First let me just state the obvious to get it out of the way. Wow.
I've been thinking a lot recently about getting into etching extra panel lines on some of my upcoming projects. I know there are a variety of ways and tools to go about this but my actual problem is deciding where the lines should go and what kind of lines should go there. I really don't know how people do it sometimes. I mean I consider myself a relatively creative person but when it comes to this kind of stuff a draw a blank 9/10 times.
Do you do custom panel lines? If so how? Do you draw out the design first and see how it looks or do you just go for it? Pencil them onto the suit itself? How do you know when to stop? How much is too much? This suit has a lot and I have to say it seems like the answer is "the more the better".
There are 2 schools of thought regarding panel lines.
ReplyDeleteThe first is that panel lines are artificial representations of steel panels if the model in question were life size. You would look at things like tanks, planes, ships, cars, real world machinery, etc. to get an idea of what looks like it would be natural panel shape.
The second school of thought treats panel lines as surface markers to give character to an empty space. These can be vein like, have curvature that goes at varying angles, or be completely ridiculous.
The Zaku you posted is a combination of these schools of thought. If you look at the spiked shoulder, you can see how the panel lines there look realistic and are made out in a shape that would appear logical for that structure. Now, look at the foot just above where the black portion is. Do you see the zigzag line and circles? This doesn't look like anything a real world part would be. It looks cool and takes up space as opposed to being functional.
I usually draw them onto the kit with a pencil first to see how it looks. And when I am ready to commit, I would use an etching tool/chisel to dent all the corners. So when I use the etching tool/chisel to etch the lines, I know where to stop as my tool/chisel would stop at each dent that I had made (Hope I am not confusing).
ReplyDeleteAnd to keep each line straight. I use either a soft metal plate as a guide, or tape Dymo labeler onto each line to serve as a guide. I use the later more often as it is simple and effective.
As to where and what shape the panel lines should be..... is all in the creativeness of the modder. And I think this area is very subjective.
Happy Panel Lining BB!
derringer awesome comment man thanks.
ReplyDeleteg.g. thanks for the advice!
Derringer summed up the different approaches to panel lining pretty well, so I'll just lay out my approach.
ReplyDeleteFirst I do a basic assembly and then mess around with panel line ideas with a pencil. I usually just use panel lines to break up an open area a bit, such as sazabi's leg armour. After I find a line layout I'm happy with, I mark each corner with a scribing tool and go along the lines using a hobby knife. when I'm done using the hobby knife, I return to the scribing tool and use that to make the lines more noticeable. Also have something to use as a filler if, like me, you make mistakes here and there.
In terms of how much to use, it varies from person to person. I like how lining breaks up the colours on a model quite a lot, so I use a fair bit of lining. The best thing to do is just fool around with pencil lines until you find something you like and go with that.
Hope that's someway helpful to you, BB.
yeah.. after read Derringer comment... I learned something new on panel scribing/linings XD...
ReplyDeleteI just randomly scribing the lines like what G.G does, usually I sketch some panel lines idea on the paper then starts drawing on the kit it self with pencil.. I dont have any special tools like chisel so i use scriber pen (needle like thinggy) and instead using dymo i use 0.3mm pla-plate with tacky to guide my scribing :D
hope this helps too :D
My paneling quite sucky most of the time and that is why I didnt do much on panelling on my 1/48 Rx78-2 Gundam.
ReplyDelete