Vinyl roof - any idea's ?

I've been working for some time on this model.
It's a Jaguar Mk.II Saloon from Tamiya in 1/24.

I'm still pondering whether I'll do a WIP here, because Ramon Garcia (http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=634806&highlight=saloon) has shown everything that can be done with a Jaguar (way out of my league), so there's not much I can add. Apart from that I'm a really slow builder:sleeping:. As a matter of fact, this build is going since the end of 2005...
If I hurry up I might even complete it for the deadline of the Movie/TV vehicle group build... Maybe just...:silly:

Anyway. To the point.
I decided to build this model as the car that Inspector Morse in the TV series of the same name drove.
http://www.axelv.com/pics/m-rc-jaguar-wip1sm.jpg

The build is progressing nicely (albeit slowly). But there's one area that I cannot seem to get a grip on:
The vinyl roof.

Below is a picture of the car (and especially the roof). I'm sorry but don't have any better pictures.

http://www.axelv.com/pics/Image17.jpg

But I can make out 2 things. The texture of the roof is very very fine, so I already decided not to replicate the texture (or maybe someone has a great tip on creating a very fine texture, than I might change my mind):grinyes:.

Second point of interest are the two seams that are running along the length of the roof.
I've tried to replicate the seams with very thin wire (.25 mm / .01 inch). But it still looked too big (apart from the fact that I also had been very sloppy with the CA glue).

http://www.axelv.com/pics/m-rc-jaguar-wip15.jpg

http://www.axelv.com/pics/m-rc-jaguar-wip21.jpg

So I removed the wires and cleaned the roof. And now I'm waiting for the ultimate tip from one of you.:1zhelp:

http://www.axelv.com/pics/P1000936tmp.JPG

I was thinking to mask two "seams" on the roof and paint them and use these painted lines as a "step" in the roof to simulate the seams. And after that I'd paint the whole roof...
Another option is making two very thin seams from very thin sheet metal. But that would probably cost me several years of my life to get a nice thin and straight line cut from sheet.
A third option I was thinking about was scribing the seams into the roof and put some wire into the created panellines. But that would be a bit of a last resort actually.
And last option I just thought of, is to use very thin stripes of BMF to simulate the seams.

Does anyone here have some experience with vinyl roofs or otherwise maybe some ideas how to tackle this problem ?
Any help would be appreciated !:1zhelp:

Thanks.

Here's how I would probably try it-

Heat stretch some sprue to get two relatively consistant diameter pieces the length of the roof. Glue them down to the roof, just like you did with the wires. Each strip of sprue will obiously have two edges (one on each side)- an inside edge and an outside edge. A sewn roof seam will have one edge, but the seam itself will have some additional thickness (about a quarter inch wide or so, for the whole length of the seam). To simulate this, fill the inside edges of the sprue strips with thin CA, putty, etc, and leave the outside edges unfilled. Then gently sand the sprue strips so they are a suitable height. The filling on the inside edges doesn't have to hide the seams completely- it's entirely realisic if they can be seen somewhat. They only need to be filled enough to contrast with the unfilled outside edges.

If you really want to simulate a texture, you can try lightly brushing liquid plastic cement on the roof. It will attack the plastic and dry with a subtle texture- but becareful you do it lightly. Too much cement and you can obviously soften the roof plastic. :uhoh:

Of course as you said the texture on the real car is very subtle, and doesn't really need to be simuated. Getting the right semigloss finish on the paint will more than do the trick.

Your wire idea was pretty neat IMO :thumbsup:

Here's how I'd go about adding the texture:

http://www.briansmodelcars.com/tutorials/tutorial/47

Seems to me that your wire idea worked--it was just too big. So use smaller wire. I would probably use .13 or .15 mm, which I have a ton of. Get yourself a short length of Coax cable (for TV's) at Radio Shack, Home Depot, etc. You could even find scraps of it at, say, a new house construction. Cut off the outer rubber shield and, voila, you've got a whole mesh of .13mm wire that, when separated into individual pieces, is probably a hundred feet long (from a 1 foot piece of cable). Straighten the wire by pulling it taught with two pairs of needle-nose pliers. I do it all the time and use that size of wire for brake lines, wiring harnesses, etc. As a bonus you get a piece of 1mm wire from the core, which is great for A/C hoses and such. Hope that helps!

Alex

For the textured roof, take some Tamiya regular grey putty and thin it out with some lacquer thinner. With a medium brush, take some of the thinned putty and dab it all over the top creating a texture that is dependent on both the consistency of the thinned putty and the stiffness and size of the bristles. Be warned that the brush may take some serious damage but I've used this technique with great success. You could also use some Mr Surfacer 500 and brush/dab it on to create the texture.

I have used wide masking tape. The texture is similar to a vinyl roof and can be painted the color you need. To make the seams I use a wide piece in the center and then put the sides on overlapping the center piece by about 1/16 of an inch.

did I say something wrong? It appears me reply to this thread was deleted...

@ All
Thanks for the tips. There are some great and useful ideas here.

I think I'll first try the solution Alex provided.
Firstly because his first name has the same letters as mine... Just kidding.:silly:
But I do have some length of coax lying around, so that might be a good place to start. I was happy with the look of the roof with the wires (apart from being too present), so thinner wires might indeed be the best way to go.
If that turns out bad I think MPWR's tip is in this case a good alternative.

@John.
Well, I don't know what's going on either.:confused:
Yesterday evening (well evening in Europe that is) I checked this thread and there were replies from you and klutz.
When I looked just now, you're reply is gone and suddenly MPWR's is the first reply.
I did check out the link you provided in your first post (same idea as rollover's). A simple and effective solution, but I'm afraid not the best solution to apply on this car.
Because using masking tape would create a step between the roof and the rest of the body which I cannot see on the pics I got from the real car.
Otherwise this would have been the best option I reckon.

Thanks everybody for your input.:smooch:

Two narrow stips of Tamiya tape cut to size would make perfect seams.

Then spray the black from a distance so it's slightly textured (but not nearly as rough as in the tutorial from the other site). Another more subtle way to make the seams is to mask and spray just the center section. Then when it's dry, mask the two side sections, overlapping the middle section by the amount of the seam. If you use enough paint, you will see the seam. Gluing styrene or metal strips or using putty/solvents for seams and texture is making the job more complicated than necessary. Save that time for making the proper trim at the base, which can be some styrene half-round strips.

For a flatter roof w/less C pillar curvature than the Jaguar you could make the entire roof from wide masking tape, overlapping at the seams, and then painting it.

Excellent work so far! BTW, what are you doing for the wheels? Revell's XK120 has the correct steels & hubcaps if that's any help :-)

@Paul
As a matter of fact, I recently bought an XK120 just for this purpose.:p
I have already adapted the original kit supplied rims, but they just don't look right enough, that's why I bought the XK.
But I'm not sure whether I'll use the XK's wheels. It's, sadly, not a case of just swapping them. I'll have to study Revell's wheels closer but I think there's some work to do still and it probably will end up a combination of Revell's and Tamiya wheels.

@ZoomZoom
I admit that the trim at the base isn't extremely convincing. But I'm happy with it and don't intend to change it.
Also, the risk of damaging the red paint layer is too big. So I'll turn a blind :cool: eye to the base trim...

@ZoomZoom
I admit that the trim at the base isn't extremely convincing. But I'm happy with it and don't intend to change it.
Also, the risk of damaging the red paint layer is too big. So I'll turn a blind :cool: eye to the base trim...

Actually I wasn't referring to what you had done, it was more a general statement.

Speaking of Jaguars and vinyl tops, today I saw the tackiest Jaguar...a black X-Type wearing a silver padded vinyl top...looked like a reject from a Buick dealership...:puke: It was nasty. I hate to think what she paid for that "custom" touch. Or to think she might actually like it. :screwy: