Beyond Basics: Painting Carbon Fiber

Discussion in 'Tutorials and How Tos' started by Wikkid, Mar 13, 2011.

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  1. Wikkid

    Wikkid Completely retired customizer

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    Carbon fiber is a popular look these days and is easy to simulate with paint. The example I sprayed is a two-tone style that's not overly busy as it maintains a clean design. Carbon fiber can be used in unison with several other paint tricks to create a layered marvel of artisitc . . . blah, blah, blah . . . anyways, let's get it on!

    Begin by spraying your primary color and allow it to dry:

    [​IMG]


    Mask off your break using a plastic type tape. Used here is a 3Ms fine line which leaves very little edge:

    [​IMG]


    Now lay on your black base:

    [​IMG]


    Using a piece of bug screen, wrap it as tight as you can against the project. Overlaps and the odd gap aren't overly important. Lightly spray your gunmetal gray over the entire area to be carbon fibered:

    [​IMG]


    Most of the spray area should come out like this. You can allow some of the areas to be washed over with the gray even though it eliminates the grid pattern - we can deal with that in the next step depending on how light the effect gets. If it's not to your liking, just respray the whole area black and start again untill you're happy:

    [​IMG]


    Using an airbrush, you can go in and darken certain areas with your black to give it depth as though it's three-dimensional. I'd suggest darkening the areas where the carbon effect didn't fully take. Be sure to work it into the surrounding area, or it'll stand out too much:

    [​IMG]


    Now, just unmask, spray out your clear, and assemble:

    [​IMG]


    Here's an example of this technique used on the RX-8 mold:

    [​IMG]
     

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    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 23, 2011
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