What is the best procedure for high lighting panel lines. This will be a military scheme and want the panel lines to look scale.....

TIA
Todd

The lightest and fastest (other than drawing them on) is using 1/64 and 1/32 chart tape, just glass the plane, sand to a smooth finish, get out the three views, wipe the plane down with windex, and put the lines on the plane where they are on your three views. Cut the tape even with itself, do not overlap. Then just paint right over the tape leaving it on. This saves weight by not having to do any primering, but the panel line is a "raised " line, and it will look great from 3-5 feet. The penalty here is, If you do not seal the line with the paint it may lift it(after many flights). Doc Keith used this on many of his planes,

# 2 way is to put down the lines the same way, primer over them, sand up to the line, then pull up all the tape and then paint the plane, now you get a panel line thats inset into the paint, also looks great but there is a weight penalty. if you are going to do rivets also this is the way to go.

Several ways. One of the easiest is to mix up some "Grimy" black really thin for your airbrush, and use a piece of cardboard held against the panel line you wanna highlight. (Have the plane cleared first for this one in case you goof it up)Hold the air brush WAAAAAAAAY back and mist some paint on lightly. Less is better as it will get darker when you reclear it.

another is to use pastel "Chalk" powder and rub it on with your finger. leave as is and keep your fingers off, you can easily touch it up when needed. Or just clear over the chalk.

Hope this helps, Todd.

Todd, I was assuming the plane already had panel lines, and you wanted to make 'em show up better. If not use one of the methods described above ,THEN highlight'em!!

Hey Todd:

You could also draw them on with either a mechanical pencil or a fine line permanent marker. If you do a search in this forum for "panel lines" you should come up with a pic by a guy who did a Rafale and used a grey fine line design marker to do the panel lines. It looked pretty good in the photo. He also did rivets, which are pretty easy to do with the same color pen if you use the Top Flite panel line template.

Hope that helps.

Antony

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P.S. -- I dug the link up for you Todd, here it is http://rcuniverse.com/attachment.php?postid=159737

Whoops....let me clarify

I am doing a scale paint scheme on my Eurofighter, panel lines are already molded into the fuse. I am wondering what the process is to make them look scale.

Terry,
When you say are you spraying towards the cardboard or away from it? The chalk sounds like a good way to simulate but if you rub it with your finger dosent it leave a line the width of the finger?

This will be my first time attempting this, just thought it would be fun to learn how....

Thanks
Todd

The masters at this are the plastic model guys. Get yourself some plastic model paint. Mix some brown, black, grey, essentially what you need to make it look like a dirty mess. Then thin it about 80% i.e. really runny - only 20% paint - which is generally known as a wash. Then spray it on, forget about worrying about runs etc. Then, take a cloth and wipe it off. It will collect in the panel lines and around any lumps and bumps, just like real dirt. Then, on panels that are often removed for maintenance, mist on a very subtle fog of the "dirt" around the edges of those panels, from far back, say 6" either side of the line in full scale terms. This really brings the finish alive. Look at pictures of military jets in the field and you will see where they are dirty and how little subtle shading of dirt, dust, exhaust etc makes it look much more 3D.

There are lots of articles on this in plastic model mags and books. These guys are the real masters of the art.

Todd, I just finished the detailing of my AD Rafale and here are a couple of pics. I used a pencil to accent the panel line after all the graphics were applied and the airplane clear coated flat. I then burned the rivets in the paint. After that I took some artists powered charcoal on a piece of fine Scotch Brite and rubbed it on the paint in the direction of flight. This left the charcoal in the rivet indentation and accented it very nicely. It will also leave dark streaks in the paint that look like smoking rivets and leaking oil and hydraulic fluid. The charcoal will stay on the paint and will not come off if you wipe it with water or cleaner. It will come off with enamel reducer or laquer thinner however if you overdo it. If you want some more info on the method I used, give me a call at 713-408-8221 Mike

Last one

Hi,
i´m the Rafale guy that Todd have told....i done that finish because the painting of the Rafale wasn´t scale. if you wish an impressive scale finish, you can select some panels, mask around and apply a color a little darker and a little clear to highlight some panels, like paint have weathered or panels replaced. i have painted an all silver fiberclassics F-86 and the result is impressive, just check around rcu and you will see how it looks.oh yes, and after all, give a good matt clear, this will give the final scale effect!
regards, fred

Mike,
What did you use to burn the rivits in...soldering iron? For the panel lines, are you just using a standard #2 pencil? Rafale looks awesome! Thanx...
Todd

Todd, I used a wood burning tool I got at the hobby shop. I drilled holes in the tips that come with the tool to accept 1/16 and 3/32 brass tubing. Sharpen the end of the tubing and it makes an indentation like a rivet. You have to have some way to regulate the temp of the wood borning tool , so I used a light dimmer wired into an extension cord. For the panel lines, I just used a standard #2 pencil. Mike

Thanks for the tips mike!

Not sure yet if I want to tackle doing rivets or not, seems like alot of work but might be fun....

I'll post some pics when I get er' done

Thanks,
Todd

Hi Todd
Fellow Eurofighter builder (mine) / flyer (yours)

I think I read somewhere you cannot see the rivets on the full size. I will look tonight and see if I can find the text, I will email it to you.

Ian

Ian,
I believe your right, most cannot be seen since 90% of the aircraft is composite.....
Todd

I used black water color paint from the art store. A """"LITTLE """"black, half a drop of dish washing soap, and a lot of water will go a long way. It will be look scary with the whole thing covered in black, but will wipe away nicely leaving the panel lines dark. Reapply after drying if you want certain lines darker.

lines

Hold the cardboard at an angle with the edge "In" the panel line, spray over the cardboard from 6" or more with half the spray pattern hitting the edge of the cardboard and half hitting the plane. Practice on another surface to get the method down. I use model railroad waterbased "Grimy black" thinned a bunch. and it can be wiped off if you get too much on, then do it 'til you get it right.

As for the chalk, keep wiping with the finger or " Paper towel" 'til it looks good. I f you wipr off too much, dust some more on.

Practice, Young Jedi, and the Force will be with you!