Whats the best way to paint dials & meters on radios & instrument panels. Im working on academys m-36 & when I paint the dials & meters they just look like globs of paint.

For me the best way is to scrap off all the raised detail and replace them with decals or rub ons. Archer makes some nice sets.

dry brush

take small amount of paint on yur prush take a piece of paper and just wipe it on the paper tll almost none or veryy little paint comes of and just gently brush over the raised surface

you may have to reapeat a few time but this is how i do it

Another technique to try is to paint the dial base color, then once it dries, pick out the details with the fine point of a toothpick. It's very tricky and requires a steady hand, though. I've had some success with it, but I find that I have to make sure that I dab most of the paint from the tip of the toothpick first so as not to glob too much on at once.

I did accidentally run across another trick the other day. I was using some of those Tamiya weathering powders and found that lightly rubbing the small sponge across the face of the dials works very similarly to Armorjunior's drybrushing technique. I liked my initial results and want to try it out again at some point.

- Frank

Hi there,

I would go for Dry Brushing. Quite easy to master too!

Reference:
Drybrushing by Steve Bamford

And here's what I have done using Steve's instruction:

thanks everyone, I think I'll try the dry brushing technique tonite.