Post by Ghost on Mar 23, 2018 18:45:35 GMT -7
When I decided on building the Drag-u-La kit I decided to try my hand at gold leafing the body and light bar on this model. I have no experience in doing this at all, or even adding any sort of foil to a kit before. I bought for around 12 bucks on Ebay a Mona Lisa all in one gold leaf kit. It came with 6 sheets of gold leaf, a red base, adhesive, sealer, and antique glaze. I also used for this project a pair of soft plastic gloves for doing the leaf, and a soft paint brush I have for removing the extra leaf. I also did tests on the sealer, and base coat to get down the drying times on the trees of this kit. Here's a heads up on this project if there are any imperfections on the body, scratches, holes, anything the leaf will show all the detail, just keep that in mind.
Mona Lisa Kit
The first step was to lightly sand the body areas I was applying the leaf to. After that I washed the body to remove any dust, and wiped it down with rubbing alcohol to remove any oils on the body. Next, I painted a thin coat of the Red base coat to the body of the model. The base is to be used on anything plastic and suppose to fill in some spots. I coated the body with this red watered down clay mix and let it dry for about 20 minutes. I just covered the areas I wanted to leaf, and left the other areas alone.
After, everything dried I then added the adhesive which took about 25 to 30 minutes to get tacky. When I painted it on it's sort of like a elmers glue wash and will washed out of any of the brushes I used. It will coat the body with a really nice clear, & tacky coat. I didn't add the glue to any of the trim pieces, handles, or radiator cover. For the next step I put on the gloves to handle the leaf, since it is real thin and fine. I used 2 maybe 3 sheets to apply the first coats of leaf. After I spread out the sheets, tried to get out the wrinkles, and used my brush to clear out any loose gold flakes. I noticed after everything I still had to touch up some more areas. I waited a bit, added a little more glue in some of the bad areas, and closer to the emblems. Then I went back over those areas.
After the first try at leafing
I let everything sit for the night and dry. The next day after all the touch ups, the leaf was finally done. After everything had dried I applied the sealer which was sort of chunky, and needed to be thinned out a little. After the sealer was applied I let it sit for a few hours before trying to handle the body. After everything was dry, and looked good, I went ahead and finished up the model.
In the end, if I could do this anyone can do this to a model. I wouldn't mind trying this to another kit later down the line. Hope this helps anyone who wants to give it a try at gold leafing.
Mona Lisa Kit
The first step was to lightly sand the body areas I was applying the leaf to. After that I washed the body to remove any dust, and wiped it down with rubbing alcohol to remove any oils on the body. Next, I painted a thin coat of the Red base coat to the body of the model. The base is to be used on anything plastic and suppose to fill in some spots. I coated the body with this red watered down clay mix and let it dry for about 20 minutes. I just covered the areas I wanted to leaf, and left the other areas alone.
After, everything dried I then added the adhesive which took about 25 to 30 minutes to get tacky. When I painted it on it's sort of like a elmers glue wash and will washed out of any of the brushes I used. It will coat the body with a really nice clear, & tacky coat. I didn't add the glue to any of the trim pieces, handles, or radiator cover. For the next step I put on the gloves to handle the leaf, since it is real thin and fine. I used 2 maybe 3 sheets to apply the first coats of leaf. After I spread out the sheets, tried to get out the wrinkles, and used my brush to clear out any loose gold flakes. I noticed after everything I still had to touch up some more areas. I waited a bit, added a little more glue in some of the bad areas, and closer to the emblems. Then I went back over those areas.
After the first try at leafing
I let everything sit for the night and dry. The next day after all the touch ups, the leaf was finally done. After everything had dried I applied the sealer which was sort of chunky, and needed to be thinned out a little. After the sealer was applied I let it sit for a few hours before trying to handle the body. After everything was dry, and looked good, I went ahead and finished up the model.
In the end, if I could do this anyone can do this to a model. I wouldn't mind trying this to another kit later down the line. Hope this helps anyone who wants to give it a try at gold leafing.
