Darkening seam lines?

Those are panel lines...not to be confused with seam lines.

There are a few ways to do it but generally you take some thinned paint and run it along the panel lines.  Then, after it dries, you clean up the excess with thinner.  This is called a panel line wash (or a sludge wash).

Got it, panel lines. Ok, but since this step would be done after final paint, wouldn't the thinner used to clean it up start to rub away at your finish! Or does thinner have no effect on paint that is completely dried and cured?

Those lines, especially door outlines, can be easily overdone. I have seen light colored cars with door panel lines done with india ink- jet black.  If I want to darken any panel lines I just mix a darker shade of the base color- much more realistic.

One method to avoid damaging surrounding panels is to use capillary action and apply with a hypo needle in the seam only, not as a conventional wash.  When pen points were available, long time ago, some folks would use those.

TheLunchbox

Got it, panel lines. Ok, but since this step would be done after final paint, wouldn't the thinner used to clean it up start to rub away at your finish! Or does thinner have no effect on paint that is completely dried and cured?

The trick is to use a different kind of paint for the wash.  For example, if you paint the model with acrylics then you could use thinned oil paint for the wash.  Or if you use lacquer paint for the model you could use acrylic paint for the wash.

TheLunchbox

Got it, panel lines. Ok, but since this step would be done after final paint, wouldn't the thinner used to clean it up start to rub away at your finish! Or does thinner have no effect on paint that is completely dried and cured?

Ok, these all sound like good suggestions. However, I was thinking... what if I were to do it between clear coats? For example: do a clear coat, do the wash, then a light wet sand of the area till just the paint lying low in the panel lines is left, then continue with final clear coating.

Does anyone tried this before, or see any potential problems with this method? It just seams like it might be the least risky. It should also help maintain a slightly more natural shadowed in effect, as apposed to the hard line I would get with masking or inking it in.

TheLunchbox

Ok, these all sound like good suggestions. However, I was thinking... what if I were to do it between clear coats? For example: do a clear coat, do the wash, then a light wet sand of the area till just the paint lying low in the panel lines is left, then continue with final clear coating.

Does anyone tried this before, or see any potential problems with this method? It just seams like it might be the least risky. It should also help maintain a slightly more natural shadowed in effect, as apposed to the hard line I would get with masking or inking it in.

I have heard of people doing this but I'd recommend against it.  Anytime you take sandpaper to your paint you're running the risk of screwing it up.

Here's an example of a plane I did with the panel line wash technique that I described above.  The plane was painted and gloss coated with lacquer paints.  Then I brushed some thinned acrylic paint into the panel lines.  Then, after that wash was dry, I damped a tissue with the appropriate thinner for the acrylic paint and wiped of the excess:

The lacquer gloss coat acts like a barrier between the base paint and the wash.

If you thin the paint enough, and you have a very glossy surface, then you can just touch the tip of the brush to the panel line and the thinned paint will just flow into the panel line.  This was mentioned earlier.

Why would you sand away a wash to get the effects previously described? You are creating more work for yourself and possibly ruining your work. The only time I would wetsand the clearcoat is to get rid of orange peel or dust particles.

I suppose I'm anticipating problems that I don't have yet. As a beginner, I suppose I should be listening to you guys instead of trying to come up with a new way of doing something I've yet to attempt. Just such a perfectionist (which I honestly wish I could change about myself) I hate the idea of rubbing thinner on the finned paint job before I have a protective layer of clear on it.

No! You don't rub thinner. The previous posts state that using a gloss coat and touching the lines with a sharp small brush with diluted paint will produce excellent results. The rubbing part you read about is using an acrylic sludge wash over a solvent basecoat which is perflectly safe.