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 required diameter 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.
Drilling into the model plastic imitation headlights and install our homemade product.
Such headlights significantly improve the appearance of the model.

And using 1/72 scale models as an example, let’s look at the principle of assembling a model with minor modifications that any modeller can do and at the same time noticeably transform the model.

Last time we talked about drilling holes, replacing machine gun barrels, modifying barrels, pipes, etc.

Today on the agenda is the modification of headlights and side lights.

Often in models, especially in older kits, the headlights are made of ordinary, opaque plastic and often in one piece. Leaving this disgrace on the model and painting the glass with silver is not worth it. This will make the model look like a toy.

There are several options to solve this problem.

The first is to buy ready-made headlights from Elf or another company. This option is simple, popular, but not very budget-friendly. However, I advise you not to neglect it. Finished headlights decorate the model and give it a complete look.

But there are several subtleties here too. Firstly, the headlights themselves, although they are made of black plastic (the headlight housing was most often painted this color), are worth painting.

You can simply glue the headlight at the stage of assembling the model, cover the reflector with a round mask made using a punch, and glue the glass at the very end of assembly, after applying all the layers of paint and varnish.

Secondly, this is the glass itself. A common mistake is to glue the headlight glass with super glue. This is a surefire way to get cloudy glass in whitish coating. It is best to glue headlight glasses with a glossy varnish. As a last resort, use PVA or glue for transparent parts.

And thirdly, wiring often needs to go to the headlight itself. It is better to make it from the same thin wire, bend it with tweezers and attach it with super glue. For a more reliable fixation, it is better to drill recesses on the headlight body and the model body and attach the ends of the wire to these recesses.

The second way is to modify the headlight yourself. There are many options here. Let us describe the average method of improvement.

To begin with, you need to select plastic from the plastic headlight housing. A drill or drill bit of suitable diameter is suitable for this. It is better to work manually for better control of the process. Then a headlight reflector is made from foil (regular or self-adhesive). The foil is simply pressed into the recess selected in the headlight with the end of a squeegee or brush (the end of the brush most often has the shape of a cone and is better suited for squeezing out the reflector). Excess foil is trimmed with a knife.

Glass is cut from transparent plastic, purchased or packaged. You can use round punches, the creation technology of which is described in the article mentioned above. Glass can also be glued to transparent varnish or glue for transparent parts.

The technology for creating side lights is generally similar, only here you don’t need to make a reflector out of foil, and the glass itself should be painted with colored varnish, for example X-26 or X-27 from Tamiya. (armata-models.ru/catalog/kraski/81527t/)

By the way, questions often arise about the coloring of the convoy lantern on Soviet wartime vehicles. So - it was two-colored, blue on top and red below.

Good luck with your creativity and stay tuned!

Next time we will talk about simulating welds and gas cutting marks on the ends of armor plates.

December 31, 2019 Happy New Year to all our friends and colleagues! We wish you success and new beautiful models.

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How to make believable headlight reflectors

If you look at some truck models, you get the feeling that the headlights are “blind”. This happens when there is flat plastic under the headlight glass instead of a reflector, like on a real headlight. Sometimes headlight glasses cover the through holes on the model (on the bumpers), which also does not improve perception.
For self-made We will need reflectors:
- a piece of sprue (with a slightly larger diameter than the diameter of the headlight);
- sheet polystyrene (the thinner the better);
- model knife;
- drills 0.8 – 1mm and large diameter;
- conical and (or) dental drill;
- drill;
- skin;
- model foil or Alclad II chrome

Note: Alclad II chrome is a 30 ml bottle of chrome paint, which is applied only with an airbrush in a couple of light layers. The surface must first be painted with black glossy enamel. Essentially Alclad II chrome is a nitro varnish diluted under an airbrush with a metallized pigment of very fine grain.
First, cut out the excess plastic, if any.

Let's say our headlight is round. Then we take a sprue of a suitable diameter (thick sprues are often found in AMT kits), carefully clamp it into the drill chuck and round its end with sandpaper, like on a lathe.
For convenience, I paste the skin onto a plastic card.

Let's make a small (0.8 - 1mm) through hole in the center. It will serve as a guide for us and will be useful for simulating a light bulb. By the way, it’s better to drill manually. Drills and burs have too high speeds and the drill can melt the plastic.

We cut the tube lengthwise, we get 2 rear walls of the reflector. We sew the sides at an angle. It remains to add to back walls– lateral, cut from polystyrene sheet and make a “mirror” in an accessible way.
Note: If you need a larger or smaller diameter tube, look around. You'll probably find something suitable (cocktail straws, shoe inserts). After all, Evergreen, Plastruct and Tamiya sell plastic profiles and tubes of different calibers.
If you use foil, it is advisable to cover the workpieces with it now. Please note that a glued “pot” is more difficult to paste over than its individual components.

I prefer to use Alclad, so I form a “mirror” on an already assembled “pot”. Carefully, so that the glue does not get on the foil, we glue our headlight. If any gaps appear, fill them with putty.
Now you can drill a hole for the light bulb. Light bulbs can be simulated using a drawn transparent sprue or an LED (the second is more suitable for trucks, since the minimum diameter of suitable shaped diodes is 3 mm, and in a 1/25 scale it is 7.5 cm).

It's not just trucks that suffer from blind headlights. Tail lights Passenger cars are also rarely equipped with reflectors. However, making “pots” of reflectors for each light bulb is labor-intensive and impractical. You can make pots in plastic pants.
We trace the plastic under the glass of the diffuser along the same boundaries as on the glass. In the center of each square we drill an imitation of a light bulb (although this is not necessary). We arm ourselves with a dental drill and make reflector holes. Be careful when working corners. Do not climb the edges of the “pots” with the drill. If you remove more plastic than necessary, use putty. And finally, we make a “mirror” in a way that is accessible to you.
In the following photographs you can see the difference between a headlight with and without a reflector:

Another raw material for the manufacture of headlight reflectors can be blister packaging from tablets. We will need:
- blister tablet packaging,
- household decorative foil with an adhesive base (or BMF, regular foil, silver paint, finally),
- cotton swab.
First of all, choose the packaging for the pills the right size. For example, let's take the Porsche 944 Turbo model (see title photo) in which I needed to revive the headlights in the front bumper - they did not have reflectors. Porsche has double ones, so I cut out a fragment of the blister from under two tablets at once.

Everything else is very simple. We put a piece of household decorative foil into the recess from the tablet (or, say, glue regular foil) and smooth it out with a cotton swab. I only have this kind of foil (purchased at the OBI store), it is not at all plastic and after gluing it in the recess it bulges:
It’s good if the headlight glass itself has a special pattern, which eliminates this drawback (and even turns it from a drawback into an advantage - the light shimmers on the folds of the foil). If there is no picture and the headlight is 100% transparent, all flaws in the foil gluing can be visible. In any case, as a backup option, our improvised reflector can be painted with silver - the headlight may eventually become dimmer, but more accurate.
At this point, our reflector is ready and can be glued in. You can see the end result using a blister and foil on the model in the title of the article (headlights in the bumper).
By the way, I also put foil in the headlights, which have some kind of reflectors.

And finally, one more detail. The design of standard or homemade headlight reflectors can be complicated by also making light bulbs. To do this we need a piece of transparent plastic sprue. Above the heat source ( gas-burner, lighter, match) we stretch it so that it becomes thin.

Then we cut the resulting part in half and melt one of the resulting thin ends, holding a piece of sprue vertically under the heat source (otherwise it will melt to the side, but should be like a candle towards itself), in this case matches will be the most convenient. It should look something like the photo.

Next, we cut off the melted end of the sprue - this is our light bulb. All that remains is to make a hole in the reflector and glue the light bulb in there. Let me draw your attention to the fact that such “light bulbs” can be painted with “transparent” headlight paints and, for example, inserted into dashboard as control lamps.

That's probably all. In any case, before you start making a reflector using one method or another, carefully inspect the design of the headlight original car, the kit headlight components you have and the place where you plan to insert the homemade reflector. The methods described above should replenish your arsenal and possibly lead to your own, the most correct decisions in each specific case.

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 metal 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 of shiny metal surfaces, (photo: (1), (2), (3), (4), (5))

(All pictures are clickable)

Metal using dyes

The dyes still remain in a great way to achieve a metallic effect on large surfaces, for example on tracks, along the edges of tank armor, and also on some types of weapons. Don't forget that not all types of dyes are created equal. Try to choose one that fits better Total. 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 metallic effect with many other means such as enamel paints and acrylic 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 form 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 with silver paint first. Then use Tamiya "clear" paints to give them the color you want, such as red, orange, etc... (photo: (1), (2), (3), (4), (5))

Number 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. It is necessary to age and stain the license plates so that they are in harmony with the rest of the vehicle, (photo: (1), (2), (3), (4), (5))

Masks made by Quick Wheel

One of the newest and most interesting inventions I've seen in the modeling world is the Quick Wheel paint pattern/masks 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 all! 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) )