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As for my last builds I have never used a wash. I find "painting" them in looks almost cartoonish. But I doo like the look of scribed pannels and a transparrent wash as per Steve. I am currently working on a kit and I have been scribing and washing between the coats and think I have found my prefered way do accenting the pannels. As for decals I dislike when they are placed over pannel lines rather than cut and placed appropriately.

Just my oppinion... Chris :)

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When you draw the panel lines in with black on top of the final paint coat the result is cartoonish and very unrealistic. In the real world panel lines are NOT 100% black. You only get absolute black if there's no atmosphere to look through... like on the moon. On Earth, shadows (and panel lines) are never pure black.

I read about this method on one of zoom zoom's posts, and judging by what I've seen of his work, the result is very realistic. I'm paraphrasing here, but basically what he does is paint the body, then draw the panel lines in with black ink... and then he sprays a couple of color coats over the top (I'm talking airbrush here), but with the paint cut 50/50 with clear. The result is that the final diluted color coats cover the black panel lines just enough to knock back the stark blackness, but still leave them a realistic shade or two darker than the overall color.

Simple and effective. No muss, no fuss, no fooling with scribers, sanding, etc., and great results. That's the kind of technique I like!

I'll try this on my next project!

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I like to use the back of a #11 X-Acto knife also and like Steve says, I make sure that the tip is slightly broken off, for some reason it works better this way. I like scribing my lines pretty deep and using Testor's Metallizer paints. Since these paints consistency is very watery, capillary action helps a lot when using this method. I will do this on the bare plastic first and also after my primer coats, after this, everything pretty much falls into place.

Here is an ongoing project of mine, the kit plastic is yellow, this is not the actual color.

VolkswagenGolfProject1005-vi.jpgHosted on Fotki

VolkswagenGolfProject1007-vi.jpgHosted on Fotki

These are the results after painting and completion....

HurstOldoutsideshots013-vi.jpgHosted on Fotki

PonchoProject15002-vi.jpgHosted on Fotki

GTOOutsidePics010-vi.jpgHosted on Fotki

What I like about this method is that you can notice how deep the panel lines actually are, in my humble opinion, it looks as if you can actually open the doors or trunks on the model. You can still fill the lines at the end if need be even after going through the original process. :)

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I like to use the back of a #11 X-Acto knife also and like Steve says, I make sure that the tip is slightly broken off, for some reason it works better this way. I like scribing my lines pretty deep and using Testor's Metallizer paints. Since these paints consistency is very watery, capillary action helps a lot when using this method. I will do this on the bare plastic first and also after my primer coats, after this, everything pretty much falls into place.

Here is an ongoing project of mine, the kit plastic is yellow, this is not the actual color.

VolkswagenGolfProject1005-vi.jpgHosted on Fotki

VolkswagenGolfProject1007-vi.jpgHosted on Fotki

These are the results after painting and completion....

HurstOldoutsideshots013-vi.jpgHosted on Fotki

PonchoProject15002-vi.jpgHosted on Fotki

GTOOutsidePics010-vi.jpgHosted on Fotki

What I like about this method is that you can notice how deep the panel lines actually are, in my humble opinion, it looks as if you can actually open the doors or trunks on the model. You can still fill the lines at the end if need be even after going through the original process. ;)

Harry, you should put this GTO under the "Real or Model" section. Thing just looks to darn real!
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Hey guys,

Just a quick question. I put my first coat of primer on the body of my camaro, I was just wondering, some of the panel lines got filled, can I use the #11 blade to make them a tad deeper? Any suggestions are welcome I'm a newb to the hobbby :)

Thanks,

Freddy B.

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