What is a good way to create panel lines?

[ctruss53]

I am taking a sedan and converting it into a coupe. I am making a mess of it, but I am getting there. One hurdle I will run into soon is creating the new panel line for the rear edge of the doors.

How can I do this?

I watched some youtube and people are just scribing new lines along a piece of tape. They make it look so easy. But I have tried that before and the scribing tool walks all over the place.

Any help you can provide would be great.

[Straightliner59]

The best bet is to find something you can practice on. Barring that, just work slowly and carefully. I'm not aware of any magic elixir. You could try taping a piece of shim brass along the line you want to scribe. That should provide a more reliable stop for the tool. There are also photoetched templates for doing curves and rounded corners, etc. I have some from Verlinden Productions and some from Tri Tool. I got them long ago, and couldn't speak to their availability, now. I doubt it's likely!

Edited June 24, 2023 by Straightliner59

[James2]

Yes practice makes perfect! I will cut a piece of styrene the desired shape of the line and then tape it to the area you're working on. Gives you a little more edge to work with than tape that will certainly change lines while scribing. A real scribing tool is helpful and the slower you go the less likely to have a mishap.

[70mach1]

Dymo Label  Maker Tape    It has a nice thick edge, sticks like crazy and reusable. guarantees a nice clean straight line with no scriber wandering.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Several manufacturers make metal scribing templates with hard edges and various radius curves.

CAREFULLY lay out the lines you want to scribe using a template and a sharp #2 pencil. You'll need to move the template around to lay out corners adjacent to straight areas. It's just like we old fossils used to have to do when inking drawings for blueprints...and neatness counts more than anything.

MEASURE and get your straight lines SQUARE and PARALLEL and SYMMETRICAL.

Then firmly affix the template to your work, and start scribing with very light pressure. You might scribe the straights first, then reposition the template and scribe one corner at a time...assuming you have round corners.

Once you have established a shallow groove, you can cut a little more aggressively without the template...but not too much. Work slow, with many light passes, and DON'T get in a hurry.

It takes time and patience to master, but it is possible to produce work that looks like it was machine made.

I prefer this design scribing tool from Tamiya. The tips are hooked, come in several widths, and will follow curves well...not automatically, but after you master the skill they're the best I've used so far. They cut on the back-stroke, as you pull the tool towards you, and make a nice curl of material if they're working right. And the carbide tips, though expensive, are very sharp and stay sharp a long time.

EDIT: It's probably a good idea to get the feel of whatever tool you're using by practicing first by deepening existing panel lines on bodies.

Edited June 24, 2023 by Ace-Garageguy
CLARITY and ACCURACY

[70mach1]

The Tamiya scriber is the way to go, a bit pricey worth every dollar

[Street Rod]

Good advice already given above, but just to emphasize what has been said, make several LIGHT passes along a tape line to get a groove started for your scribing tool to follow. You have nothing but time so don’t be in a hurry and you’ll do fine.

[NOBLNG]

As said above, the trick is to make your first few passes extremely light…just the weight of the tool is enough.

[ctruss53]

This panel line is not straight. Based on all this great info I may have to invest in a thin metal french curve.

And Ace, I know french curves and other drafting tools all too well.  I went to college for architecture, took classes on the boards.

I think I have all the right tools, I am just looking for the best way to use them to make a new panel line that doesn't exist.

See attached image.  The doors on the 3 door hatch are longer than the front doors on the 5 door hatch. But if you look close, the panel lines "bump" in different directions. So I can't just move the panel line back. I have to re-create the new line.

[ctruss53]

I have completed most of the plastic work. I am currently filling and sanding all the seams and work that I did. Then I'll need to create that panel line at the rear of the doors on the 3 door.

[Ace-Garageguy]

The suggestion above of making a specific template from thin styrene sheet stock sounds better and better the more I think about it.

You can scale that profile shot to print at 1/24 (I assume that's the scale you're working in) and trace the door opening line directly on to a piece of vellum or other paper, then transfer it to plastic sheet or even brass shim stock, cut it carefully, secure it to the car body with a good grade of masking tape, trace a crisp pencil line around the template on the car body to follow (if you think it'll help...which it might) and start scribing. Softly softly catchee monkey.

I've done similar scaling/tracing (to get correct shapes) from good quality side shots of cars. It works.

EDIT: One thing that drives me nuts about a lot of resin bodies is that guys who do the masters very rarely get the door cut lines right, and even if they get it right on one side, they miss it on the other. A thin template you can use on both sides, taken directly from a reference photo, solves both problems.

Edited June 25, 2023 by Ace-Garageguy

[ctruss53]

19 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

The suggestion above of making a specific template from thin styrene sheet stock sounds better and better the more I think about it.

You can scale that profile shot to print at 1/24 (I assume that's the scale you're working in) and trace the door opening line directly on to a piece of vellum or other paper, then transfer it to plastic sheet or even brass shim stock, cut it carefully, secure it to the car body with a good grade of masking tape, trace a crisp pencil line around the template on the car body to follow (if you think it'll help...which it might) and start scribing. Softly softly catchee monkey.

I've done similar scaling/tracing (to get correct shapes) from good quality side shots of cars. It works.

EDIT: One thing that drives me nuts about a lot of resin bodies is that guys who do the masters very rarely get the door cut lines right, and even if they get it right on one side, they miss it on the other. A thin template you can use on both sides, taken directly from a reference photo, solves both problems.

I think this is how I am going to have to do it. I have some thin styrene to use for a template.

The best part is the "bump" forward on the 5 door is a mirror image of the "bump" back on the 3 door, except for that little radius at the very bottom.  So I can trace the original door seam.  I don't have to fart around with scaling a photo.

Edited June 25, 2023 by ctruss53

[espo]

A lot of good suggestions on creating your panel lines. I would suggest starting with a very light pass' with a #11 blade to start before going to a scribing tool. Don't try and create the line with just a couple of pass'.   

[Mark]

For the templates, you can use other plastic like old credit cards or used-up gift cards.  The advantage to using a template as opposed to tape, is that you can flip the template over and use it on both sides to get everything nice and symmetrical.

[StevenGuthmiller]

Start with a sharp #11 blade before you jump in with the scribing tool. (3 or 4 passes)

Once you get a thin cut for the scribing tool to follow, you'll have a lot fewer problems.

 

As a matter of fact, I don't even use a scriber any more.

Just a sharp #11 blade, and a dull used one, used backwards, works better for me.

 

 

 

 

Steve

Edited June 25, 2023 by StevenGuthmiller

[carrucha]

21 hours ago, James2 said:

Yes practice makes perfect! I will cut a piece of styrene the desired shape of the line and then tape it to the area you're working on. Gives you a little more edge to work with than tape that will certainly change lines while scribing. A real scribing tool is helpful and the slower you go the less likely to have a mishap.

That's a good idea! I might try that when I convert a 1951 Chevy 2 door sedan to a 4-door sedan.

[ctruss53]

4 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

Start with a sharp #11 blade before you jump in with the scribing tool. (3 or 4 passes)

Once you get a thin cut for the scribing tool to follow, you'll have a lot fewer problems.

 

As a matter of fact, I don't even use a scriber any more.

Just a sharp #11 blade, and a dull used one, used backwards, works better for me.

 

 

 

 

Steve

Yeah, I have the Tamiya Scriber, and I have a small cone-shaped scribing tool I bought on a Gundam site. But really I use the backside of a dull #11 blade the most often.

I have created a plastic template. Once I finish the putty work I'll use it on both sides to try and create these new lines.