darktremere Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 Ok, I have a question that I'm hoping someone can help me with. I want to paint so transparent plastic pieces so they are a different color, but I would like them to still be transparent, would the clear paints work for this? or is this not possible? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awong Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 Do you have a test sprue of clear plastic to practice on? You could even test on the bubble plastic packaging that comes with a mini. Thinned paint can be very transparent, that's how we get nice transitions...with thin applications of paint. I would test before doing it on the actual piece though. -AW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inarah Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 The Clear paints are somewhat translucent but they are not really clear in the sense that you can see through them. They are "clear" in that they are true, bright colors. You can put thin layers of any Reaper paints on the plastic to color it, the trick is going to be finding the right mix so that it is transparent but not so watery that it won't adhere to the plastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darktremere Posted October 2, 2010 Author Share Posted October 2, 2010 Thank you both for the tips and advice. I'll try thinning some paint and using it on some test peices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haldir Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 try Tamiya's line of clears, Pretty nice paints that clean up with water. I use their dedicated thinner as they are a alcohol based acrylic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darktremere Posted October 3, 2010 Author Share Posted October 3, 2010 I will, thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnight Lurker Posted October 4, 2010 Share Posted October 4, 2010 I had success by using inks. I "primed" the clear plastic with Testor's Dullcoat (which is in essence a clear primer), painted on thinned Windsor Newton Inks and then sealed it with brush on gloss varnish. It gave a really nice effect, very stained glass looking. Lookie here good luck, Jen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Lead Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 Cool! Nice effect on the stained glass... I'm coming a little late into this discussion, but for future reference Pebeo is also a good alternative for painting clear plastic: Pebeo Porcelaine I've used it plastic and even soft vinyl. (I recently added a flexible LED light strip to the 60's aftermarket tachometer in my muscle car. The white LEDs were way too harsh and didn't match the green interior lights anyway, so I painted Pebeo on the soft vinyl strip. Stuck like glue and now it's got a much mellower glow... ) Take care, Laszlo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darktremere Posted October 5, 2010 Author Share Posted October 5, 2010 Midnight Lurker....That turned out really nice, and I was wondering how to go about "priming" the plastic before painting, thank you for the tip. Hot Lead............Nice site, I think I'll have to try a couple of different methods given to see which one give me the look I'm after. Did you heat the plastic at all after painting? Or did you just let it dry and call it good? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnight Lurker Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 Without knowing more about what exactly it is you are doing this to my advice might be a little limited. What I did was actually done on the surface of clear drying glue that I spanned over the pewter frame work of the window. (think surface tension/soap bubbles kind of thing) The "free standing" broken glass shards were made with two sections of fishing line glued to the pewter in a A-frame fashion, then again I spanned the opening with glue. It's important to note that I used regular opaque primer on the mini before I did the "glass" parts, and once the glue was totally dry then I gave the glass sections a light spritz with Testor's Dullcoat, first one side then on the other. Let the Dullcoat dry completely. Say overnight. Seriously. After that you apply your diluted inks and once again let it dry over night. You really want that stuff cured before you try to seal it. Also to be noted: In general, inks have a tendency to be "re-activated" with the application of subsequent wet layers. This means that glazing with an ink should be one's last step. Don't try to layer white paint over top of red ink for example. The ink will bleed through the white paint and now you have pink paint! Jen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Lead Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 Hot Lead............Nice site, I think I'll have to try a couple of different methods given to see which one give me the look I'm after. Did you heat the plastic at all after painting? Or did you just let it dry and call it good? I just let it dry. You don't have to bake it. That's just to make it last on dishes which will get washed. It's water-based so it dries quickly. It does dry glossy, so you'd have to follow up with Dullcoat or something similar if you wanted it more matte. Take care, Laszlo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qwyksilver Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 Tamiya also makes a clear spray on primer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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