I originally tinted my tails uniformly but the reverse lights were too dim with this set up.
So I tried masking off the reverse light area, unfortunately I ran out of paint before I could get them as dark as I would like but I think they came out pretty well, and the reverse lights work great.
I tinted them by painting the inside with testors window tint paint for models.
What do you all think of the look?

All smoked:


Reverse lights masked:

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hmmm... a lil darker on the full smoked ones is what i am going to do on mine....

 

sorry a newb question....but did u use an airbrush or hand brush? and is the paint expensive?
btw...great job! looks cool.
how did u get the reverse lights back to clear after u painted it the first time?

 

i like the partially smoked one on passenger side (second pic)

 

I'm feeling the second pic.

 

2 pic looks great.

 

I used another set of tails to do the second set, I sitll have the first set, although the lens on the left one is a little cracked, it is very difficult to remove the lenses without cracking them. The new ones aren't cracked at all but that's because I used a special method to remove the lenses. I cut the housings out around the clips and pulled the lenses out then I used a third set of housings. I painted with the spray can that the stuff came in I used numerous coats, one trick is to lay the lenses face down after each coat to get the paint to flow onto the little bumps on the lenses. Then do one coat and let it fill in the valleys. Oh and the paints costs about $6 at the hobby store.

 

That looks really good. I saw that someone had painted their tailights and that also looked really good.

 

What? Did you say you used testors? Then let me say that that looks excellent.
Sorry, I do not like to edit my posts.

 

Thanks all, yes I did indeed use testors "window tint" paint for models.
I Wish I had another can but I did the second set last night at about 2am
Plan on using at least one full carn per set of tails.

 

very nice job. yea the only thing i would have done different is the darker smoking. kudos to a great DIY mod.

 

i wouldn't say that's too dark but thats just me. my tails are smoked darker than yours and i haven't had any problem. for my tails i used NIGHT SHADES it comes in a smallish can (probably alot bigger than that testors stuff) and it cost me 7.99 a can and each can could probably do 3-4 sets of lights.

 

sorry bout all the pics. but these are all the pics of all of my previos tinting jobs. i've also done two of my friends corolla's and a few other car's lights. all have been doen with the night shades tint. the tintin on the bmw were way too dark but the supra's were a lil darker than the scions but still had good light output.

 

nice pix hotbox! :D how many coats did you use of the nightshades on your box? how did you do yours? (paint from the outside, sanding, prep, etc..)

 

on the box i used 3 or 4. and as far as prep i just cleaned them with soap and water then dried them 100% no sanding it will "haze" the lights. so after the lights were dry i just started sprayin light thin coats. maybe i did like 4 or 5 either way very thin coats or runs will be very very noticeable. the supra was like 5 or 6 coats and the bimmer was like 3 coats on the outside and like 2 on the inside. ( way too dark). after spray is dry you can wax it to give it a lil more shine

 

I like the second.

-nt