Painting inside of Plasticville buildings? What color?

When building my teenage-boy layouts, I would put the plasticville building panel on a piece of black construction paper and would then use an X-Acto knife to cut out the windows.  Finally, I'd affix the paper to the inside of the buildings with scotch tape.

It was a bit of work, but my thinking was I would preserve the originals.  I had been fortunate enough to come across a trove of mint condition Plasticville from the 1950s and didn't want to wreck them.  YMMV.

Steven J. Serenska

Black does seem like a good idea.  The paper one is a good suggestion as well.  These are mostly kits that were rescued from junk bins already missing pieces, or damaged, or formerly had been glued together, so there's nothing to be lost value wise in painting them.  I'm definitely treating them more as model kits than collectibles.

I'm considering also gluing them together (except the roofs) and mounting them to stiff tiles that I can attach some method of holding the lights and cords in place with.

I don't have a recommendation on a color but I do recommend spraying vs brushing the paint.  I've brushed the inside before and could see the brush strokes through the backlit plastic which looked worse than before.  Now I just use a healthy coat of gray primer sprayed from an airbrush (I've been using Badger Stynlrez).  After it dries I shine a flashlight on the backside to check for thin spots.

I'd spray the walls with a coat of rattle can flat black, and then another coat of whatever "warm color" you might like.

Jon

@KOOLjock1 posted:

I'd spray the walls with a coat of rattle can flat black, and then another coat of whatever "warm color" you might like.

Jon

And you can put pictures of interiors on the inside walls for some added detail.  I've done that with grocery stores, and a bank so far.

Spray is a good thought. Some of these are pretty darn translucent and would probably show brush marks.

I don't have an airbrush but we're expecting an unseasonably warm day tomorrow and I've got dozens of spray cans

Eilif I’ve painted down to 50 degrees by bringing my models outside only to paint and warming the paint can in warm water. As long as the humidity is below 50%, or whatever it says on the spray paint instructions, you should be okay.

Silver or aluminum Spray paint... It will be more opaque and reflect the light.