Best painting method for "light proofing" buildings??

[gavino200]

I'm not sure what the right term is. By 'lightproofing' I mean painting the inside of a building so that it's light opaque and doesn't glow when you put LEDs inside it. I have limited experience with this. I've only done this once when I put lights in my Kato station house. I've heard that some people put aluminum/tin foil or card inside the buildings. Others paint the inside. Some use black because it is most opaque. Others advocate using white because it looks more real as an interior.

 

Anyway I chose white paint. I used T-shirt paint based on Jeff's suggestion. I don't know if I bought a different kind than he used, but it took a ton of coats. I painted the interior, let it dry, then held it up to a bright light to see if it was opaque. I expected this to take a couple of coats. But it took tons. A few of the fabric paint, then I tried that liquitex paint which wasn't any better. Then a coat of model paint - the airfix/humbrol type - I used the whole pot. Finally I gave the whole thing a coat of white out - the writing correction fluid. The result isn't totally perfect but it's good enough. I'm amazed it took so many coats. I did it all very carefully, and surprisingly it looks ok. 

 

But I'd like to simplify this task. I went to 'Blick' art supplies and talked to the knowledgeable assistants about the issue. Apparently artist's paint comes with an opacity grade. Some like these that I bought have a little gauge where you can see how well it obscures a couple of black lines painted on the tube. There is also a numerical opacity rating.

 

My plan is to start out with a coat of black paint to get to a level of light opacity as quickly as possibly. Then I'll paint white with as many a coats as it takes to get it looking good. Then I'll paint or paper the interior for whatever is the appropriate look of the particular building. 

 

If this takes too many coats or doesn't work well, I'll try cutting out a white card 'mask' of the interior walls and gluing them in place, followed by appropriate paint or paper for decoration.

 

What do you use? What do you think works best?

 

Edit: I just opened Tomytec Warehouse B and I see they're a different beast to the Kato buildings. It may not need any painting at all. But I'd still like get a solution to this problem in case I ever have to light anything as translucent as the Kato Station House again.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 30, 2017 by gavino200

[cteno4]

Gavin,

 

how bright of an led are you using? This is an issue with leds at full amperage that they are mini suns. I've had great luck just turning them down and doing a small foil or cardstock reflector when mounting them. The light sealing I've had to do are only the cracks at joints and that's where the blob/fillet of tullip paint has done the trick.

 

if you want the simple impervious light barrier use foil. You can paint the inside white or use white decorative foil.

 

https://smile.amazon.com/Wilton-804-191-White-Fanci-Foil-Wrap/dp/B0000VMBBA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1512019509&sr=8-3&keywords=White+foil

 

there is also foil tapes as well.

 

jeff

[gavino200]

5 minutes ago, cteno4 said:

Gavin,

 

how bright of an led are you using? This is an issue with leds at full amperage that they are mini suns. I've had great luck just turning them down and doing a small foil or cardstock reflector when mounting them. The light sealing I've had to do are only the cracks at joints and that's where the blob/fillet of tullip paint has done the trick.

 

if you want the simple impervious light barrier use foil. You can paint the inside white or use white decorative foil.

 

https://smile.amazon.com/Wilton-804-191-White-Fanci-Foil-Wrap/dp/B0000VMBBA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1512019509&sr=8-3&keywords=White+foil

 

there is also foil tapes as well.

 

jeff

 

I did all the painting before installing any LEDs. I just held the structure up against the flourescent light tube in my workroom. If any light shone through, I kept adding paint.

 

I still have to turn down some of my mini-suns. I need to make my pot adjusting tool. 

[cteno4]

Gavin,

 

test with your leds in the building, you may be using a much stronger light source there. Just tape up a bit of the building and poke an led in there and test.

 

jeff

[gavino200]

3 minutes ago, cteno4 said:

Gavin,

 

test with your leds in the building, you may be using a much stronger light source there. Just tape up a bit of the building and poke an led in there and test.

 

jeff

 

Yes, I do that next time. Though, when I apply the same 'test' to the Tomytec Warehouse B it's totally opaque. No shine-through whatsoever!

[kvp]

I just use thick craft shop acrylic paint. Usually black for cover and then white for color. It's completly opaque in one layer. Valleyo and rewell works too, but for building interiors and as base coats under terrain, the cheap generic ones are good enough. The faller road and concrete paints are also good and also dry fast.