Many models are usually old, and what can I say, and new ones are equipped with plastic headlight lenses, which, of course, spoil appearance models.
Of course, the problem can be solved if you purchase ready-made headlights from third-party manufacturers, but what to do if this is not possible.
Traveling through Internet sites, I found several ways to solve this problem. We will consider one of the methods now.
We will need: a frame from a transparent sprue, a candle and a little patience. For the test subject, I took a model from Trubach. Is this a model of the Japanese Type 87 reconnaissance vehicle?, where the manufacturer provides transparent parts only for triplex glass, and even then only in the form of film
Let's start by heating the sprue stick so that it does not melt, but seems to sag. Next, we stretch the sprue to the desired diameter of the lens we need. Wait a little until it cools down and cut in half. Next, we bring the tip of one blank to the candle, make sure that the blank does not catch fire, and lightly twist the tube with our fingers. Under the temperature, the tip melts and takes the shape of a lens.
Next, let the sections of the extra leg from the workpiece cool. If desired, with reverse side You can imitate a light bulb by drilling a recess with a small-diameter drill. You can also paint the inner edge with silver.
We drill out a plastic imitation headlight in the model and install our homemade product.
Such headlights significantly improve the appearance of the model.

I think I will not exaggerate if I say that every BTT modeler remained dissatisfied with the plastic imitation of headlights that kit manufacturers offer.

What to do with such headlights? Glue it as is on the model? But such optics look, to put it mildly, implausible. Trying to paint somehow is useless. All the same, upon closer inspection, such a headlight will look like something similar to a headlight painted silver. Replacing such a headlight with an aftermarket product - good way out. But there are several significant points: such headlights are not always available in real stores; not every person, for various reasons, can afford to buy headlights in online stores or at numerous flea markets on model forums; Not every modeler wants or can spend money on purchasing additional kits.
When I was working on , I came across similar problems head to head. I found a way out pretty quickly. At the same time, when refining the headlights, I used materials within walking distance.

To begin with, I selected a drill whose diameter coincided with the diameter of the headlight lenses. I ground the drill shank into a sphere:

I took food-grade transparent plastic, heated it over a candle and pulled it onto the prepared spherical shank of the same drill:

I made an imitation of a light bulb from a drawn transparent sprue:

I cut out the headlight glasses from the hood and cut off imitation light bulbs from the drawn sprue:

I glued all the parts into place using acrylic varnish:

That's all the modification. Simple but tasteful

Alexander Vergin (B!gSeXy)

The second stage - power supply of brake lights

We gut the second servo drive, take out the circuit from there and unsolder the motor. We will connect the servo in parallel to the 2-ohm channel of the receiver. After connecting, you need to turn the servo wheel to catch the moment when power is not supplied to the wires from the motor. I just soldered in a tuning resistor and adjusted it with its help. Illustrate this process I can’t, because Everything is already soldered and packed on site.

The initial connection diagram was as follows:

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Those. Power to the head light is supplied from the battery from the iPhone (stage 1), while the rear light is lit at full intensity. When you press the brake, 4V voltage is supplied to the taillight and lights up brighter.

By the way, the flashlight is made from the wheel of my first one and eight LEDs connected in parallel.

The very first night ride revealed a very serious drawback of this connection scheme. In the dark, a dimly lit rear light makes it difficult to sense the dimensions of the buggy, which means that it is very difficult to catch a model trying to skid or being in a skid.

I decided to install real parking lights on the spoiler. Thus, the dimensions of the model are now felt from any side, and circuit diagram connections have been simplified. There is no longer any need to use diodes, because The light now only serves as a brake light.

The headlight LEDs were embedded in the front bumper. To obtain reflectors, the remains of something like this were sawn apart. Use pieces of Lexan as glass.

In the photo, the headlights have already been worn out quite a bit, as you can see, they are still in place.

This LED requires cooling. I found in the bins a heatsink for the memory of the video cards that came with some kind of cooler in the kit and used them.

This design very successfully removes heat from powerful LEDs.

It's all put together in a waterproof box - the only thing I bought in an offline hardware store.

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An easy way to get a metallic effect around the edges of the tank is to use a graphite pencil. You just need to go over the edges with a pencil a few times until you achieve a realistic effect. In order to create a metallic effect in hard-to-reach areas and cracks of some hatches, you can sharpen a pencil. It is not recommended to create this effect on all parts of the tank; use it only where there is a high likelihood of erosion or wear due to use. Can be used different types graphite pencils to achieve different shades brilliant metal surfaces, (photo: (1), (2), (3), (4), (5))

(All pictures are clickable)

Metal using dyes

Dyes are still a great way to achieve metallic effects on large surfaces, such as tracks, the edges of tank armor, and some weapons. Don't forget that not all types of dyes are created equal. Try to choose one that fits better everything. The ones I had done before were too coarse grained and the effect they produced was not realistic enough. The new metallic pigment from AK Interactive is very good and has more realistic colors, (photo: (1), (2))

You can apply the metallic pigment directly with your finger to the parts you want to give a steely shine. You can also use a cotton swab for greater precision (photo: (3), (4))

Metal by other means

We can also make a metallic effect using many other media such as enamel paints and acrylics in metallic colors such as steel, aluminum etc which are ideal for painting small parts and components using a brush. On the other hand, the Czech brand AGAMA has a special product for creating metal effects using friction. Using a piece of cloth or a cotton swab, we apply a small amount of the product to the surface, and then rub until we achieve the desired shine and until the product dries (photo: (1), (2), (3), (4), ( 5), (6))

fallen leaves

One of the final details that can add more realism to our model is adding small natural elements that have fallen onto the model, such as small tree branches, leaves, vegetation elements and soil. These elements fall on the tank as a result of explosions nearby or even when the tank passes through forest thickets. These elements, although almost invisible in black and white photographs, are very common and easy to see in modern models about which there is more information and documentation (photos: (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), (10) , (11), (12))

The FIBA ​​and PLUS MODEL brands offer a wide variety of leaves, in all scales and different colors. Although these products are very expensive, they are worth purchasing for the level of realism they add to the model. They can be applied leaf by leaf, gluing to the surface of the model with a small amount of matte acrylic varnish. Place the leaf with tweezers and leave to dry. To glue on a bunch of small branches, apply a coat of matte varnish lightly thinned with water and lay some vegetation, soil or a bunch of leaves, whatever, on top. Once dry, use a soft, thick brush to remove excess material that was not glued correctly. If there are any traces left of the varnish after drying, you can soften them with small strokes of earth and dust colored dyes, (photo: (13), (14), (15), (16), (17), (18 ))

How to apply dry decals

The rules for using dry decals are explained in detail in many publications and even in the instructions for the product itself. This is no longer a secret, as it was 10 years ago. Nowadays, almost the whole world knows how to do this. But despite all this, I will explain the procedure again in case any modeler is still a beginner and does not know how to use them. Of course, I always recommend using dry decals rather than regular "wet" decals. Wet decals are difficult to apply and require a lot of effort to get them looking perfect. On the other hand, dry decals almost always look great and are very easy to apply (photo: (1), (2))

If you want to add camouflage later, you can protect the dry transfer with a little Blue tac, a special clay similar to Play-Doh that can be stuck on and removed. Paint a camouflage pattern over it and then remove the Blue tac you used as a mask (photo: (10), (11), (12))

Headlights

The simplest and most realistic way to make car headlights is using lenses specifically designed for modeling. AK Interactive offers a large catalog of lenses various colors and diameters for all types of vehicles. You just need to take the lens with tweezers and fix it with a little PVA glue or Tamiya varnish, stick it in the desired place. Once it's dry, be sure to apply a light layer of dust to the lenses so they fit into the general view models.

If you are using lenses made of clear plastic, which can be found in many commercial kits, after gluing them, use a brush to coat them with Tamiya varnish to give them a glass look. If your model's headlights are made of opaque plastic or resin, coat them first silver paint. Then use Tamiya "clear" paints to give them the color you want, such as red, orange, etc... (photo: (1), (2), (3), (4), (5))

License plates

Czech brand EDUARD produces highly realistic, pre-painted, metal license plates that are ready to use. You just need to cut out the plate you want and glue it to your model with super glue. The license plates need to be aged and soiled so that they blend in with the rest of the parts. vehicle, (photo: (1), (2), (3), (4), (5))

Masks made by Quick Wheel

One of the latest and most interesting inventions The ones I've seen in the modeling world are the wheel paint templates/masks from Quick Wheel, designed by Greg Ross. This simple tool allows you to paint tires on several wheels at once, without special effort and with high accuracy. It consists of masks of two different thicknesses, into which wheels can be placed for further painting, (photo: (1))

First we paint the wheels with dark gray or black paint, this will be the color of the tire. We paint the wheels completely. Then we place the Quick Wheel mask on all wheels. Now we apply paint of the same color as the car, and then remove the mask. That's it! Fast and easy. Sometimes painting tank wheels can take a whole day and the end result can be unsatisfactory. But in this way, we can paint all the wheels in a couple of minutes. It's worth it, (photos: (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), (10), (11), (12) )