Foiling Scripts Under Paint

[Jay!]

Anyone do this?

I saw an example at Tamiya/Con and I'd like to use it on a very delicate script for a project.

How close to the script must one cut the foil in order to be able to hide the edges? Any tips?

[flyonthewall]

Do u want to explain a little more? I'm guessing that you are talking about applying BMF to a script prior to any painting of the body, then removing the coat of paint from the script with thinner or such like, right? Never heard of it done before but makes sense in theory. Must be tricky coz i would say that the foil would need to be trimmed right upto the edge of the script - not something to be attempted with a blunt knife, after 8 pints of lager whilst wearing boxing gloves

[Jay!]

Yeah, that's the idea.

I saw it done on a Porsche 996 kit, which has a more substantial script then this Thunderbird kit I'm working on... Such tiny writing...

[008]

I've done this before and the result is pretty good. I BMF before primer but I've heard of people do it after so I guess it's a matter of choice. Cut close around the script as you comfortably can or you might see an outline of the BMF in the finished paint job. After the paint cured, I used one of the grits from my polishing kit with a sanding block to rub it out.

I think the paint goes on thick enough that it blends the BMF in well. BMF isn't that thick to begin with and probably not as thick as 2 coats of primer + 5 coats of gloss black.

[freakmech]

yeah i know what your talking about and have seen it or lead to believe it was done. i guess first you need to burnish the crap out of the BMF. then i guess i could only offer this suggestion... well two actually. first and the most obvious.... cut very close under a magnifing glass and sharpen your blade with a wetstone. BUT maybe this would work..... may be try and apply BMF and burnish and leave like a 1/4 inch around script. then put a few mist coats of clear coat over BMF and then lightly sand around edges of the 1/4 inch extra of BMF to smooth it out a bit. then start with your paint process and careful Q-tip/thinner off the paint from the raised script.Does this make sense? when i do multi color paint i clear coat between colors so i can sand flush with out losing paint. i can explain more if this doesnt make sense.

[Jay!]

That totally helps, guys; thanks!

One further thought, I'm doing red over white primer, but want to avoid seeing white peek out between the red and foil (which is what happened on the Porsche I saw.) Could you think of any issues or differences there? If I do that, I will trim it as close as possible, because I'm sure foil under red looks different than white under red...

[tdoty]

Well, trimming it close is the key. But, but, there is another way.....sorta even been suggested before. Depending on the script you're foiling, you can also spread the foil out to a larger area and feather in.....but mask the script itself until the color is applied.

If you're going to have to trim it super-close, might as well wait. For those who say BMF isn't that thick to begin with - you'd be a mazed at how absolutely HUGE it'll look under a coat of paint. I've tried it, and didn't really have better results than doing it the old-fashioned way. My suggestion above is what was recommended for my next attempt - couldn't tell you who it came from though.

HTH,

Tim D.

[Jay!]

Originally Posted by tdoty

Well, trimming it close is the key. But, but, there is another way.....sorta even been suggested before. Depending on the script you're foiling, you can also spread the foil out to a larger area and feather in.....but mask the script itself until the color is applied.

May I ask for a bit more detail on this part?

[tdoty]

You can do the same thing for foiling the normal way.

Apply some liquid masking to the script during priming to keep the paint from building up in it. Then, when you're done priming (maybe before the last coat, depending on the color you're trying to cover) remove the mask and feather the low area (which wasn't primed) into the surrounding primer and paint as usual.

This technique works great on some of those kits with extremely tiny scripts that always get filled with paint. Works well whether you foil before or after paint.

If you foil before you paint, mask the script INSIDE the area of the foil, so that you can feather that too. :edit: "That" being the edges of the foil - oops.

HTH,

Tim D.

[ales]

Still baning you head over the Testarossa, Jay?