Tips needed: How to detail an interior!!

[Abell82]

While I believe I can do a fair job on detailing the occasional

model body and chassis, to make them look decent (read: realistic).

My interior skills are somewhat lacking. So if some of you

could give a few pointers, I would be greatful!! TIA!!

[j_nigrelli]

"bye duckie..."

[Mike]

Here's a couple tricks I use -

White and orange water color pencils work great for coloring the raised letters on guages.

For wood dashes etc. I base color with "wood" color Testors acryl. Then I take a shade or two of brown and dry-brush is over the light wood color. I usually use an old ratty brush that the bristles seperate out, so it's very random and gives a grain pattern as well.

Also, a DecoColor ink pen is invaluable for me (available at Michael's). I've got a liquid silver in extra fine (for things big enough to color with the pen itself). I also have a medium tip liquid silver marker that I use in conjunction with a "0" size paint brush for finer detail.

Here's a shot of the interior on a Daytona Charger I was working on some time ago to see the results of the wood dry-brushing, and painting the guage bezels and chrome trim with the ink pen and brush. Also, another tip is I use some clear coat on the guage face to look like a lense, or I've also heard of using a small drop of glue to do the same thing.

[Olle F]

You can do a lot just by using paint, playing with the sheen and different shades of the same colors. One example is to make a slight mismatch in sheen and color between parts that were made of plastic, vinyl, leather, metal etc, and try to match the sheen of the original parts (there are many more sheens than glossy and dull...). As a matter of fact, dull or semi-gloss finishes look way better than glossy on any interior part, IMO. Also get reference pictures of the real car, study the finish and colors of everything, then try to pick them out with paint, BMF or whatever it takes to make them resemble the real deal. A lot of details are already there, it's just a matter of making them "pop out" a bit.

Here are a couple of pictures of a '65 Impala I'm working on. I have only used paint, weathering powder and BMF on this, no hi-tech tricks at all. I have tried to duplicate everything as good as I can, for example: The large Impala emblem in the back seat will look like an unsightly chrome blob if you use it as is, but it will look much more realistic if you use silver paint in the panels behind the chrome strips, and highlight the impala with black. I also painted the emblem in the center of the steering wheel with black background, and transparent yellow on the impala. The dashboard was done in the same way, just paint, BMF and reference pictures laying on the workbench. The seats were intended to have a vinyl look, but after going a bit overboard with the weathering powder, I realized that it looked like leather instead. I liked that look much better, so I just sealed it and now I have got a nice leather interior instead of cheap vinyl.

It takes some patience but it's not all that difficult to do, and it makes a big difference. I hope these pix will show what I'm talking about:

BTW: I should have mentioned that I use an airbrush to paint pretty much everything except for the small details. It lays the paint very thin, so it won't obscure all those little itty-bitty details and it makes it way easier to pick them out with a paint brush later on. It also makes it easy to change the sheen on a part that is already painted: Just load it with clearcoat, and change the sheen by adding more or less thinner, spraying thin or heavy coats, dry spraying etc.

[Harry P.]

Great tips here, and superb examples of what a nice interior should look like.

The guys have pretty much covered all the bases...but I'll just re-emphasize one point: Look carefully at the interior of the real car you're modeling, whether it's the actual car or just photos. Notice how there are many different, subtle variations in gloss levels. Paying close attention to the relative gloss of the door panels vs. the steering wheel vs. the dash, etc., and recreating this effect goes a long way towards making your interior look like a real one rather than just a painted model.

[m3m]

what size strainer and where do i get it? sorry for a dumb question, but i have never used flocking but really want to. thanks for all the help.

[m3m]

thanks alot.

[Olle F]

Another alternative is a cheap salt/pepper shaker. Just fill it with flocking & shake it onto the interior. 8)

Hey... why didn't I think of that? One of the reasons why I don't like flocking is that I always make such a mess. I have used it on a few models, but ended up flocking the model, the workbench and myself. That trick should make nasty flocking much easier to work with. Thanks for the tip!

[Mike]

Hey... why didn't I think of that? One of the reasons why I don't like flocking is that I always make such a mess. I have used it on a few models, but ended up flocking the model, the workbench and myself. That trick should make nasty flocking much easier to work with. Thanks for the tip!

Tell me about it! I'm going to Wally World and buying me a couple salt & pepper shakers!!!

[Mike]

Great tips here, and superb examples of what a nice interior should look like.

The guys have pretty much covered all the bases...but I'll just re-emphasize one point: Look carefully at the interior of the real car you're modeling, whether it's the actual car or just photos. Notice how there are many different, subtle variations in gloss levels. Paying close attention to the relative gloss of the door panels vs. the steering wheel vs. the dash, etc., and recreating this effect goes a long way towards making your interior look like a real one rather than just a painted model.

Contrast is a big thing with interiors to give them depth and dimension. Good point Harry.

[ramonesblues]

Mark, you heard right. In the lacquer days, before modern flatting compounds, we used talcum powder to flatten lacquer and enamel paints.Don't know how durability in modern paints would be affected, but i might just try and find out.By the way, early plastic filler(bondo) was simply talcum powder and fiberglass resin.Thank God for modern technology, as modern fillers are very, very good in comparison.