panel lines colors

I was wondering what wash color does everyone prefer to do the panel lines for a yellow car? How about an electron blue car (Civic Si)?

I don't like strong panel lines...something that looks realistic.

Thanks!

Well for a start, electron blue wouldn't be too realistic if the body is yellow.
If u really want to make them realistic, use black with a little shade of your bodycolor.

On a yellow car, a brownish wash looks best. On a medium blue, dark blue looks decent, though you could get away w/black if the color is dark enough around it. Using a wash like this is appropriate for a car that is completely painted.

Using black Pigma Micron pens, sized .005, I've begun to detail my panel lines in the middle of the paint sequence. I usually paint a few coats of color, and let it dry and then wet sand/wet polish the surface w/3200-4000 grit polishing cloths and reshoot the paint for a better finish. Now when I reshoot a few good coats of color, the black panel lines that I added over the first coats show through as a darker shade of the color around it. It's quite convincing and subtle. I combine this at times w/deeper panel lines that I cut in with a scribing tool prior to painting; many times they're too shallow and will fill up with paint too easily. Some prefer to do only deeper panel lines, w/o any paint tricks. Both techniques work, try 'em out and see what suits you best.

BLACK.
Have a close look at any car that you see on the street and see what colour they are.

BLACK.
Have a close look at any car that you see on the street and see what colour they are.

Hehe, another crack at P'man's panel line argument is about to take place! Just another opinion here... :icon16: One's models are one's shrines. Build 'em how you see fit; it's getting them built that's more important than counting every rivet. :)

I don't disagree; real panel lines on real cars look black-however, if you take scale measurements and how the human eye sees things, black panel lines on most models look a bit large and a bit "loud", at least to my eyes.

For the sake of argument, I just measured a typical model panel line...it was somewhere between .015 and .020" wide. That would translate into .36" to .48" wide panel gaps. That's a bigger gap (roughly double) than real cars have, especially the modern cars most of us are building. I've looked at cars in traffic thinking about this, and the panel lines almost disappear at the same "scale" as we view our models, you barely see them. However, we know that leaving them body color on a model makes 'em look naked or unfinished (unless the builder scribes them to a much greater depth). Black is a correct color, but unless it's a very thin line (nearly impossible, a .005" line is available from pens, but that area fills the gap and ends up being wider) it looks overscale. I compare models I built w/black panel lines, and models w/painted (acrylic wash)panel lines, and models where the black panel lines are covered w/a few coats of paint. To my eyes, and those who know what I've been up to (seeing the models in person, a computer screen is a whole 'nother matter), people always comment on how correct the panel lines look with the slightly darker lines of my latest favorite panel line detail-the black under the color. The acrylic washes tend to be a tad uneven. The black panel lines are clean and simple, but stand out severely on light colored cars.

The nice thing about the method I'm using is that it's simple, very little cleanup, very clean final results. It's the least hassle of any I've tried. The pens I use, called Pigma Micron, don't bleed w/Tamiya sprays. Any glitch can be wiped off before the model is painted. I can't remember who it was on this forum that taught me this method, but it's a great method and my models look better because of it.

As stated, everyone should at least test the various methods to see what looks best to their eyes, and to hell w/what anyone else says! :icon16: :)

I think I agree with Zoom-Zoom (sorry P-man). There is also an effect... I think called "atmospheric distortion" or something, that makes colors at a distance less rich. Something like that. I've seen model railroaders who paint all their models with a less saturated color to replicate the effect. I thought that looked awful. However, I think the effect is appropriate for panel lines, and black would be too much. In fact, I don't like panel lines at all.

But... I am building a white car. And I think it will need panel lines. There is an article about panel lines in the last Scale Auto and even though it mentions how it will talk about appropriate washes for red, yellow, and white, it leaves white out. And ZoomZoom left white out. What wash would you use for white? A light to medium gray? Maybe an intermediate blue even? What do ya'll use?

light grey would be nice.

White car? Light to medium gray wash, or black panel lines done w/the Pigma pen .005 covered by a few coats of white. Worked like a charm on my '99 Celica and Porsche 911 Cabriolet.

http://images4.fotki.com/v51/photos/1/10258/17860/911Cabrio2-vi.jpg

http://images3.fotki.com/v34/photos/1/10258/17860/CelicaGT2-vi.jpg

Black panel lines would have been too harsh IMHO. Your other choice is to scribe the panel lines deeper. I sometimes do both.

I dont like panel lines on models. <---period