panel lines for a white car

i've already read instructions on how to make panel lines for a car, but i thought i'd ask a couple of questions if you guys don't mind.

i'm doing the mobil nsx kit right now, and i want to create panel lines for it, but i was wondering if i'm supposed to use black or gray. on italianhorses's site, he says use a gray wash. and on this site, i saw the white wrx painted with black panel lines. the black, looks pretty good, i'm just wondering if gray would be a bit more subtle?

and just to make sure...how much thinner for how much paint? half the paint? two times?
thanks

The grey is better and looks more correct.

About 2 parts thinner to 1 part paint.

I'd say go with grey for a more realistic feel.

As for thinning the paint, try to thin to the consistency of the "dirty water" after washing your small brush.

haha, thanks. those were some quick replies.

does anyone know the color code for which tamiya paint would suit the lines the best?

and oh yeah...thinner is pretty cheap, right? it's such a big bottle...i don't need all of it.

thanks again.

About the thinner, you can also buy a small bottle. Like the paint bottles. I got them both. I always use the small bottle and fill it up with the big one. It's cheap and very handy to work with. I'm not sure if grey would do it. Maybe you should try black thinned so you get the dirty water effect like iceblend said. A very thin layer of it will do. Just my :2cents: in this...

I just started painting panel lines on my models and IMO grey works the best on a white car.
You do not need to get grey paint. Just mix some black and white.

gray would be the best for realism...if your going for a cartoony look then black. You can also use gundam markers instead of a paint wash...they have them on HLJ

Tamiya's XF-66 is a good shade of grey for a wash.

You can find grey gundam markers which produce a very neat and clean looks. They take a little less time than the wash and is easier!

I would recommend a (clear )grey acrylic (smoke?). that way any runover, or excess can be wiped off without possibly damaging the enamel paint on the body. or vise versa.

correct me if I'm not making sense.

Gray works well on white, I just custom mix it. Worked well, but can be a bit messy and the lines aren't always uniform.

However, I now use disposable Pigma Micron pigment liners, these are cheap disposable rapidographs for technical drawings. The .005 size works well, and I do the panel lines in between coats of paint...paint a few coats of white (or a color), let dry, wetsand paint in preparation for next coats, apply the panel lines (the pens are similar to Gundam pens, but don't have the tendency to run). Apply a few more coats of paint...the paint is translucent enough that the panel lines are darker than the surrounding area. It's clean, effective, and dead-simple to do, and I've now done 8 cars w/this technique and I'm 100% sold on it. Black panel lines, I've done them before and I think they look too harsh on many light colors. Subtlety is key to visual perfection, at least on my models! :biggrin: Even though my models are never, ever going to be perfect :icon16:.

yeah...i have smoke paint. how would that work?

Do what you think looks the best in your view

As Pman said, do what you feel looks best to you. That should involve some experimentation...try out some of these techniques, and you'll quickly learn what works best for you.

Here's a picture of a white car using the paint/black pen panel line/paint over ink layering technique I described in my previous post:

http://images3.fotki.com/v35/photos/1/10258/17860/CelicaGT1-vi.jpg
What's nice about this is the panel lines are all uniform. Using thinned paint or smoke paint may give you non-uniform color depth to your panel lines...one reason that black panel lines are easy to do and look good to many people.

Here's a model painted white, w/gray panel lines. Hard to tell from the photo, but these panel lines give the car a good appearance, but up close they're not uniform in color depth. I didn't know about the new technique until after I completed this (I also got a better set of scribing tools since this car, to deepen panel lines before painting:

http://images2.fotki.com/v16/photos/1/10258/17860/F355inspiration-vi.jpg

As Pman said, do what you feel looks best to you. That should involve some experimentation...try out some of these techniques, and you'll quickly learn what works best for you.

Here's a picture of a white car using the paint/black pen panel line/paint over ink layering technique I described in my previous post:

http://images3.fotki.com/v35/photos/1/10258/17860/CelicaGT1-vi.jpg%20
What's nice about this is the panel lines are all uniform. Using thinned paint or smoke paint may give you non-uniform color depth to your panel lines...one reason that black panel lines are easy to do and look good to many people.

Here's a model painted white, w/gray panel lines. Hard to tell from the photo, but these panel lines give the car a good appearance, but up close they're not uniform in color depth. I didn't know about the new technique until after I completed this (I also got a better set of scribing tools since this car, to deepen panel lines before painting:

http://images2.fotki.com/v16/photos/1/10258/17860/F355inspiration-vi.jpg%20

How do you deep panels lines? Is a knife with blades number 11 good for the job putting the knife sideways? :confused:

Can i use this to make the panel lines:
http://www.modelhobbies.co.uk/shop/images/paints/GS12.jpg
Gunze Sangyo Gundam Marker Acrylic Grey (Thick) # GS12



Yes, i know this is from 2004 but there are users here that still post in the forum since then :p

I now use a scribing tool that you can get at most hobby or craft stores. Before that, I used to use the back side of a dull #11 blade. Either technique works well but I like the control I get from the scribing tool.

Hi, Just saw your question while browsing - that's a thick-tipped Gundam Marker - basically a felt-tip pen. What you want for panel lines are the very fine ones; they're blue, with the lid in the colour of the paint. The following site has a good picture, found through google images: http://www.hobbywave.com/modeling_supplies/gundam-markers/gundam-marker-gm01.html

And whilst we are on the subject of panel lines...

Has anyone tried the new Tamiya Panel line accent paints yet ?



http://www.tamiya.com/english/products/87131_133panel_accent/top.jpg

From the Tamiya website :

Finishing Materials No.131, 132, 133
http://www.tamiya.com/japan/img/dot_invisible.gif
Panel Line Accent Color (Black), (Brown), (Gray)
Item No：87131, 87132, 87133


★These paints are designed for applying panel lining and are pre-mixed with thinner at the appropriate ratio to allow easy application via a brush in the bottle's cap. ★1 bottle contains 40ml of enamel paint. ★Black can be used for applying standard panel lining. Brown is ideal for use on military models. Gray is ideal for reproducing panel lines on light colors.

Regards, Dan

And whilst we are on the subject of panel lines...

Has anyone tried the new Tamiya Panel line accent paints yet ?



http://www.tamiya.com/english/products/87131_133panel_accent/top.jpg

From the Tamiya website :

Finishing Materials No.131, 132, 133
http://www.tamiya.com/japan/img/dot_invisible.gif
Panel Line Accent Color (Black), (Brown), (Gray)
Item No：87131, 87132, 87133


★These paints are designed for applying panel lining and are pre-mixed with thinner at the appropriate ratio to allow easy application via a brush in the bottle's cap. ★1 bottle contains 40ml of enamel paint. ★Black can be used for applying standard panel lining. Brown is ideal for use on military models. Gray is ideal for reproducing panel lines on light colors.

Regards, Dan

No, haven't tried it, Tamiya isn't shipping any chemicals to the US at the moment because of labeling issues. No TS paints and primers makes for very unhappy builders :disappoin

They keep pushing the date back for availability. First it was May/June. Then Aug/Sept. Now they say "late October". They don't have a f***ing clue :jerking:

No, haven't tried it, Tamiya isn't shipping any chemicals to the US at the moment because of labeling issues. No TS paints and primers makes for very unhappy builders :disappoin

They keep pushing the date back for availability. First it was May/June. Then Aug/Sept. Now they say "late October". They don't have a f***ing clue :jerking:


Wow, thats got to be frustrating... I had heard about the US labeling issue but I didn't realise it was still going on.

I've seen these panel line paints advertised in some Perth hobby shops (150km's away) so I'll grab them next time i'm there.
My 1 LHS is next to useless and hasn't restocked their Tamiya paints in almost a year, even though they are available from the wholesaler.

Regards, Dan