Making a clear lense for Wall-e

[dshavers]

Ok so I'm kind of stumped on a project and I'm sure there are some masters here on this site that can help me out. I'm finishing up a Wall-e miniature/toy, and I'm pretty much down to the eyes. I drilled out the ones that were there and added some small lenses. I'm now stuck at how to do the lenses. One way to do it I was thinking was to use resin but I don't want to risk something going wrong and ruining a few weeks worth of work. The option I'm looking at is to cut out the lenses using a thin plastic or possible a wet media acetate film, that I can thin maybe tint with black to darken them up, similar to a camera lense. The opening to the eye fits almost perfect with a standard hole punch. I also was reading something about dipping clear parts into future tinted with color, but not sure the acetate or thin transparent sheets would hold up to that. Would Tamiya smoke work for this?

 

[Rab]

I've used PVA Glue to make lenses for model cars in the past, a small drop onto a sheet of waxed paper, dries clear and can be tinted with Tamiya transparent colours, I've also used acetate and yes you can use Tamiya smoke without damaging it.

Cheers - Rab.

 

[dshavers]

Thanks for reply. I went to a theatrical supply store and got some small greyscale samples of some lighting gels, that just might do the trick.

 

[Firestryke31]

For the tinting color I would suggest a midnight blue or some other very dark shade of blue. There's a scientific reason behind the color but it escapes me (something to do with the different refraction rates of different colors, I think). Technically, it's a very thin (microscopicly thick) coating of a material but simply tinting will get the point across since I doubt the materials and equipment are easily available to get that kind of coating .

 

[DXM]

Easiest is to use lens from either MV or Greif

They are something like these
http://www.detailmaster.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=detailmaster&Category_Code=MV

or

http://www.spruebrothers.com/Nexternal/greif-realistic-light-lenses---1mm-green-4-pcs-200e.htm

Go to any well stocked Train/Hobby Shop and they should have stock.
All the hard work is done for you. Little concave discs with colored epoxy.
Hope this helps

 

[PegaZus]

You have my son's attention. He wants a picture!

 

[dshavers]

This is so awesome! Hopefully I can find something the right size. They are so cheap it might be easier ordering a few different sizes. These will be easier to tint as well.

Easiest is to use lens from either MV or Greif

They are something like these
http://www.detailmaster.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=detailmaster&Category_Code=MV

or

http://www.spruebrothers.com/Nexternal/greif-realistic-light-lenses---1mm-green-4-pcs-200e.htm

Go to any well stocked Train/Hobby Shop and they should have stock.
All the hard work is done for you. Little concave discs with colored epoxy.
Hope this helps

 

[dshavers]

Pictures coming very soon. I promise.

You have my son's attention. He wants a picture!

 

[dshavers]

Thanks everyone for their ideas. I actually found a store near me that sold the MV lenses and I found come clear ones that fit perfectly. Now just have to tint them, which I think i'm going to look into possibly using Tamiya clear colors.

 

[airhead]

You didn't say what scale you are working on.

Drilling and filling with some sort of water effect (thick white glue) or resin is one option. Color or tint the resin and paint the area that you are going to fill.

Another option is very NMM, much like dragster funny cars and nascar do with their car bodies: They paint them on (or use a decal).

 

[dshavers]

Thanks airhead. I think the lenses I got will work out perfectly after the tinting. I bought some Tamiya clear smoke, red , and blue to make a deep purplish stain that should go over the lenses. I'm considering doing the dipping in future colored with Tamiya clears, but they are so small that it might be easier to either spray or brush on the color.

You didn't say what scale you are working on.

Drilling and filling with some sort of water effect (thick white glue) or resin is one option. Color or tint the resin and paint the area that you are going to fill.

Another option is very NMM, much like dragster funny cars and nascar do with their car bodies: They paint them on (or use a decal).