Painting Instrument cluster on 1/35 Schwimmwagen?

Any of those methods will work. The one you use should be the one you are most comfortable with.

For aircraft panels like this one for an F-4E

I paint it with white enamel primer and then with black acrylic over everything. I use an X-Acto knife to carefully scrape the acrylic off the instruments. Since acrylic comes off easier than enamel the white enamel stays in place.

Edit ... Actually, after looking at the photo (it's been a year since I did that), I see that I used gray enamel for the primer and then painted the black only over the instruments. You get the idea anyway.

Scott, that instrument panel is amazing! As I'm looking at the photo on my computer screen the magnification is about 5x, and even at that magnification, the detail is still crisp and clear. Impressive work.

Andy

Thanks, Andy, but don't give me the credit. Tamiya did all the hard work.

The crispness of the detail is why I like to use an X-Acto knife. When I drybrush them I always seem to get a little paint down the sides of the numerals and needles which tends to soften things some. Scraping it with an X-Acto knife is very accurate and really gives some sharp detail.

Thanks all! I appreciate the help and explanations! Al...

Another GREAT tip!!!! Man you guys are awsome!! Im going to have to try that with my Bf-109 Im working on!

Guys, I owe you an apology. The four large instruments on the bottom row of the image I showed were *NOT* painted. They are an acetate overlay. I don't know what made me think of it, but for some reason that popped into my head while I was taking a shower this morning. I checked the instructions and sure enough they were an overlay.

All of the instruments, with the exception of the four large ones on the bottom row, were done using the method I described. I just plain forgot about that overlay.

My bad, I apologize, and I didn't intentionally try to mislead anyone. It's been a year since I did it, and I just plain forgot about that overlay. Now that I've embarassed myself for the day I'm going to hide under my desk.