Now we are down to the final phase in completing the detailing of the
clear parts, which is the painting! All parts are painted on the inside
with flat black! This will give a look quite like you see on the real cars
when they are viewed from the outside! This can be done with either spray
paint or an airbrush and you get basically the same result either way (but
the spray can is simpler since you don't have to setup the airbrush, mix
the paint etc.) To see how I tape these parts down for painting Click Here! By the way I usually use an old model box for
this purpose (the outside top side of a box will easily hold enough parts
for two cars! It only takes one piece of tape for each part. Just
remember the back side of all parts is painted first, except for the air
hose inlet(it is only painted on the back side!)
The outside is a little different story!
Windshields
On some cars the outside retaining straps are all black, on some they
are silver and on some they are a combination of the two! Also on some
cars there are straps on each side of center and on some there is a center
strap and a strap to the left of it (looking at the windshield from the
front) you will need to look at some reference pictures (magazines like
Winston Cup Illustrated and others are a good source for these and BSR also
has these for $3 each). I can't really explain all of the combinations
here, I guess you'll have to just look at the pics in the mags (or on my
page?) And see what has to be done (note you may have to alter the masking
a bit depending on what is required for a specific car!) If they are black
I just leave the masking alone as is and spray it with flat black. If
there is silver to be painted I brush paint it to avoid getting silver on
the back side surface!
Rear Window
Once again almost all cars have retaining straps that are black. There
are a few exceptions where silver is used though. I these cases put a
temporary mask over the retaining straps (just lay a couple pieces of tape
loosely over them and spray the strake black (I don't believe I've seen a
car where the strake wasn't black) then remove the temporary mask and brush
paint the straps silver!
Quarter Windows
As I said in the masking section I hand paint my rear side windows with
a brush using with flat black. I have a rather long pair of tweezers (7
inches) with very slim sharp tips which makes it very easy to hold these
pieces for the new MC and Pontiac cars (for example see this picture
Click Here!)
For the T-Bird and old MC I use a model knife to hold them (as in this
picture Click Here!).
Very carefully brush on the flat black paint using the mold lines of the
border as a guide! Also make sure to get the paint all the way down onto
the edges (this will make for a nice sharp edge to the window against the
background color of the car!
Passenger Side Window
As with all the rest the back sides are all painted with flat black!
Once this dries take and brush paint the molded in raised area at the front
(were the window slides into the recess of the side window of the real car)
with paint matching the body color!
As for the air hose inlet, simply spray the exposed side with flat
black! Be aware that on come cars these are clear! Well that does it
for the painting of the clear parts!