jeez, Jennings....
HOW many beers was that? I hereby propose we split the group - rec.models.
scale.drunk and rec.models scale.stoned!
Remember kids, if you drink, DON"T MODEL!!!!
Or post...
Kev
Martin Sagara
spaceman wrote:
: Any ideas on painting the instrument panels in aircraft, besides the
: standard time patience and a small brush.
: Thanks in advance.
If you're painting a modern aircraft cockpit (i.e. grey panel with
black instruments) then this will work.
1) Paint the panel the background grey color.
2) Prepare a wash of a couple of drops of black in some thinner (for acrylics)
or alcohol (for enamals). This prevents the wash from attacking the paint.
3) Brush the wash onto the panel to bring out the instrument details.
4) Paint the instrument faces with black.
5) Optional: prepare a dark grey wash and apply to the insturment faces.
6) Use a toothpick to place a drop of clear over the instrument dials.
The black wash outlines the instruments so you don't have to be as precise when
painting them.
Martin Sagara "Never before have so many,
Research Associate understood so little,
Wings Over The Rockies Air and Space Museum about so much"
Hangar No. 1, Old Lowry AFB
Denver, Colorado USA James Burke speaking about
(303) 360-5360 technology in "Connections"
http://www.abwam.com/air&space
msa...@rmii.com
La...@excaliber.com
"J. Heilig" <jhe...@gate.net> wrote:
>spaceman wrote:
>>
>> Any ideas on painting the instrument panels in aircraft, besides the
>> standard time patience and a small brush.
>> Thanks in advance.
>ever learned (besides the glass of beer on the workbench...that helps)
I always use a trick for the fine details. I use the end of a safety
pin to paint the tricky parts. And, I should say, it works quite
well.
Chris Douglas
J. Heilig wrote:
>
> spaceman wrote:
> >
> > Any ideas on painting the instrument panels in aircraft, besides the
> > standard time patience and a small brush.
> > Thanks in advance.
>
>
> J
Hey, I once heard Jennings Heilig likes to sip a beer
while painting his instrument panels.
Can anyone confirm this? :>=)
--
-----------------------------------------------------
Chris Douglas - cdou...@origin.ea.com
Production Designer/Animator - Origin Systems, Inc.
-----------------------------------------------------
Opinions expressed are my own.
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prosperity. It is the chief guarantor of our rights, and a government
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seizing control of the people for the good of the economy." --Bob Dole
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Scott Van Aken
>Any ideas on painting the instrument panels in aircraft, besides the
>standard time patience and a small brush.
Yes indeed. It is called Reheat instrument decals. They come in 72,
48 and 32 and sure beat any painting that I can do. Look a lot
better as well. I have been using them for the last three years and
am glad I did.
Scott
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aircraft photos, model reviews, and related stuff:
http://members.gnn.com/svanaken/index.htm
And now..back to reality, which is already in progress
Firesign Theater
Allan B. Crowther
spaceman wrote:
>Any ideas on painting the instrument panels in aircraft, besides the
>standard time patience and a small brush.
>Thanks in advance.
Yup ... that's about it, with one small addition. Have you ever
noticed that when you use one of those teeny-tiny brushes, the paint
dries before you can even touch the brush to the panel? Try using
artists oils. They take forever to dry, which gives you lots of time
to use one of those "0000000000" brushes and the oil paint allows you
to form a needle-sharp point on the brush - very handy for those tiny
details. Don't wory about drying time for the painted panel, though.
The amounts of paint actually applied will dry fairly quickly - within
a couple of days, or less. Experiment to be sure - oil paint brands
vary in consistency.
Cheers, Here's a health to good company, and one to my Lass
Allan Crowther Lets drink and be merry, all out of one glass
Dartmouth Lets drink and be merry, all grief to refrain
Nova Scotia For we may or might never all meet here again
all...@fox.nstn.ca
Stephen Tontoni
In article <325170...@origin.ea.com>, Chris Douglas
<cdou...@origin.ea.com> wrote:
> J. Heilig wrote:
> >
> > spaceman wrote:
> > >
> > > Any ideas on painting the instrument panels in aircraft, besides the
> > > standard time patience and a small brush.
> > > Thanks in advance.
> >
> > Nope, just patience and a small brush. And beer...beer helps...
> >
> > J
>
> Hey, I once heard Jennings Heilig likes to sip a beer
> while painting his instrument panels.
>
> Can anyone confirm this? :>=)
Problem is when he started to clean his itty bitty brushes in his beer
instead of mineral spirits.
The beer takes on an interesting enamel-like bouquet. It's unpleasant yet
sassy in an esoteric way.
---Stephen Tontoni
Robert W. Hall
At Larry G.'s Strictly Stock website I noticed an item that really
piqued my interest-- in upcoming releases, I saw listed a 1:25 resin
'78 Ford LTD 4-door from All American Models. As a land yacht
enthusiast, I'm excited, to say the least. Anyone have any details on
this?
Though the '75-'78 with its park bench bumpers is not my favorite LTD
styling-wise, it would be great to build and paint in one of Ford's
popular '70s colors such as olive green, dark brown or dark blue..
I'd love to see a '71 or '72 LTD (I love the looks of these) or an
'80s LTD Crown Vic in 1:25..
..or a '71-73 GM B-body such as the wonderful '71-72 Riviera, or a
Caprice/Impala/Catalina/LeSabre/Delta 88.. or one of the downsized '77
Impalas/Bonnevilles/etc..
More land yachts! More land yachts! More land yachts! More land yachts!
..patienly waiting for the re-issued '70 Impala and the new '65 and
'67 Impalas..
Robert Hall ;-) rh...@eecs.umich.edu
Don Knecht, Jr.
This a response to the above post requesting the ways instrument
panels are painted, since the original author does not like the tiny
paintbrush method. Most of the responses were that this is how it is done
by others. I would like to add how I do instrument panels and the
accompanying switches, dials, etc.
The following method works best with instrument panels with good
raised detail (not necessarily overstated, but distinct detail). The panel
is first airbrushed the base color of the panel and a black wash applied
(actually I use what I call a controlled wash--but that is another topic).
From here, drybrush the panel to bring out the highlights. After this is
completed satisfactorily, I use black ink in the faces of the dials, which
produces a semi-gloss black that looks better than enamel or acrylic black
paint. Don't be afraid to use a liberal amount as the ink settles alot
when it dries. Once the dials are complete, use a white Berol Prismacolor
pencil to gently bring out the detail on the instrument faces. This is
done similar to a drybrushing and has the advantage that if you mess up, it
can be gently rubbed off and redone. From here, the instrument dials are
made to appear glass covered with either white glue, epoxy or future floor
wax or whatever suits your needs. Unfortunately, however, this does not
preclude the painting of different colored dials/switches on the front and
side panels, throttle quadrant, etc., but it helps cut hand painting to a
minimum.
If you like this idea, or try it and make good use of it, let me know.
If you would like to know more information regarding the controlled wash
method, let me know as well. Enjoy.
Don Knecht
donk...@aol.com
Tom Wallenius
In article <AE79FA929...@lafayette-pp2.access.sinet.slb.com>,
donk...@aol.com (Don Knecht, Jr.) wrote:
This isn't painting, but Eduard photo etched sets usually have
instrument panels.I have just used two Eduard instrument panels.
Conclusion: Eduard can't be beat. They look amazingly real, even up close.
The photoetched accesory parts usually cost 6-12 dollars.There's a lot
more to the sets than the instrument panel. Some have seats, and
footpedals and all sorts of neat add ons, but the instrument panels alone
are worth the money. The sets are available for most models. For example,
I just ordered a set from VLS for a 1/48 Fiat G.50.
You get a photoetched instrument panel with all the dials being nothing
but round holes. Paint it. Then you get a photo on film of the black
instrument faces with all dial lettering and markings being clear. (The
film is all in one piece so that all the faces match the holes). Glue the
film behind the instrument panel. Finally, paint the back of the film
white. The white will show through all the very fine clear spots. When you
look at the final product you will be amazed. The photetched insrument
panel physically portrays the switches and other items, the film gives the
gloss apearance of glass, and the black dials with the white showing
through look like, well, instruments. On a 1/48 instrument panel I can
nearly read the gauges!
--
Tom Wallenius
Alexandria, VA
wall...@mailffx.laser.net
Brooks Moses
Robert W. Hall wrote:
>
> At Larry G.'s Strictly Stock website I noticed an item that really
> piqued my interest-- in upcoming releases, I saw listed a 1:25 resin
> '78 Ford LTD 4-door from All American Models. As a land yacht
> enthusiast, I'm excited, to say the least. Anyone have any details on
> this?
Just got a copy of their catalog yesterday, and it lists this kit as
available. The cost, if I recall correctly, is $65, or $60 without a chassis
(use the chassis from the Hobby Heaven reissue of the AMT '70 Ford) This is
essentially a complete kit -- I don't remember exactly, but I think all you
need to supply are wheelbacks and perhaps a few other bits.
Send them an SASE for a catalog and ordering info -- don't quote me on these
prices!
- Brooks
Brooks Moses
Brooks Moses
Sorry for the double post -- I hit the send button, and then hit the stop button
to cancel the send, as I wasn't quite finished.... Apparently this stupid
browser doesn't realize stop means "STOP" -- not "send it anyway and then let me
edit it".
- Brooks
Brooks Moses
Don Knecht, Jr. wrote:
> The following method works best with instrument panels with good
> raised detail (not necessarily overstated, but distinct detail). The panel
> is first airbrushed the base color of the panel and a black wash applied
> (actually I use what I call a controlled wash--but that is another topic).
Please elaborate! What do you mean by this, and why is it useful.... No fair
just leaving us hanging like that.
- Brooks