Revell 1/32 Bell X-1[?]

Okay, now I only have a suggestion for the dash. You might have read about this. First, you take the design of the dash and copy it exactly. Then, you take a flat piece of white styrene and apply a decal of the dash(dails and such). After that, you take a flat piece of clear styreneand glue it to the white styrene. Then, the copy of the dash you made is to be applied. And there you have it.

On the cockpit interior question, the best approachis to dry fit the components before you glue. This usually isn't easy to do with cockpit interiors so I will tack the interior in place with a couple of small drops of super glue and then check the fuselage fit to make sure all is square and that the interior doesn't interfere with the fuselage halves mating. If all looks well, add some super glue to the join in a non-visible area and proceed to glue the fuselage halves together. If a problem is noted, you can identify it and still have time to remove the interior without serious damage. Painting dials depends on the kit. If the dials have raised engraved detail then it's easiest to paint the panel color, paint the dials black and then dry brush the raised detail in white or silver. You can also use colored Prisma pencils to bring out the engraved detail. Touch up the black if needed, flood in some clear gloss for glass and it will look pretty good. If no raised detail is provided then use decals if available. If no decals, then paint the panel with a white base coat, over paint with black and using a small sharp instrument , such as a sewing needle in a pin vise, carefully scrape the black to represent the dial graphics so that the white shows through. Go slow cause you don't want to scrape through the white. Finish off with the clear gloss on the dial face. Also many of the photoetch detail sets come with a mylar sandwich affair which can make very realistic panels. Don't know if one is avilable for your Bell X-1.

All good advise! For some additional detail, the backside of the X-1's instrument panel
is visible through the canopy. The instrument cases are represented there and should be painted flat black. You could also make up a wiring harness by driling a small hole
in the back of the case and use fine wire for the instrument wiring. This should be routed to the left and into the from edge of the large junction box on the left side of the
cockpit. For the real fanatic, small pieces of sprue could be glued to the back of each instrument to show the cannon plugs. Drill the hole for the wire in those. Cannon plugs
are usually silver or OD green. The wiring is usually white.
Ray

QUOTE: Originally posted by rjkplasticmod On the cockpit interior question, the best approachis to dry fit the components before you glue. This usually isn't easy to do with cockpit interiors so I will tack the interior in place with a couple of small drops of super glue and then check the fuselage fit to make sure all is square and that the interior doesn't interfere with the fuselage halves mating. If all looks well, add some super glue to the join in a non-visible area and proceed to glue the fuselage halves together. If a problem is noted, you can identify it and still have time to remove the interior without serious damage. Painting dials depends on the kit. If the dials have raised engraved detail then it's easiest to paint the panel color, paint the dials black and then dry brush the raised detail in white or silver. You can also use colored Prisma pencils to bring out the engraved detail. Touch up the black if needed, flood in some clear gloss for glass and it will look pretty good. If no raised detail is provided then use decals if available. If no decals, then paint the panel with a white base coat, over paint with black and using a small sharp instrument , such as a sewing needle in a pin vise, carefully scrape the black to represent the dial graphics so that the white shows through. Go slow cause you don't want to scrape through the white. Finish off with the clear gloss on the dial face. Also many of the photoetch detail sets come with a mylar sandwich affair which can make very realistic panels. Don't know if one is avilable for your Bell X-1.

In the past I have solely dry brushed the instrument panel....however on the Pro Modeler P40 Im doing I tried the needle in the pinvise tip and it worked rather well! A bit tricky as I scraped through the white in a few spots....

As far as the Prisma Color Pencil trick....havent tried it and dont think Ive heard of it until now. I am interested in this technique though....

As mentioned Kris in the last post adding some really simple wiring touches will make it stand apart from being an OOB build and I think you will be happy with it in the end.

Thanks all for the help. I will try to remember the next time I get a chance to work on her.


Demankat

Prismacolor pencils are avaiable at any art supply store. They come in a wide variety of colors and are very useful for the model builder. The Silver pencil is extremely good for adding chipping on wing leading edges and around panels, cowl flaps, etc. For armor builders the Rust Brown pencil is very useful for weathering small or hard to reach areas. They can be sharpened to a fine point and are good for fine detail once you learn the technique. They only work well on flat painted surfaces, Iv'e had no luck using them on gloss paint.

Rick