Windows You Can't See Into

Adding resin vehicles to your collection can really expand the number of different vehicles available for wargaming. This group of German heavy cars has been in my collection for about 20 years, since Roco / Herpa only released such a vehicle recently as a plastic kit, it has allowed me to get a 20 year head start on using them in a wargame.

Most resin vehicles come unpainted in a yellowish or gray colored resin. These were yellow resin. I painted them just as I would any plastic kit, a quick wash to remove any mold release, a primer spray paint and then paint with brush, airbrush or spray can with regular model paints. The only real difference is this kit came as a solid block of resin. Tires, canopy, body all one part. Very durable, those ham fisted wargamers can't easily damage this model. But then comes the question of how to paint the solid window glass. I have used several techniques and they are illustrated in this series of photos. Here the windows are painted chrome silver, and then painted over with a gloss coat for added depth. Not too bad, looks particularly good on darker vehicles like this panzer gray vehicle.

Here I used a gloss black finish, with an extra gloss coat of clear. When the lighting is just right you can see the shine off the gloss and it looks very effective. If you look at most cars from a distance of a hundred feet, the windows will look dark in the daytime because you are looking through the glass to a dark vehicle interior. Hard to see in the photos but I take just the tiniest bit of chrome silver as a dry brush over the black. All in the same direction, usually at about a 45 degree angle. This makes this medium tan vehicle look a bit darker.

Light blue windows, with a chrome silver dry brush and gloss coat over brush on the windows. This looks best on a light colored vehicle like this tan heavy car. On a very bright sunny day with no clouds, the windows on cars will sometimes reflect the blue of the sky. This works well for desert units. I try and do at least entire companies the same, if not entire battalions, it just seems they look more uniform that way.

These vehicles have windows that are not recessed in any way. Vehicles with more of a recessed window tend to look best with the gloss black with gloss clear coat. I think by the window having a set back from the edge of the door it makes us expect the dark due to the depth.