Scribing, pin washing, painting, etc.

Sometimes I will replace the raised panel lines by applying masking tape to either side of the panel line and smearing a bit of filler in the gap, just as thick as the masking tape. Seems to work well enough that once painted you wouldn't know the difference. As far as scribing, I have a scribe, although I'm not very good at it.

Prime or not to prime. You'll get a lot of differences on that one. If I'm using enamel, I usually won't prime first, however if my final coat is acrylic, I will prime with enamel to give the acrylic something to grip to. I'll do this especially if I'm going to do a lot of masking. If your painting gloss white or gloss yellow, priming is a must so the gloss goes on well. These I will usually prime with flat white.

Pin washing? Check out this link.

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/3/t/128467.aspx

Pin washing is using a very thin mix of paint and thinner 90-10 to accent recessed panal lines or raised details and corners and crevices..Usually applied to a gloss surface which allows better flow,after wich the excess is wiped away.

I've never been able to get a pin wash right. Its either to dilute that it disappears after it dries or its to thick and doesn't  flow well into the lines or crevices.

So far I have the same problems with pin washing mitsdude.  In addition, when I swab the excess wash the pin wash comes out of the panel lines as well ARRRRG !

I agree that panel lines should be recessed, but most mfgs do that now- only re-releases of very old kits still have raised panel lines.  Disagree with rivets.  Not all rivets were flush.  They started using flush rivets to prevent tripping boundary layer to improve performance.  But boundary layer was already tripped on rear of most airplanes, so on many aircraft they still used protruding rivets on areas not critical to boundary layer flow.  And, on many aircraft that were not high performers anyway, such as trainers or transports, raised rivets stayed around for a long time.  But, with raised head rivets, they should be in scale!  The rivet heads on some kits look like the plane was built by an old boiler maker!

Flush rivets are a challenge.  They should be flush, not recessed, but maybe a slightly different color. So maybe a slightly recessed rivet would benefit from a wash.  That is for natural metal finish aircraft.  However, flush rivets on painted airplanes don't show  very much anyway.  In the same way, I feel panel lines are often emphasized way to much on painted surfaces.  Removable panels show very clearly, but panel lines in non-removable areas generally are not that visible unless it is a really grungy and heavily weathered bird.

While It's true that panel lines and flush rivets on an actual painted airplane don't show much, if at all, the emphasizing for these features on a model strangely makes it look more real. I believe that the "flush rivets" on some kits are divots in the plastic to allow a wash. However in most cases you don't see the rivets.
Here are some pics I took at our little local museum to emphasize my point. You can see some panel line and rivets, and others you can't, however, the visual emphasis on the panel lines is not as much as we molders work to achieve.

An alternative to using a wash is to use colored pencils to accent certain panel lines.

I've had success using Prismcolor pencils you can get an art supply stores.  They come in various grays and browns which work well on gray a/c and silver which works very well on dark paint schemes.

Just like a wash I'll use an appropriate pencil to outline a panel.  Sometimes, that is enough.  You can get a softer wash-like effect by using a wet swab to rub over the panel line like you would draw out the paint from a wash.

Often the effect is more subtle than with paint and many time that is enough.

I've often mixed washes and and the pencils to vary the look of the weathering.

The lines on the Soviet plane are quite subtle.  That Phantom looks like a ramp queen.  Or is that a museum or surplus depot?

Don,

Thank you for your response, and I hold your opinions and input in the highest regard. I always have.

Both AC are at our little local museum, and granted museum pieces, sadly, are not maintained at all, there are still slight line definitions on actual AC. Like you said, the removable panels are much more  prominent, however there is some, all be it slight, definitions between MOST panel lines and rivets due to shading.

You have to admit though. A build without and washing just looks like toy. It seems exaggerating the panel lines make a build look more "real" somehow.

Steve

modelcrazy

While It's true that panel lines and flush rivets on an actual painted airplane don't show much, if at all, the emphasizing for these features on a model strangely makes it look more real. I believe that the "flush rivets" on some kits are divots in the plastic to allow a wash. However in most cases you don't see the rivets.
Here are some pics I took at our little local museum to emphasize my point. You can see some panel line and rivets, and others you can't, however, the visual emphasis on the panel lines is not as much as we molders work to achieve.

You've obviously been out to the Military Museum at Gowen Field!  

modelcrazy

Don,

You have to admit though. A build without and washing just looks like toy. It seems exaggerating the panel lines make a build look more "real" somehow.

Steve

Steve, I tend to agree with you statement about showing panel lines...to a point.  I do think that enhancing a panel line to show detail makes a more realistic looking subject; however, it seems that a LOT of people tend to overdo this technique.  I think that if people would highlight the panel with a slightly darkened version of the base color the look would be more convincing.  Some of the pictures I've seen, where they highlighted with black on a white or light grey aircraft, just doesnt look realistic to me.

Just my .02.

Raised lines are not conducive to panel washing so go with pre shading. Just leaving a hint of the pre shade is enough to offer the illusion of texture as in the above  F-4 picture. Most new manufactured models will have the recessed details allowing for pin washing. I usually lightly sand the raised lines just a tad to tame them down.

Ok, I'm getting ready to shoot some primer on a couple of my builds.....thinking about what I've seen here...I donno if I wanna try rescribing or not.......generally speaking, when is the time to scribe? Before primer? After primer, before color? After color?

How do you deal with raised panel lines that have gone away with sanding? If you scribe then they're not raised, they're sunk.....

If I sand off raised panel lines, I'll place a piece of masking tape on either side of the panel line and apply some filler with my finger. It's good enough that you won't notice unless you look real close.

Depends on the part your scribing. Sometimes it's easiest to scribe a part even before it's glued on. I Would recommend doing most of ur scribing during assembly. Smooth your lines out with thin liquid cement when you are done. For replicating raised lines, use stretched Sprue.

Reading this, I'm reminded of the difficulty of mixing up a wash.  First off, use artists oils, not just normal paint.  I use windsor and newton, personally, with an odourless thinner and thin it to the conistancy of a cup of coffee.  I've also invested in a few shades of Flory washes, and nothing could be easier than their use or more satisfying than their result.  Mind you, both of these techniques only really work for recessed lines.  Yes, it's a few dollars of investment, but they last forever and I love the results.  

I've never had any trouble mixing up regular hobby paints, like Testors, for a wash.  Only problem is that it dries faster than oils, so you have less time to judge the results and decide to clean it off.  For a black wash I use gloss black, so it dries slower than flat black, anyway.