Detailing in Gold

For the case, there are some words and symbols etched onto the panels. However, since the panel is totally black, this tends to be a little boring. Instead why not add some "bling" to these words and paint it gold to achieve and awesome gold on black effect!

These are the parts that I intend to add some gold paint to

So how do you achieve these awesome gold wordings without making a mess? (not everyone has steady hands) Here, I will list on a few methods that may work but they may not be full proof.

Here are the tools involved. I use Tamiya Goldleaf Enamel Paint + Thinner

So the first method goes something like this. You start by painting the case with a certain type of paint. However, for the gold wordings, you will use a separate type of paint (e.g. acrylic, enamel, laquer) Hence, after painting, you can use the enamel thinner to wipe off mistakes without affecting the bottom coat of paint. You can also paint a flat coat of gloss to protect the bottom coat of paint. However, this did not totally work for me since I tend to always remove the bottom coat of paint when trying to clean up. It worked for certain parts though.

So here is one of the gold wording when I'm done. OF COURSE IT"S NOT PERFECT! I'm human! :p

After wiping off the excess gold paint. Not too shabby as long as you don't view it under a microscope

All the tooless 5.25" clips done! Definitely adds some life to it!

The second method of trying to achieve the gold wordings is to spray a layer of gold first. Mask out the words and then spray your base coat (black in our case) on. How do you mask the words you say? Well, there is a liquid mask out there for scale modellers.

Is this better than the above method? Nope. It has its flaws too. Most importantly, it will almost be impossible to get a clean mask. Hence in the end, Ill touch up the imperfections with a brush and black paint. After cleaning up, it will look nice enough as long as you don't scrutinize it. Furthermore, after weathering the panel, the flaws probably won't be visible.

Here, you can see I have 1) Sprayed gold 2) Applied the liquid mask.
(Product on the right)

Here is after the cleaning up. Definitely better than the stock version!

That's about it. In this post, I highlighted a way that bring life to the boring words on your stock PC casing. However, a warning for you, if this is your first time working with enamel or brush painting..........you're gonna have a bad time! But don't let that discourage you! Go forth and try it out!