Just about finished up with my next project, and thought I would share this quick tip...
I think it is pretty well known, but I still see lots of pictures of models that haven't done this....
The little clear plastic pieces that go over headlights on modern cars, often look "plastic-ey" and fake to my eye. Part of this reason is the scale thickness. For the strength required to be de-molded in the manufacturing process, as well as handling during assembly, they need to be very thick for the relative scale. While I don't have a micrometer to measure, they look to my eye to be a couple of inches thick in scale.
Which is fine if you are modeling a presidential limo, or other "bulletproof" car, it doesn't look right to me.
So what I like to do is trace the inside very edge of the plastic with a black Sharpie marker. This helps to hide the refraction at the edge of the piece, and make it appear thinner.
As seen here, you don't get a "glowing" edge where it shows off the thickness.
It also has the added feature of appearing as the gasket around the headlight lens cover on most modern cars.
Seen here on the front of my almost finished Corvette ZR-1.
(oh man, I should have dusted that off before the picture).
But hopefully you can see the difference.
Oh, and remember how I mentioned the thickness of the clear plastic? Well, that clear plastic is also much more brittle than the regular styrene that the rest of the kit is molded in, so be careful.
You can also use the Sharpie on the inside of the windshield to create the black surround. In this kit Revell provided a nice line molded all the way around to guide where I needed to color. Other manufacturers go as far as providing actual pre-cut masks to help you with the painting of this surround.
Up next, the finished ZR-1, with a slightly damaged windshield!
