Member Tutorials
Radar Eye Preparation – A Tutorial
on Building and Painting a Resin Eye
Marcel Melito (r2d24meuk)
Marcel is a
builder from the
This is his tutorial on assembling, preparing and painting a
Resin Radar Eye using readily available Paints from the
Firstly the
radar eye and radar eye lens was bought from Dave Everett and Steve Kazmeroff
(Great work guys!!!).
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- Sand the radar eye to remove
any rough edges or surfaces with light grade sandpaper, bubbles in the
resin may be present but I wouldn’t go too mad sanding them down as you
may lose the shape or its accurate measurements. The primer, colour and lacquer should
"fill" most of them if not all of them. If the bubbles are a
little deep then filler will be needed.
- After you think that you have a
smooth radar eye, think again!!!. Spray the radar eye with a GREY PLASTIC
PRIMER which will not only provide a good base coat for your colour but
will show up any rough bits that you may have missed. After you have
sanded to perfection give the radar eye one more coat of GREY PLASTIC
PRIMER. Once dry you are ready to mask off the parts you DONT WANT blue.
- Mask off with low tack tape the
"inner ring" of the eye and the indented lines on the right hand
side of the eye. This can be tricky but patience is needed to obtain the
straightest lines possible. Once that is done you are now ready for you first
coat of colour.
- I managed to find a pearlescent
blue car spray paint called "Rover Tahiti Blue '93", it has a
pearlescent finish to it, deep in colour. The colour that you choose is of
course your choice, as we don't have the exact colour match; judgment is the
next best thing, this colour worked for me especially when it catches the
light. Right, now give it two coats in your colour, leaving first coat to
DRY BEFORE applying second coat, you don't want any runs from over
applying.
- Your eye should now be taking
shape and looking like it belongs to our little friend. I can’t stress
enough "LET THE PAINT DRY 24 HOURS BEFORE EVEN TOUCHING IT"
because the surface may appear dry but once picked up finger prints WILL
ruin you new paint job, Oh and don’t leave it to dry in a windy room
because dust will stick to it and again ruin the look.
- Once the paint has dried remove
the masking tape and mask over the coloured surfaces, again patience is
needed to make sure no colour is showing at all. You are now ready for
your Aluminium colour. I used "Aluminium Spray Paint”. Spray the
"inner ring" and detailed lines with the aluminium colour, like
before leaving to dry before applying second coat. Again "LEAVE TO
DRY FOR 24 HOURS" after second coat. Now you can remove the masking
tape and hey presto a nearly finished R2 Radar Eye.
- Lastly you will want a glossy
finish to it so a lacquer is needed. I used a "Clear Lacquer".
Like before spray the first coat let dry for a while then apply a second
coat then leave to dry again for 24 HOURS.
The eye is
practically done now; all that is needed is the eye lens. The lens from Steve Kazmeroff will need a
little reshaping to fit behind Dave Everett's radar eye. I used a dremmel with
a cutting bit attached. TAKE CARE not to
let the dremmel run away with itself and scratch the lens. After you have made
the lens fit behind the eye all it needs is a bit of glue around the lens to
keep it attached to the eye, be careful not to get glue all over the visible
part of the lens. I still need to glue mine on.
You have
now completed your R2D2 Radar Eye. I hope that my experiences will help you
out, I was very pleased with the end result but that was to my taste, it may
not be the look you are after. If you live in the
Grey
Plastic Primer......................."Halfords" own brand
Rover
Clear
Lacquer.............................."Halfords" own brand
If you
don't live in the
Good
Luck!!!
Marcel.