Applying a Leather-like Finish to Photoetch?

I've got some PE hood straps that I'll be putting on a 1/43 vintage race car, and I want them to look like brown leather. Is there a flexible spray coating that has a leather-like texture? Some sort of vinyl repair stuff, maybe? (Could be useful for leather-look upholstery, too.)

I've thought about using vinyl or real thinned leather, but it's too hard to cut those long 3/32 strips, and making and attaching the buckles would be a project in itself. (Maybe someday...?) Bonding fine sandpaper or a textured paper to the PE would be just too tedious, and I'd have to deal with different colored edges. So a spray seems like the way to go, if I can find something.

It's okay if the stuff is a bit thick, since the PE straps are too thin. I can either mask off the buckles or scrape them bare after spraying.

Didy

Try using masking tap from the hardware store (I would suggest the green 3M masking tape. ) spary the flat color on top of it and cut it to the strip strips.

Try using masking tap from the hardware store (I would suggest the green 3M masking tape. ) spary the flat color on top of it and cut it to the strip strips.


that's close to what I was going to suggest, though I'd cut into strips, then paint.

if you are making leather hood straps, don't bother with PE parts, just take the buckles off of the strap and use the masking tape method. it turns out fantastic results for such uses as leather straps, bras for the front of cars, vinyl tops, you name it, it's great stuff! just be careful when you paint it and use paint that will adhere to the tape, and not flake off when you bend it.

Do you mean textured paper masking tape, or the vinyl kind like 3M Blue Line? I like the idea of cutting off the PE buckles and using them with strips of tape. But it seems like the strap itself should have some thickness to it, unlike PE.

Sprayed liquid mask might work to thicken up the straps, but it's hard enough to clean the stuff out of a bristle brush. I'm not about to put it through my airbrush. And primer would probably crack when the tape is applied.

Do you have any suggestions for a flexible paint? I was thinking Tamiya acrylic, but is there something better?

Didy

I don't see the need in getting much thicker than one layer of tape on a 1/43 scale model for hood straps, but if you want it thicker, using 2 or 3 layers of tape to get your thickness (the textured paper kind) and using a sharpie, or similar to color it? if you are going with a black finish that would be great. if you need to dry brush some weathering or highlights that would work as well.

If you are building the cover to be non removable, or so the straps will stay attatched to the hood with just slight overhang to reach the buckles or what ever, just lay the tape on the hood where you need it, mask off the paint around it, and spray the leather color you want to the tape.

I need straps that are 1 mm wide and brown to match the brown leather (!) upholstery. The guy at my local model train store suggested drafting tape since it comes in all widths, including 1 mm, and it's paintable. It's expensive, though. I'll have to buy about 25 feet to get the maybe 4 inches I need. But the precut tape will save a lot of time in trying to cut the whole shebang exactly the same width. Guess I'll have to build more cars with hood straps!

I'm gonna take his advice about the drafting tape, and see if two thicknesses looks right. Regardless, I'll use the PE buckles. The PE straps also have some metal loops; they're raised up from the belt and they're supposed to be painted black if the strap is brown. Haven't figured out how to do that yet. Maybe some very small diameter wire would do the trick. (I need to talk to my musician friends to get some used guitar strings. That stuff is great because it only bends where you want it to bend. ) Or I can glue on make little plastic loops.

Now if I could only figure out a way to keep tiny parts from shooting off into distant corners of the room. If there's anything I don't like about 1:43, it's searching for pinhead sized lost parts, which is how I spent my morning.

Didymus

Maybe I don't understand, but it seems to me that any type of ordinary masking tape, for auto body or even home painting, would work perfectly fine. I use it all the time for seatbelts in 1/24 and 1/25.

I just stretch the tape out on a clipboard (or any flat, smooth surface), use a metal-edged ruler to cut it to whatever width I need (which ensures that it is exactly the same width throughout), and then paint it before lifting it from the board. Sometimes the paint begins to wear off with handling, but you can just touch it up once the straps are in place.

Of course, you are talking about the rough, sandpapery leather (unfinished cowhide), so I would just spray paint out at low pressure from your airbrush to get that result, then lift the strips from the board and tape them on.

As for parts flying off, if you are talking about when you cut them from the PE sheet, just put some masking tape on the backside of the PE sheet, cut your parts loose, then lift them from the tape with tweezers.

Otherwise, I have the same trouble; I'll spend 45 minutes making a detailed little plastic part, and then it will fly from my tweezers and I'll lose it. Not fun.

Hope that helps you.

Alex

I'm following your suggestion, Alex. I did find some 1/16" wide drafting tape. It's just a shade wide, but it still looks okay.

About parts shooting away, great suggestion about taping the PE sheet. After yesterday, I put a translucent plastic storage box on its side and I'm working inside that. That takes care of four sides, more or less, a big improvement from working in the open. We'll see how it works out.

Didy

Just my :2cents: but I've used Testors "Leather" paint or any other custom color mixed Gloss.

The secret to getting it to look like real leather is in how it is applied.

Straight out of the bottle it will look like crap. However, once you let the paint set up a bit and become tacky, you can then take a stiff brush or piece of sponge to add texture to the gloss.

Doing this not only adds the texture of scale leather, but knocks the gloss down quite a bit too and looks very realistic.

As for the edges that just won't take paint, I'll run a permanent marker angled back and under the part avoiding getting marker onto painted surface.

This takes care of any showing metal and also acts as a pseudo shadow line.

Is Testor's "leather" paint different from their other enamels? Seems like you could get a slightly rough finish just by waiting for an enamel to get tacky, and then texturizing it with a stiff brush or whatever.

I was actually hoping to find a spray-able goop that would cure to a thick, soft (spongy?) coating with a smooth surface - just like real leather. It could be used for seats, tonneau covers, etc. I've googled quite a bit, and I can't find anything like that. Maybe it doesn't exist.

At least for upholstery, sounds like I'm gonna stick to paint. Or real leather if I'm up to thinning, fitting and gluing on leather pieces.

Thanks to all,

Didy