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I'm trying to find a better way to paint the crevice lines on my tau units.

Specifically I mean these sort of things:



Right now my method is to use thinned matt black or a black wash on a detail brush and deposit it in the crevice, which works well when it works.

But it's a bit less precise then I like. If a brush hair is out of place, or if my hand is jerky(surgeon hands mine are not) I'll get some on the rim, and then it's kind of a repeating cycle to fix the mistake with a layer of basecoat, oh I got a bit of the basecoat in the crevice have to wash again ect.

I'm just wondering if anyone knows a better way or a tool. If here's some ink pen or some thin liquid depositor that I could use.

So you have a few options for panel lining.

-If you have them, oil paints are the way to go. If you don't have them then they require a small investment in new gear. (oil paint of colour, turps and a brush you don't mind if it gets wrecked). The great thing about oils is that clean up is a doddle and doesn't affect acrylics, so there's no risk of damaging your paint job if you get oil paint where you don't want it.

-There's a company, I think it's either AmmoMig or AK Interactive maybe, that does panel lining pens. I haven't looked into them at all, but I'm guessing they're just a pen with whatever kind of thinned down paints that you have better control over for panel lining.

-Inks I believe are also another choice in this regard. So an ink of the appropriate colour might be worth looking into.

-Now I'm not 100% sanguine on whether I've got this right or not, so hopefully if i'm talking outta my arse here, someone else will be able to correct me. But I think you can add a drop of dishwashing liquid (and I do mean like a tiny tiny smidge) to your wash or paint and it'll have a much more pronounced capillary action that will help in getting it into all the crevices and recesses. It's meant to ape the way thinned oil paints work without having to actually use oil paints.

I haven’t tried it, but detergent does break surface tension, so I can see how that could work.

I use a 1pt rigger brush; it’s the same thickness as a detail brush but 4-5 times longer, so it holds much more liquid. The capillary action works better and I find it easier to draw down the panel line (rigger brushes are technically for line drawing anyway).

Even so, there’s always a degree of clean up afterwards, just deep breath and carry on.

There are panel lining products available from many brands - tamiya etc. They are usually enamel based AFAIK - this makes them ideal for using on top of acrylics. You can just fix any mistakes with white spirits. Oil washes can work as well, but some oils can be stain-y, also getting the right consistency takes trial and error, whereas in a ready panel line mix, you just apply and clean up the excess with a cotton tip bud dipped lightly in white spirits and jobs a good un

Of course you could just use acrylic washes and inks, but cleanup with those will be much more tedious.. unless you painted the piece with oils or enamels?

Thanks for the 'panel lining' string lol. Knowing what to search for helped a lot.

I've painted with acrylics, specifically The Army Painter warpaints fanatic and their wash line. The consistency of their 'dark tone' wash is actually fine for flowing into crevices, the problem I've been having has really been more the delivery, and the cleanup when I error.

I actually have some old testors enamels I bought way back that I might try.

I tried https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GRKPNUE?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title and they are /almost/ exactly what I would want, except their output is really inconsistent - the ink comes out almost like an empty ballpoint pen. (E: seems to already be out of ink after light use? Do not recommend.) There's a pour type pen I'm going to try tomorrow with black wash.

I've never used em, but there are lining pens that all the Gundam builders swear by.