What's the best way to get nice clean thin panel lines?

[Vifam7]

What's the best way to get nice clean thin panel lines?

I tried using Gundam marker, but it seems to go on a bit thicker than certain panel lines. And it looks "drawn in" if you know what I mean. Also since my hand steadiness is terrible, I always end up going outside the recessed lines.

Any way to improve the look of Gundam marker made panel lines?

Advice appreciated.

[miriya]

I have heard that ultra fine mechanical pencils are good for this and the parts that go out of line can be easily erased.

[Wicked Ace]

Clean panel lines? See post number one in my thread.

[hirohawa]

Best panel lines:

Tamiya smoke

Tamiya thinner (use sparingly like 10%)

Good thin brush and a paper towel.

The Tamiya smoke is basically transparent black so you have nice panel lines that have alot of depth because of the tranparency versus opaque black that looks totally fake.

Mechanicl pencils does not have as fine a panel line as the the Tamiya Method

Edited February 4, 2008 by hirohawa

[Penguin]

What's the best way to get nice clean thin panel lines?

I tried using Gundam marker, but it seems to go on a bit thicker than certain panel lines. And it looks "drawn in" if you know what I mean. Also since my hand steadiness is terrible, I always end up going outside the recessed lines.

Any way to improve the look of Gundam marker made panel lines?

Advice appreciated.

Finding that I suck at using washes for panel linings (despite the excellent guidance found all over this site), I moved to markers and pencils exclusively. For Gundam markers, I recommend getting the soft tip grey or black markers (links below). Simply draw the lines (which will deliberately go outside the lines), then immediately wipe off the excess with a paper towel. You can get some very thin, clean lines that lack the "drawn in" look of using the hard, thin-tip markers. Working on a gloss finish gives a very clean, crisp line, while a semi-gloss or flat surface naturally results in a soft, smudged look, but sometimes that looks good too (softly darkening the edges of the panels).

Soft Tip Black Marker

Soft Tip Grey Marker

As Miriya stated, using mechanical pencils can be excellent as well. There is a trade-off that you can't get soft, darker leads (2B or softer) in the really fine sizes, so you can't get nice, heavy lines. That being said, you can always go over the line a few times to darken it, or apply a clear coat afterwards, which also tends to darken the line. You can also just use a regular soft lead pencil, but you have to keep sharpening it every couple of lines. Hard leads have a slightly shiny, metallic look, especially when applied heavily. This can be softened with a stomp (or just a piece of paper towel, rolled up fine to a stiff point) to smudge the pencil inside the panel line a little. You can always use an eraser around the edges to clean up after yourself, although be careful as the eraser may pick up the paint or finish if you rub too hard. A slightly damp cloth can also remove unwanted lines.

I tend to use Gundam markers for aircraft, due to the very fine lines, and pencils for larger items with deeper lines (like Yamato VFs) and anything I want to look a bit more "dirty" ('cause pencil is easy to smudge in a controlled fashion).

Hope this helps.

Edited June 27, 2008 by Penguin

[Vifam7]

Finding that I suck at using washes for panel linings (despite the excellent guidance found all over this site), I moved to markers and pencils exclusively. For Gundam markers, I recommend getting the soft tip grey or black markers (links below). Simply draw the lines (which will deliberately go outside the lines), then immediately wipe off the excess with a paper towel. You can get some very thin, clean lines that lack the "drawn in" look of using the hard, thin-tip markers. Working on a gloss finish gives a very clean, crisp line, while a semi-gloss or flat surface naturally results in a soft, smudged look, but sometimes that looks good too (softly darkening the edges of the panels).

Soft Tip Black Marker

Soft Tip Grey Marker

As Miriya stated, using mechanical pencils can be excellent as well. There is a trade-off that you can't get soft, darker leads (2B or softer) in the really fine sizes, so you can't get nice, heavy lines. That being said, you can always go over the line a few times to darken it, or apply a clear coat afterwards, which also tends to darken the line. You can also just use a regular soft lead pencil, but you have to keep sharpening it every couple of lines. Hard leads have a slightly shiny, metallic look, especially when applied heavily. This can be softened with a stomp (or just a piece of paper towel, rolled up fine to a stiff point) to smudge the ink inside the panel line a little. You can always use an eraser around the edges to clean up after yourself, although be careful as the eraser may pick up the paint or finish if you rub too hard. A slightly damp cloth can also remove unwanted lines.

I tend to use Gundam markers for aircraft, due to the very fine lines, and pencils for larger items with deeper lines (like Yamato VFs) and anything I want to look a bit more "dirty" ('cause pencil is easy to smudge in a controlled fashion).

Hope this helps.

Thank you Miriya and Penguin! I'll try the soft tip grey G-marker. I'll try the mechanical pencil approach too (on my next kit).

One mistake I made was using black Gundam marker everywhere. It particularly just stands out too much against the white bodies of Valkyries and Gundams. Some like the really deep lines but I prefer thinner lines so I have to be careful about what colors contrasts too much with the main body's color.

Edited February 5, 2008 by Vifam7

[Noyhauser]

Actually the best I've found for quick and easy panel lines are Sakura pens (bullet pens, and I think .5 mm as small as you can get) These are high end pens favoured by graphic artists. What I do is line them, and with a damp paper towel, wipe out the excess in the direction with the airflow. Now I don't know how well this will work with toys, since I use this for models which I don't often touch.

http://www.sakuraofamerica.com/Pen-archival-ink

[tornady]

after applying panel lines using a soft tip g-marker, is it ok to use an acrylic topcoat? i read somewhere that some types of the g-markers are not to be topcoated and i would like to know if this is the same with the soft tip g-marker. thanks

[Penguin]

after applying panel lines using a soft tip g-marker, is it ok to use an acrylic topcoat? i read somewhere that some types of the g-markers are not to be topcoated and i would like to know if this is the same with the soft tip g-marker. thanks

I use Gunze spray lacquer to topcoat my models and I haven't had any problems with the soft-tip markers for panel lining. Can't say about acrylic topcoats.

Gundam markers do have a similar base to Tamiya and Gunze acrylic paints. I've used a Gundam white marker quite a few times to "erase" small mistakes by using it to lift off the paint and then wipe it clean quickly (doesn't work for Pollyscale/Testors or Life Color acrylics though). Given that, I'd say it's quite possible for acrylic topcoats to damage Gundam marker paint jobs. But, I think that will be more of a problem if you've painted an entire surface using markers. Worst case for panel lines, it might break them up a little and you'd have to go over them again.