The Lightning Scheme
All pictures are © ronsterart 1999, do not copy any of this page without permission from the webmaster.| Top used: HPI Super Nitro Porsche with Faskolor paints |
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| My buddy wanted me to paint him something origonal that would stand out in a the crowd (don't they all <g>), so he showed me his sisters cell phone cover with a lightening pattern and walllllah the design was set. In this picture you can see that the racey looking carbon fiber hood is already done & the masking tape is still on the car so you can see the branches of electricity. Most tops these days have a protective plastic cover that is perfect to use a marker on...makes it much easier to follow a pattern when it is drawn on the outside. The bolts resemble a tree branch getting thinner toward the ends...pretty much the same concept as flames. |
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| I found the best way to get a rough realistic bolt was to use a paintbrush...just tracing the black lines that I drew on the outside of the top. After the lines are dry it does not hurt to go over them a 2nd time to make sure they stay nice and bright when we spray a dark color over them later. | |
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| Your thinking the white glow is next right....you could but there is a better way. To avoid white overspray that settles in the cracks and catches on the edges of the top...all you need to do is spray those areas with your dark paint first...not to close to the white though. Notice in the top left pic the door post and around the window is painted. I mixed a custom night color using 10 parts Fascent Blue, 2 parts Black & just a few drops of Fascent Purple. You can see in the top left pic where I started to airbrush over the white lines with a fog of white (not solid) to give it a glow. | |
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| The next step was to add a little more to that glow with some Faschange Blue....held the airbrush back a little farther and sprayed a fog around the white. This is very hard to see because it goes on almost clear...I kept holding it at different angles in the light to see any places that I missed. The pic on the right shows that the blue dissapears if the light does not reflect on it. | |
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| Next the custom night color was sprayed to cover the rest of the top which will fade down the foggy white a little and make the Faschange blue really show up. After the waterbased paint cured for a good warm day, I then backed the whole design in Pactra metalic silver (rattle can) to make it a little more feul proof for this nitro car because spillage happens. | |
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| Using the tip of an exacto blad makes it much easier to apply the stickers straight...less finger prints and you can see what you are doing. After all the stickers and the paint has set for another day....I cut out the top using lexan scissors, then trimmed closer with my roto tool (with sanding drum), then used some 400 grit sand paper to polish the edges and lastly I smeared on some shoe goo on the inside to reinforce the top and keep it from getting scratched on places like the shock tower and pipe. |
| A pretty simple design to do if you have good freehand airbrush control & follow the steps . |
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