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Hi everyone, just a couple of questions.
1)To edge highlight black power armour i was toying with the idea of using a grey micron pen. Is it feasible? Anyone had any experience doing this?
2) Secondly with FW brass etchings, is there any prep needed before painting? Like washing?

1 Yes, works fine. Time consuming, but a lot of mecha modellers will use them for panel lines on their stuff. The ink can run though if you get it 'too' wet. I will normally airbrush a light coat of acrylic sealer over it to lock the ink in place before using something like Dullcote that has strong solvents that make short work of inks.

2 Clean, clean, clean. Clean everything, including brass. You can have leftover etchants, photoresist and of course greasey finger prints. I usually give them a good once over with acetone, though most my brass comes from my garage...so it all still hasthe photoresist in place.

Thanks for the advice! Exactly what i needed to know.

personally i dont like micro pens. I agree with the poster above that using one would be quite time consuming...but would also give an unnatural look. A simple wash works better and you can clean up the armor with carefully repainting your primary colors on the large surfaces.

What wash could i use on black power armour though? Or would painting the armour all a very dark grey then a few black washes work?
I guess i could just have do edge highlighting the old fashioned way with grey and a small brush.

My method of painting Black power armor actually involves first overbrushing the entire model grey, and then going back and painting the armor black, leaving just the edges still grey. It's time consuming but it works for me

 uk_crow wrote:
What wash could i use on black power armour though? Or would painting the armour all a very dark grey then a few black washes work?
I guess i could just have do edge highlighting the old fashioned way with grey and a small brush.

oops, didnt realize you were painting black armour...that changes things then. I guess you cant really use a wash...i dont think brown or green would really show up against a deep black. Personally I would rather hardline the model myself with a brush as opposed to doing it with micro pens. I dont know how 'clean' you want your models to look, but you could also drybrush with a light grey (or a 1:1 blue grey mix) over the entire model, focusing on the edges. Then go back and clean it up with black.

badguyshaveallthefun wrote:My method of painting Black power armor actually involves first overbrushing the entire model grey, and then going back and painting the armor black, leaving just the edges still grey. It's time consuming but it works for me

Element206 wrote:oops, didnt realize you were painting black armour...that changes things then. I guess you cant really use a wash...i dont think brown or green would really show up against a deep black. Personally I would rather hardline the model myself with a brush as opposed to doing it with micro pens. I dont know how 'clean' you want your models to look, but you could also drybrush with a light grey (or a 1:1 blue grey mix) over the entire model, focusing on the edges. Then go back and clean it up with black.

Grey edge highlighting seems to be the way forward then, i'm asking as i had to sell my previous project i was working on as i'm finishing my degree and dissertation and was getting too distracted. Going to start an Iron hands Clan in the next few months and just doing some preliminary thinking and planning, thanks guys.