Using Vallejo Wash for Highlighting Panel Lines

[showrods]

I want to highlight scribed panel lines.  I was unable to find any Tamiya Panel Line Accent locally so I decided to buy the Vallejo acrylic wash instead.

The questions that I have are:

1.  Can I apply the Vallejo acrylic wash to bare plastic scribed panel lines or is it preferable to apply it at another stage in the painting process? 

2.  If I do apply it to bare plastic, will there be anything visible after spraying on the primer and the paint?

3.  If anyone else has used this as a panel highlighter, did you need to thin it?

4.  On the topic of panel lines, what's the call on whether the panel lines need to be scribed or not?  The kit in question is a Monogram 1970 Plymouth Superbird.  The panel lines seem reasonable deep to this uninformed person but...

My thoughts are that if I apply it at the bare plastic stage, then there's no other paint to muck up and clean up would be easiest in that I'd just have to clean any excess off of bare plastic.

If it matters at all the planned painting sequence and colours are, unless I'm told differently:  Vallejo Dark Brown wash in the panel lines; Tamiya grey primer; some Tamiya white primer; Testor's Go Mango.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Harry Joy]

Vallejo is a simple acrylic paint, same with the wash. If you apply it to bare plastic, it will disappear under anything else you put over it. It's a final "window dressing" you apply late in the process, when the paint job is otherwise finished.

[Snake45]

Everything you need to know will be found here:

[showrods]

Thanks for posting that tutorial.  I had read it before and as I recall, then as now, there appears to to be at least 2 different schools as to when in the process to do the panel lines.  One says late in the process, the other says early.

I know that Tamiya wants you to put it on after the primer coat but not on bare plastic as their panel line highlighter is enamel and will quite possibly damage bare plastic.  

The acrylic Vallejo wash I hope will not damage bare plastic.

[Dave Ambrose]

I use India ink and a steel quill pen after the last coat of primer. The ink darkens anything sprayed on top of it. Putting it down after the primer ensures that the ink spreads and adheres instead of pools into droplets.

[Snake45]

Thanks for posting that tutorial.  I had read it before and as I recall, then as now, there appears to to be at least 2 different schools as to when in the process to do the panel lines.  One says late in the process, the other says early.

 

Long story short, I scribe the lines about 2/3 of the way through the plastic, then I put whatever kind of flat black I have handy in there with a brush. At this point I'm done with the panel lines. I prime, paint, and polish as normal. Oh yeah, after final polish, of course, I wash all the polishing residue out of the lines with a soft toothbrush under warm running water.

All that scribing is labor-intensive, but the finished result looks a million times better than just putting some kind of "wash" in/on the as-molded lines.

[showrods]

Long story short, I scribe the lines about 2/3 of the way through the plastic, then I put whatever kind of flat black I have handy in there with a brush. At this point I'm done with the panel lines. I prime, paint, and polish as normal. Oh yeah, after final polish, of course, I wash all the polishing residue out of the lines with a soft toothbrush under warm running water.

All that scribing is labor-intensive, but the finished result looks a million times better than just putting some kind of "wash" in/on the as-molded lines.

I read one guy's comment that he takes a folded piece of 600 grit sand paper to clean up the scribe lines.  Is that something that others do?  Is it even possible to smooth out such a narrow space without doing damage?  I imagine after a line is scribed though that the crevices could be pretty jagged... 

[Snake45]

I read one guy's comment that he takes a folded piece of 600 grit sand paper to clean up the scribe lines.  Is that something that others do?  Is it even possible to smooth out such a narrow space without doing damage?  I imagine after a line is scribed though that the crevices could be pretty jagged... 

I've had to do that on rare occasion, but don't normally. You can make the gap too wide and/or uneven if you're not VERY careful. But yeah it can be done.