How important are panel lines to you?

[Guest]

I'm not very good at rescribing regardless of what tool I try; some of you get great results with the back of a #11 blade and I love my BMF scriber, but I still have a tendency to jump the groove with disastrous consequences.

Try using a razor saw or photo etch saw blade. I've never had a slip since I starting using them years ago. I don't know why,but they won't slip out of the lines like a #11 Xacto blade will. They will follow even the lightest panel lines. You also get a much finer line with them since they are thinner than a #11 blade. Another key to scribing is not using too much pressure. Let the tool do the work for you.

[Chillyb1]

Try using a razor saw or photo etch saw blade. I've never had a slip since I starting using them years ago. I don't know why,but they won't slip out of the lines like a #11 Xacto blade will. They will follow even the lightest panel lines. You also get a much finer line with them since they are thinner than a #11 blade. Another key to scribing is not using too much pressure. Let the tool do the work for you.

Thanks. I was just about to try that on a Ferrari I'm starting but I was afraid it would result in disaster. I'll give it a shot.

[sjordan2]

I know this thread is mostly about car bodies, but I thought I'd repeat some observations I posted down in the "How Do I?" section.

Some areas that could really benefit from scribing are where separate components are molded as one, without separation of parts. Mostly I see this in interiors - scribing around the edges can really help door-mounted armrests, door handles and window cranks, plus seams on most pleated seats. Molded-on hoses and wires on the firewall would look better if they were scribed along the edges to "lift" them away a bit from the firewall.

[peter31a]

That's what I dislike about trying to rescribe panel lines. I keep 'jumping the groove'. Currently trying to deepen the lines on an unpainted 48 Ford coupe and am making more of a mess than anything. Trying BMF scriber and back of Xacto knife. Of course I couldn't draw a straight line if my life depended on it so trying to make my hand follow where the panel line is supposed to be is a challenge.

[Guest]

Thanks. I was just about to try that on a Ferrari I'm starting but I was afraid it would result in disaster. I'll give it a shot.

Just use the very front corner of your saw and you'll do fine with it. When I'm scribing, I actually hold the blade instead of the handle. I have better control with it that way. To me,it works faster than an #11 blade.

[Guest]

That's what I dislike about trying to rescribe panel lines. I keep 'jumping the groove'. Currently trying to deepen the lines on an unpainted 48 Ford coupe and am making more of a mess than anything. Trying BMF scriber and back of Xacto knife. Of course I couldn't draw a straight line if my life depended on it so trying to make my hand follow where the panel line is supposed to be is a challenge.

That's where a razor saw works so well. It follows the lines and won't jump out on you like a blade will. I've never used a BMF scriber,so I can't comment on how it works. But I gave up on using an #11 blade years ago. I only use it on a "have to" case like tight rounded corners.

[cruz]

You have to start with a scriber first and it has to be done EXTREMELY lightly, cannot stress that enough. After a few pases, use the back of a #11 blade and make sure the blade is DULL! that's the trick to this!

[Fat Brian]

I have to agree on the dull blade, I use the back of a blade that the tip has broken off of to open doors and trunks and such. Start with light pressure, just following the line, then after a few passes you can begin to increase the pressure to cut deeper. When you use a new blade for some reason the tip won't follow the panel line at all but the dull blade will chase it like a champ.

[cruz]

Some panel lines in several kits permit you to start with a blade but a scriber is an essential starting tool to obtain the best results.

[Bennyg]

Just deepening the lines doesn't cut it IMO.

I wash them right at the end with thinned smoke acrylic

I also used thinned smoke acrylic. Worked a treat on my 370z and lonestar. I could have done a bit better on the 370z. The smoke enables the base colour to come through just a touch. Cheers

Ben

[Haubenschild]

I tried Marcos's technique earlier in the day , I think it came out alright for my first panel wash

[cruz]

I tried Marcos's technique earlier in the day , I think it came out alright for my first panel wash

Looks great!!!!

[meaneyme]

Would certainly be cool to see a tutorial on this technique, your models are too cool Cruz, you are a master with those paintjobs

[bbowser]

I use acrylic black craft paint thinned with water, applied with a fountain pen. If you mess up you can just wipe it off and start again. It may be a little too dark, I'm experimenting with shades of gray as well.

[cruz]

I take the color of the panel lines out of the equation by scribing the lines deep. I always use black or a very dark brown. When you look at the panel lines on a real car, you don't see gray or a color similar to the body, you see black or just plain old dark. You only have to worry about color choices when you don't scribe them deep enough.

[gtx6970]

I'll go over door gaps and such to some degree. I build for my own enjoyment and not some judge and if I keep adding detail after detail to the ninth degree it becomes no longer enjoyable. No offense meant to the ones who do take them that far. It's just not for me

That said ,,,, and besides,,,,,, majority of the builds I like to do . don't have door openings anyway

[Brizio]

It is a nice technique, but it depend of the color of the model, a yellow, white or other light color with dark/black panel lines looks to me too much cartonish than real.

I prefer preshade with airbrush the panel lines before paint. It give a more natural look.

[Dingo5162]

Harry say that drawing the panel lines on a model car makes it look horrible BUT when I look at my real car which is white guess wot the panel lines R black and it doesn't look horrible so I gather it's wrong to put black lines around the panels even thouhgt my real car has it so wot do I do when the real thing has it and the model car can't, please tell me.

Dingo

[cotto]

I don't know about you guys but, when I go out to the street and I see a real car, I see DARK, not gray, or a color "similar" to the car or anything else, I see DARK or BLACK. Don't know what else people are looking at I am in total agreement with making the lines deep, in the long run, that's exactly what a real car has, a gap which makes the line look dark.

[cruz]

I'll go over door gaps and such to some degree. I build for my own enjoyment and not some judge and if I keep adding detail after detail to the ninth degree it becomes no longer enjoyable. No offense meant to the ones who do take them that far. It's just not for me

That said ,,,, and besides,,,,,, majority of the builds I like to do . don't have door openings anyway

We respect your opinion and it's good that you build for yourself but there are people here that would like to get better at building and adding more realistic details to their models no matter how much work it might involve. The word "enjoyable" here can have diverse meaning for some of us.....

[Chillyb1]

Harry say that drawing the panel lines on a model car makes it look horrible BUT when I look at my real car which is white guess wot the panel lines R black and it doesn't look horrible so I gather it's wrong to put black lines around the panels even thouhgt my real car has it so wot do I do when the real thing has it and the model car can't, please tell me.

I don't know about you guys but, when I go out to the street and I see a real car, I see DARK, not gray, or a color "similar" to the car or anything else, I see DARK or BLACK. Don't know what else people are looking at. I am in total agreement with making the lines deep, in the long run, that's exactly what a real car has, a gap which makes the line look dark.

I think that what neither of you is taking into account is that one must reduce what one sees to 1/24th (or whatever scale) of the "real" thing. If you stand on the street and look across at a parked car, yes, the panel lines appear very dark indeed. However, looking closely reveals that there are many shades of body color and of grays and blacks depending on where light is coming from. When a modeler paints a model and then simply blacks in the panel gaps it does not look realistic in scale. In other words, the doors, hood, trunk lid, et cetera, just look like they've been outlined.

I've not yet found a reliable and consistent solution to this problem and it is one that occupies no small portion of my modeling time. Scribing a deeper line is almost certainly the necessary first step. But even a complete gap, as with opening parts, presents in-scale problems. They don't always look real just because they mimic the real gap on a 1/1 vehicle.

[Brizio]

Agree with you Curtis!

Another option is to paint the body in a dark color...

[edward smith]

I think that what neither of you is taking into account is that one must reduce what one sees to 1/24th (or whatever scale) of the "real" thing. If you stand on the street and look across at a parked car, yes, the panel lines appear very dark indeed. However, looking closely reveals that there are many shades of body color and of grays and blacks depending on where light is coming from. When a modeler paints a model and then simply blacks in the panel gaps it does not look realistic in scale. In other words, the doors, hood, trunk lid, et cetera, just look like they've been outlined.

I've not yet found a reliable and consistent solution to this problem and it is one that occupies no small portion of my modeling time. Scribing a deeper line is almost certainly the necessary first step. But even a complete gap, as with opening parts, presents in-scale problems. They don't always look real just because they mimic the real gap on a 1/1 vehicle.

Reliable and consistent? I don't know about you but that trunk on the red Victoria looks pretty close to the real thing to me...

[sjordan2]

I've already mentioned that there are lots of areas, inside and outside, that could benefit from some scoring and wash. To me, one of the most difficult areas is creating realistic louvers, which are nearly impossible to open well in smaller scales. It's hard enough in 1/16, where I spend most of my time.

Edited June 6, 2012 by sjordan2

[Gregg]

Thanks to Marcos (and his feature article coming soon in MCM), I did a quick once-over with the 2009 Revell Challenger that I was building before.

I love the difference.

I will say this: Don't give up after your first attempt.

Practice makes perfect, or something like that...