Painting armor vision ports

thanks im glad someone knows what it is. i think it looks incredibly realistic.

QUOTE: Originally posted by 60gunner check your local craft store. i found a material that to me looks identical to the glass periscopes. i just cut an oversize piece and glue with white glue. then exacto the correct shape around the glass. i dont know the name of the stuff...but its really glossy and comes in the "pink and purple" colors. the best part of this material is that when the light hits it it has that "reflective" look that you see from the actual periscopes. sorry i cant be more help with the actual name of the material :( you'll know it when you find it though! in the mean time if i can find out what its called i will reply again.

What 60gunner is referring to is the mylar material I was talking about in my post. I have never used it though.

check your local craft store. i found a material that to me looks identical to the glass periscopes. i just cut an oversize piece and glue with white glue. then exacto the correct shape around the glass. i dont know the name of the stuff...but its really glossy and comes in the "pink and purple" colors. the best part of this material is that when the light hits it it has that "reflective" look that you see from the actual periscopes. sorry i cant be more help with the actual name of the material :( you'll know it when you find it though! in the mean time if i can find out what its called i will reply again.

I use clear plastic and use Tamiya's Clear Red XF-27 looks pretty good

A rotring ink pen is great to 'paint' those older vision blocks. The ink stays slightly glossy once applied, and of course, being a pen, it's dead easy to handle.

They are actually called periscopes. They are solid blocks of laminated glass or lexan plastic. The most modern, such as those on modern tanks and armored vehicles like the M2A2 Bradley or M1A2 tank also have a anti-laser coating that gives them a reddish or irridescent look.

To replicate older, non anti-laser coated vision blocks, I simply paint them black and overcoat with a couple of coats of gloss. For newer vision blocks with anti-laser coating, I paint black then overcoat with a thinned coat of clear red (stop light red). I thin it enough that you can still see the black through it. Then I again overcoat with a couple coats of gloss. This gives the impression of the anti-laser coating since you can see the black through the red. Also, at different angles, the red appears irridesent , or black. Just like the real thing. I have also heard of people using mylar from a balloon that is close to the red anti-laser coating as well. I have never tried this as I think my method looks good enough for me.

Hope that helps.