Panel Lines

Hi!
I'm soon finished building a Calsonic GT-R.
I did a quick search on Panel Lines, but got so many different answers so I'm taking the risk of asking some questions here...

1. Which color should i use? The car is painted in TS-44 "Brilliant Blue". Black? Dark grey or smoke?

2. What is the best way to do this? I don't have any gundam marker so I'll use the acrylic paint. Can i thin it out in water? I think that will be easy to remove if I get outside the lines, or I may be wrong... If not, can I thin it out in the Tamiya X-22 (Clear)? I don't have any thinner here now so...

I'm a little afraid to paint outside the line because i have no compound or anything to remove it with... or does it get of with just paper if I'll remove it soon enough?

Thanks!

This is what TS-44 looks like with black door lines, you may want to consider dark gray with a touch of blue.

You can use water, but Tamiya acrylic thinner or Windex will work better and dry faster.

You should be able to use wax to polish away any paint you get out side of the lines... - Mark

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/Scale-Master/Scale-Master%20Models/DSC09658.jpg

Maybe a bit too black I think... I'll try dark grey with some blue in. :)
Polish with wax? As in normal car wax?

Thanks!

Best piece of advice on panel lines I can give is :

Don't overdo them.

Few things can make a well built model look more toylike than thick, dark panel lines. So, black is right out. Medium to dark grey would be a good bet, Tamiya smoke is probably better. I'd thin it with Windex glass cleaner or similar, and apply with a pointed brush, to let it flow into the engravings, and wipe up any excess with a bit of paper towel. This won't damage the laquer, so if it doesn't look right, you can wipe it up and try again.

Whats best to use over Tamiya acrylic paints?

Probably water colors over acrylic.

Remember, the darkness of the panel line is actually a shadow of the body color on a real car.
It may look black at first glance, but if you study it you will see a tint of the body color in that shadow line... - Mark

Aha, I think I'll go for the smoke color then. Thinned out in water i suppose, unless I find some glass cleaner or something around :)

If you don't have Window Cleaner you can mix a thinner with Rubbing Alcohol and Ammonia. Test first to make sure it doesn't react with your paint. - Mark

I have a different thing for you guys: i use thinned artist oil paint ( black, but you can use any shade/color you want) and a fairly small brush (3/0). Since it`s thinned the cappilary action makes the paint run byitself. I`ve used it on both Tamiya and Humbrol paints.

I made the panel lines today.
I used a small bamboo-stick to use with food and used the tip into the panel lines. Came out pretty great.

I don't hope the Acrylic paint reacts with the Tamiya clear coat? If so, i have really screwed up... hehe. :)

Best way is gundam marker.

If you want to use paint, see this:

http://italianhorses.net/Tutorials/Panelines/panels.htm

Thanks, I'll try that on my next model.
The clear coat is dry now and I see it reacted with the acrylic paint i used for the panel lines. Doesn't look too good, but its my first serious model so... I'll learn by my mistakes.

What clear did you use? - Mark

The Tamiya TS-13, and the panel lines was painted with Tamiya X-19 Smoke.

Isn't it supposed to react? Maybe it wasn't 100% dry? I waited a while, but maybe i should wait even longer...? :)

Not being dry was my first guess. I'd give the acrylic at least 24 hours before hitting it with that clear. - Mark

It sounds like the TS-13 was too wet. Next time, try covering the model with a few coats of mist with 5-10 minutes of interval, so that the solvent in the spray paint will evaporate before it starts attacking the underlying paint.

Also, if your clear coat isn't too thick to fill the panel lines, you can do the job after applying clear coat.

You can use the back side of the Xacto-type sharp hobby knife, and follow the lines to leave very fine engravings. This way, the engravings turn out narrower, so you can achieve even more realistic panel lines.