Yesterday, I finally broke down and decided to get a dremel tool. Then of course I was so excited to use it that I took my model (Tamiya N1K1) and inspected it for something that I could use the dremel for.

Well I decided to attempt replacing the wingtip navigation lights with clear sprue. So I cut off old, drilled a 'light' in the clear sprue, glued, reformed, sanded, polished, etc. It looks (in my mind) pretty cool.

Then I went upstairs to check the photos of n1k online (should have done this first) and saw that the lights don't look so clear...

Picture:

Did I totally screw this up? Should I now paint the clear light with the clear colored paint, normal paint, ?

Thanks for any advice. I was so excited about my work...

Leon

Tamyia makes a range of clear paints - Just use the apprpriate color over the clear sprue and it will look great!

as Sticky said.

What I usually do if there is no clear parts included for lights in the kit, I would first base coat the part in silver chrome, then paint clear color on top of it. looked quite decent too.

I have to back this up. Just do this over your clear part, both the silver and clear color for now. This also works for a part molded in to a piece that is supposed to be a light (e.g. a reflecter light on a truck)

But in the future, try to paint the silver color on the back side of your clear piece (the side that will be glued to the model). Then use the glue on the outside of the paint (in between the paint and the model). I use Klar clear glue (Klar is german for clear), but any clear glue would work. Then paint your clear color over the clear part. In effect what this does is have the silver color reflected through the clear piece and then filtered through the light color.

I wish I had an image to back this up, but the effect is great.

Jeff

Thanks everyone. I will try painting them with the clear paint and hope for the best. Really I just hope that it will end up looking better than if I had just done the silver and then clear over the original part...and if not, I'll just chalk it up to experience.

Thanks again.
Leon