How to paint realistic-looking tailights in 1/35?

Hi .What I do is this .

    If the lights are hollow I fill them with Testors Chrome Silver .Then let them really dry , say three or four days . I come back with Tamiya clear red .Then put a lens on or the lenses , if they come with them , with Aleens or Elmers glue . I find that works great .

Now if they are molded solid I foil the lens area and then add  the Tamiya clear red .Then regular gloss clear .

I vote for Tamiya clear red acrylic.

Yeah, on kits that have transparent lenses, I like to paint the inside of the light chrome silver and then I spray the outside of the lens part with transparent red or whatever the color of the light is, for headlights I just leave the lens alone, and the chrome behind it gives it the perfect look.  On kits that don't have transparent lenses, I use the translucent MM stoplight red or turn signal amber paint.

I agree with Bish, Tamiya and Mr Color clears work very well.  Depending on what effect you want, you can paint both sides of the lens for a cool effect, also some foil behind it may work for what you want.

Terry

I use Tamiya clear colours and find that very effective.

Paint the back of the part and glue it on with white glue.