Centre dash and vents.

[vindaloo]

Should I or shouldn't I try to add some colour there? I've picked up some Plasticote Pewter metallic spray paint. Looks quite good on a sacrificial 3.5" floppy disc. Thinking of doing the surround for the heater controls, stereo etc.

Not entirely sure if I want to go so far as to do the heater vents as that may lead to too much extra work or colouring in gone mad.

In case it looks too shiny, anyone know if it's possible to buy smoked or tinted lacquers and if so where?

EDIT: Bung a link in.

http://www.anticsonline.co.uk/430_1.html

Some of the Custom Colour stuff looks nice too

J.

[mellowyellow55]

Do it man, do it!!!!!!!!!

[texasjohn]

Should I or shouldn't I try to add some colour there? I've picked up some Plasticote Pewter metallic spray paint. Looks quite good on a sacrificial 3.5" floppy disc. Thinking of doing the surround for the heater controls' date=' stereo etc.

Not entirely sure if I want to go so far as to do the heater vents as that may lead to too much extra work or colouring in gone mad.

In case it looks too shiny, anyone know if it's possible to buy smoked or tinted lacquers and if so where?

J.[/quote']

Tamiya (model) spray paint you can get in 'smoke' it is a lacquer-type paint (i.e. meant to be sprayed on top of a basecolour.

from your local toy or model shop.

[vindaloo]

Tamiya (model) spray paint you can get in 'smoke' it is a lacquer-type paint (i.e. meant to be sprayed on top of a basecolour.

from your local toy or model shop.

Excellent!

Now if it's only compatible with the pewter

UPDATE: There are two "Smokes" in the Tamiya range. One is a Polycarbonate spray, the others a Lacquer. The lacquer looks the less opaque of the two.

J.

[vindaloo]

Oh dear, idea spirals out of control....

Discovered Tamiya Translucent paints. Any number of colour finishes. Now I'm doomed.

Anyway, the ashtray lid is likely to be the sacrificial part to see if it's worth doing. It looks easy enough to remove providing I don't lose the bl**dy spring in doing so.

J.

[texasjohn]

Translucent

Thats the word I was looking for earlier

[Mil]

You mean like this?

Got it on the plastic gear surround panel too.

[vindaloo]

You mean like this?

Got it on the plastic gear surround panel too.

Yep, quite like that. I like the way you've done the door pulls as well.

I'm going to start slowly with the ashtray lid and see how that turns out.

I'm hoping for a gently uplift and minor theming without going OTT.

God that last sentence sounded old, wonder if it'll look good in Tamiya "old folks home tartan blanket"

J.

[Stimps]

Tried it many years ago - really f**ked it up

Basically - too much paint on surrounds, which stopped the vents moving. And to top things off, snapped a vent being heavy handed.

Replacements (2xside, 1xcentre) come to about £100 or so, IIRC

[vindaloo]

Tried it many years ago - really f**ked it up

Basically - too much paint on surrounds, which stopped the vents moving. And to top things off, snapped a vent being heavy handed.

Replacements (2xside, 1xcentre) come to about

[vindaloo]

Visited Antics in Guildford and came away with Cutom Colours "Smoke" and something called Crystal clear. They reckoned that the polycarbonate paint would maybe melt other plastics and maybe attack other paint too. Cripes! :eek: So I believed them.

Guinea pigs were again floppy disks. I'm having real trouble getting an even coverage with the smoke lacquer though and too many coats of it are required to get near enough to even coverage. :( . Also, the pewter colour seems to work very well all by itself. So I'm probably going to ditch using the smoke effect lacquer.

The crystal clear is something else altogether. Used on a black floppy, it made it VERY black and VERY shiny.

J.

[vindaloo]

Done the ashtray lid. Now working on the gear surround.

As Stimps mentioned, paint thickness may be an issue with the lid but I have a cunning plan involving T-CUT or minor sanding if it stops things working or if it scrapes.

For the best effect, I think several coats of crystal clear may be required to give depth to the metallic pewter.

J.

[vindaloo]

BTTT for some more piccies above.

Finished the first couple of bits. Paint looks a bit scabby on the edges of the gear surround 'cos it is. I had a bit of a drippy moment with the clear topcoat. After a bit of sanding, some of the metallic came off too. Not in areas that can be noticed though, so I left it as it was.

I quite like the effect. Strange how it looks kind of buff/champagne finish inside the car but steel grey/pewter outside of it. Must be something to do with tints etc.

I'm convinced enough to do the rest of the centre console if I can figure how to remove it.

J.

[texasjohn]

I think what you've done so far is pretty good, looks nice!

I'm thinking about it myself now!

Mil, did you car come like that, in 'GT' spec* or did you put the silver paint on the plastics yourself?

If it came like that, maybe we can order the parts in silver ourselves and change out the plastics for those that want to do so?

* I read somewhere on here that his car is a 2.0 GT Fabia which we don't get in the UK AFAIK.