Bandai TMP Enterprise "radar dish"...

[YamahaGTS]

Hi all. I'm re-visiting my Bandai TMP Enterprise to fix a couple problems. The lighting never worked from day one so I fixed that by soldering some wires in the base/battery compartment. It works!

My second problem is the "radar dish". As you can see in the attached photos it is clear plastic with a white light. I'd like to give it the baby blue color from the film. Most of the clear blue paints that I have seen are much too dark, e.g. Tamiya, ModelMaster. Is there a clear blue out there that I'm missing or is there a way to lighten up what I have access too?

I don't want to mess this up so I'm open to all suggestions.

Thanks guys!

 

[Boba Flint]

Take your Tamiya clear blue and mix in some Tamiya clear. That should lighten up the blue for you.

 

[Jedi Dade]

and frost the back side of the dome... to difuse the light.

 

[Sith_241]

And, if you use an airbrush to apply it put it on in really thin coats and build it to the correct color.

 

[YamahaGTS]

Thanks for the ideas guys.

I started messing around with mixing clear and the clear blue and it looks like it will work out well.

I like the idea of frosting the inside of the dish. I only wish I had thought of that before I built the kit! That would have looked great. Oh well....

 

[robn1]

You can frost the dish by painting it with clear flat.

 

[JMChladek]

Gunze makes a sky blue clear shade, but I agree that mixing Tamiya clear blue with clear and misting it on will achieve the same appearance.

 

[Proper]

There's an aftermarket blue deflector that you can buy for a few bucks. I forget the name of the online place. But Google it.

 

[137th Gebirg]

A cheaper solution may be to buy an ultra-bright blue LED from RadioShack, and the appropriate resistor (to ensure proper current through the LED without burning it out and, voila! Pure blue. And yes, I would recommend frosting the plastic to diffuse the light.

 

[robn1]

A cheaper solution may be to buy an ultra-bright blue LED from RadioShack, and the appropriate resistor (to ensure proper current through the LED without burning it out and, voila! Pure blue. And yes, I would recommend frosting the plastic to diffuse the light.

That would make the most sense, the original was mostly white when turned off. Just frost the clear part and use a blue LED.

 

[falcondesigns]

A regular LED tinted in the right shade would do the trick.Mix your paint,dip the LED,let dry and install.

 

[Spheric Thor]

This is what I did. I used the blue plastic film lens from a pair of the cheap 3D glasses. Cut a small circle out of it and also cut a small circle out of plain white paper. Next I put the white paper circle behind the clear lens and the blue film circle behind the white paper. With the lights off it appears white and with the lights on it is blue.

 

[Proper]

This is what I did. I used the blue plastic film lens from a pair of the cheap 3D glasses. Cut a small circle out of it and also cut a small circle out of plain white paper. Next I put the white paper circle behind the clear lens and the blue film circle behind the white paper. With the lights off it appears white and with the lights on it is blue.

Be careful with paper so close to a heat source.

 

[YamahaGTS]

Wow, so many great ideas here. I only wish I had thought about this issue before I built the kit years ago. I especially like the blue LED solution. Oh well, you live, you learn......