Thursday, April 17, 2008

Bow-pen fun


Lined speeder
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.
Lining has always been a black art for me. Despite watching people do it and reading all the books, I still shy away. Most of my models are unlined and usually black with dirt.

Given a wooden On30 crew speeder to paint I feel the sides look a bit blank with just paint so I decided to have a go with the bow-pen. The lines were marked with pencil to get things lined up first. In this case I worked 1mm in from the edge of the panel.

A good quality pen was loaded with neat Humbrol cream paint and off I went. A few test lines were tried on the cutting pad to make sure the paint would run - then I tried working on the model.

The secret as far as I can tell is to be confident. With nothing to lose I went for it and surprised myself. The lines aren't half bad. Straight and consistent, everything I wanted.

The corners I did by brush and they are much less defined. If I needed to do a "proper job" I think a simple plastic guide would be in order but for the minute this will do. It's going to get some weathering anyway to hide the imperfections. It's amazing what you can get away with on a dirty model.

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