Painting raised lettering

[durangod]

I was having a hard time painting some raised lettering. Had to repaint the whole base color again 2x because i ran my brush off the letter.

Then i found this tip



Do you have a tip to make it easier, share it please.

 

[durangod]

sadly it does not work as well as i expected.

 

[durangod]

repainted, next ill try toothpick tomorrow

 

[durangod]

I just learned something but i am not sure what that is yet. After i painted over the last failure now the letters show up better.

So is the paint translucent or what, i dont quite understand yet, but i love the look on the letters that are effected.

 

[durangod]

finally back to bare plastic, i will start over again

 

[Pantherman]

finally back to bare plastic, i will start over again

View attachment 124259

When I did the victory stand I sprayed the base gloss black, then dry brushed gold over the letter's. Then mixed up a watery black gloss to kinda flow between the letter's. After 2 of the watery coats it looked OK. Just my way of doing it, probably loads of better ways. Pantherman

 

[BlackSheepTwoOneFour]

I usually use a very fine point for painting raised lettering. I had decent success painting my plaque for the Mogami Seaplane Cruiser.

Try painting raised lettering on vinyl car kit tires. I often did on mine as a kid using gloss white. Took a long time for it to dry too. LOL!

Now I found out there's a new method somewhere on YouTube.

 

[durangod]

well i sat and thought about this last night. Thought i would attack it from and old school perspective.

We used to use rubber stamps so i setup a test by outlining the part and filling in the middle with paint on paper. Then placing the part face down and pressing.

However the edge is slightly deeper than the lettering so none of the letters got any paint on them. Something else the MFG should have considered. So i may sand down edges on my next try.

But for now its soaking in alchohol as i tried the wash deal and ruined it. Even with a coat of laquer clear over base color it could not be saved.

I will try again but at the moment i am fairly discouraged.

 

[blakeh1]

you could try painting some liquid mask around the letters. If you get any on the letters just wipe it off before it dries

Then when you paint the letters if you go over a bit it won't matter

Something like Vallejo liquid mask

 

[blakeh1]

or do the reverse. paint the letters, them with liquid mask and paint the body color. not sure which is easier

 

[durangod]

Thanks i ordered it but my mask is not here yet, ordered it 10 days ago and should be here this week sometime.

I have a little 2.5 inch hand roller i use in the shop for pressing glued surfaces, but with the edge being higher than the letters it wont work. I guess i could make a small roller out of a mini car wheel or small plastic spacer i have, which ever will fit between the edges. I could sand down the edges but then i run the risk of it not being even and ruining the piece.

I am going to try the chipping effect. I have black primer on it, then ill spray the front with gold paint, then hairspray, then black over that. Hopefully i can be precise enough with my water brush to remove the black to show gold under it. If this does not work i will take it down to bare plastic again and make myself a custom print roller and roll it over the letters.

And if that does not work ill try the mask, as it should be here by then.

 

[Pantherman]

Thanks i ordered it but my mask is not here yet, ordered it 10 days ago and should be here this week sometime.

I have a little 2.5 inch hand roller i use in the shop for pressing glued surfaces, but with the edge being higher than the letters it wont work. I guess i could make a small roller out of a mini car wheel or small plastic spacer i have, which ever will fit between the edges. I could sand down the edges but then i run the risk of it not being even and ruining the piece.

I am going to try the chipping effect. I have black primer on it, then ill spray the front with gold paint, then hairspray, then black over that. Hopefully i can be precise enough with my water brush to remove the black to show gold under it. If this does not work i will take it down to bare plastic again and make myself a custom print roller and roll it over the letters.

And if that does not work ill try the mask, as it should be here by then.

I admire your perseverance with this. Pantherman

 

[the Baron]

I use what is essentially a dry-brushing technique for things like that.

 

[durangod]

I use what is essentially a dry-brushing technique for things like that.

Im not sure what that is but i will search youtube, thanks

i decided this morning that i like the solid gold front and so even though i had wanted more detailed lettering, i have reached a point where i can live with it.



Now on to pirate ship building, parlay

 

[the Baron]

Dry-brushing is a technique where you dip your brush in paint, then you draw it across a piece of paper towel, or some other material, to remove as much of the paint as possible, leaving just a small amount. Then you drag the brush over the surface, just enough to hit the raised relief, in this case, lettering, and deposit a little bit of paint on it. It's a common technique for weathering, to replicate dust accumulated on a surface, for example, or for things like smoke staining (eg, exhaust, smoke staining around a gun muzzle, etc).
On that plaque, you could also paint your brightest metal color to pick up the raised lettering, then use darker shades of the color, very thin, almost a wash or a glaze, and flow it over the background. You achieve the look of a brass or bronze plaque that's exposed to the weather, but the raised lettering remains bright.

 

[Rob S]

Search reverse wash on youtube. Basically paint the tire white with lacquer then black enamel on top of that. Take a qtip with a little lighter fluid and wipe the black off the letters.

 

[wjbrandel]

Neat. I'm going to try that on a build