Painting a windshield

Hi guys,

Here is a tip for painting a windshield onto your boat. My background is in doing scale models so I had everything needed already on hand, but it's all simple stuff you can pick up at your LHS or order online.

As always, before starting painting do the necessary prep work, eg light sanding, cleaning surface etc. Also obviously your hull colour(s) should already be completed.

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What I have done here is attached a paper template I had printed off onto the hatch just using a couple of spots of blue-tak. You can take this off and re-position as needed till you are happy with its location.

(in this case above as I have a Tenshock/Minicat Racing micro hydro, I printed off the picture of the decal sheet from their website, then cut out the windshield to use as a template. To ensure the cutting of the curves were exactly the same for the left and right hand side of the windshield, i folded the template in half and then cut, then unfolded and placed onto the hatch.)

If no template is available then try drawing some windshield designs on paper and cut them out.

Also in the photo above you can see some very narrow (2mm wide) masking tape I have applied that follows the line of the template. This tape is used to mask curves as it is so thin it can bent and manipulated. Tamiya have recently introduced some vinyl masking tape for curves, I haven't tried it, but being Tamiya should be high quality and work well. Here is a link to the stuff https://www.ebay.com.au/p/?iid=262705694497&&&chn=ps

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In this photo above i have now taken off the paper template, leaving just the outline of tape. This is the hardest part done.

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Here I have started to mask around the tape using some thicker Tamiya tape (8mm). It is important that this tape overlaps the previous thin tape outline, but not enough so that intrudes inside the windshield area where you will be painting.

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Here I have masked off the rest of the hatch with a combination of cheaper generic masking tape and a plastic bag (make sure there are no holes in the bag if you use one!). Now ensure all tape is securely stuck down. Use a clean finger to burnish down all tape, especially the thin tape along the outline. Now carefully and very sparingly wipe down the windshield area with alcohol or wax/grease remover to remove any oily residue so its ready for painting. Try to wipe just within the windshield area so you don't risk pulling up any tape.

The windshield is now ready for spraying. Use a rattle can or airbrush, however if using a rattle can just do it very lightly so the paint doesn't bleed under the tape. Remember it is just a windshield it does not need a thick coat of paint, just enough to get solid colour coverage! Some say to spray a quick coat of clear to seal the edges of the tape to stop bleeding, then go ahead with your windshield colour. Use the same kind of paint if you try this to avoid reaction.

I prefer to take the tape off as soon as possible, ideally once the paint has had a few minutes to set up and flash off (where the solvent evaporates). If the tape is left on too long and starts to dry, when the tape is pulled off it can cause flaking of the paint and leave a ragged edge. Also the tape should be pulled off very carefully, with tweezers if necessary, especially for the thin outlining tape. Pull the tape back down on itself rather than just pulling away from the painted surface, and do this very slowly and methodically.

When dry follow up with clearcoat etc.

This may seem very labour intensive but all up took maybe 45 min to do, and satisfying to boot! The main reason I like this method is that the paper template can be re-positioned time and time again to get the windshield exactly where its needed.