Leather seats!!

Here are the seats in my Jaguar Mk. II:



I painted them Testor Model Master dark tan (a flat color), then airbrushed them with Testor Semi Gloss Clear lacquer to give them a leathery sheen.

This model's in the soon-to-appear December 2003 FSM, by the way.

Matt Usher @ FSM

Testors does make a Leather color paint...cant remember the # off hand but I have a few jars around here some where. Its ok if you want just brown leather but you still need to give it some depth and definition. I've used the method that pete mentioned and have gotten good results. However you can use any flat paint so dont go out and buy the leather just to have brown seats...
Chris

Something similar to what Pete has suggested...

I got a tip somewhere (perhaps here...) that if you rub the oils from your skin into flat paint, it will shine it up to look like leather. Kinda gross, but I tried it and it works pretty good. Just rub your fingers along your nose or forehead and then rub the paint.

I have no idea whether or not this will last very long, but I did try it out on a test piece and it looked pretty good.

Murray

HEY,
I think Testors and/or Tamiya makea leather colored paint. Never tried it but ive heard good things.

Randy

I simulate leather as follows:

Use any flat paint and let it dry completely. Then, with a piece of old tee shirt or flannel, burnish the paint. You can achieve anything from a soft glow to an almost gloss, depending on how much burnishing you do. Perfect! You will have the same result by burnishing a clear flat overspray.

Pete

Wow! I might have to try that. A simpler way is to mix flat and gloss black 50/50.

For black leather, for instance, spray paint in black (I use an acrylic black primer), then use a little artist's oil paint (black) and a flat brush to spread the (little) paint onto the seat. Then drybrush a bit of white (also artist's oil) or greys to give it more definition and depth. The oils will give it the shine you need.