Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length.

[GG]

Two recent models of warships required some white numbers on the grey hull sides.  A determined search through my stock failed to locate anything suitable so I did my usual practice of putting the problem to the back of my mind and did something more productive.  Then, as it often seems to happen, as soon as the problem of white numbers resurfaced, a possible answer appeared.


For some time artists have been using white Gel pens to add highlights and such to their drawings.  This resulted in a quick trip to a local art shop and me leaving with two pens, 0.7 and 1.0 mm in size.


Testing the pens on some scrap material showed that they would indeed work and going over the white lines a few times would produce a good solid colour.  The only problem being my "shaky" freehand numbers would never have been acceptable to any self-respecting commanding officer!  The solution was to use a cheap plastic stencil which after more practice resulted in neat and consistent numbers.  The hardest thing to master was keeping the stencil in place on the curved hull surface.


The gel is not however waterproof, this being both an advantage (mistakes can be wiped away) and disadvantage in a sailing model.  But, as I usually give my models a final couple of light coats of clear lacquer, this is no problem.


These pens are not cheap but provided I can remember to replace their caps after use, they ought to outlast my modelling career.
Glynn Guest
Glynn Guest 

[unbuiltnautilus]

A good idea.
Is there any relevance to the consecutive hull numbers?

[Klunk]

tipped pens might work. never comes out of my clothes when washed, and dont ask.....me and tipped pens just dont get on!

[RST]

Before I saw your pics I was going to say Posca!  I've tried allot of others over the years and eventually settled on Posca (which I should have done from the start seeing as that's what allot of others on the web seem to use).  Mine are waterproof though?

PS if you don't like the price -try buying them in Paris!  I must have been nuts.  As you say, they should last though, all the others I've had work the first week then never the same ever again.

Rich

PS: If you've not used them much before, if yours are the "pumped tip" type, make sure you get plenty good clean flow off the model first.  They all seem to work perfect the first few uses.  But after they've been on the shelf for a week they seem to need treating with a bit more care.

[RST]

Sorry for maybe a bit of a hijack but just to add I used Posca on this Speedline Pilot 40 for the windows and other misc things recently.  The silver is indistinguisable with a revell 99 pot to fill-in after the edge but in the case of windows you have a hard edge to follow-round which helps allot with consistency when you get the edge right, you scrape-off the pigment from the inside after.  On other models I have used the posca as the outline -then fill-in with Tamiya acrylic by brush.

Rich

[GG]

Glad to see I'm not the only one to "draw on my models".


Also used permanent marker pens to touch up odd scratches and add lettering (with a stencil) to models.   


It's a neat idea to draw the outline with a pen and fill in with paint, a method I've used a few times to make the "boot topping" around a hull.


Glynn Guest