Paint vs Paint Markers?

[l33tpenguin]

So, I'm preping to begin assempling and painting my rather decent sized EA fleet and I was wondering

I've never worked with paint markers, how easy to use are they on EA ships? for the most part EA ships are solid colors with little blending and very simplistic designs. Would it just be easier to use markers instead of brushes? Thoughts? Thanks

 

[McKickaha]

Have'nt used paint markers so don't know. In theory if they work on metal then they would give a good method of block coverage.

But then spray painting probably works better. You don't say which EA era however,

Crusade is dead easy, black undercoat and detail with dark greys plus odds and sods.

Third age - maybe worth trying a grey undercoat followed by a black wash then detailing in grey + odds and sods. (I never tried this, worked up from a black undercoat with drybrushing a technique I dont really use any more. I willl try the grey undercoat in future)

Early Years - white undercoat, grey / black wash then detailed back up with light gray/white + odds and sods. Takes a bit more time to paint in the blue stripes.

If you try the paint markers let us know how you get on. Never find out without experimenting and I ususally find out something of use in any experiment I try. (forgetting my chrome sprayed Solar Hawk of course,(which I never mention), or how to make a metal minature look like its made of silver plastic, great for terminator robots though).

 

[Delthos]

The problem with paint pens is that they don't have consistent paint flow and the tip isn't soft. What this does is leave obvious "brush strokes". You can try going over the spots again, but it usually tends to make new ones. They are also enamel paint, at least I've never seem acrylic paint pens, so take much longer to dry. Ultimately I think they are not a good choice.

 

[Da Boss]

ohh these sound good - are they easier to use than paint brushes - ie can actually get a straight line etc?

Are they expensive?

 

[McKickaha]

Da Boss - there is an easy way to train to paint a straight line.

But you need to move over to the dark side.

I can guarantee if you paint a fleet of ***!!!! Narn you will start out painting crap staight lines and finish painting perfect straight lines every time. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Certainly worked in my case.

 

[McKickaha]

Actually when I think about it I did buy some Tamiya marker pens many years ago during my 1/35 scale armoured kit phase. I think I tried them but did not like them and as already been said I would also now find that enamels are too restricting to use and take to long to dry over Acrylics.

The pen design may have changed of course since then but the couple I bought were like "magic markers" ie had a very broad tip, not so useful for fine lines or detail.

Da Boss - To make "pen" Straight lines would still need some practice but I guess would probably be is easier than painting a straight line. (since I cant really see you moving to the Dark Side)

 

[Chernobyl]

don't use paint markers. just don't. they're not really for models and you won't be happy with the results.

 

[l33tpenguin]

And thus why I ask the questions here

 

[Banichi]

Excuse my ignorance, but whats a paint marker? Some sort of pen filled with paint?

 

[H]

aye, didn't know you could get them other than the ones you use to repair paint chips on cars. but guess you can.

 

[McKickaha]

Banichi - The Tamiya ones I used years ago were like just like marker pens but had a ball bearing inside, for pre-mixing, just like a spray can.

Hiffano - thinking about it now they probably are very similar to the "car" pens.

 

[Banichi]

I think I may have seen something along those lines. My biggest memory of them was that if you pressed too heavily you got a LOT of paint, all at one.

 

[AdrianH]

aye, didn't know you could get them other than the ones you use to repair paint chips on cars. but guess you can.

And that's pretty much how I'd use them on models, too. They're a quick and easy way to touch up chipped paint but I wouldn't use them for the initial paint job. You don't get as good coverage as with a brush and you don't get the full range of colours.

I've also use a permanent marker pen to touch up chipped paint, but that's because the ship in question was a Shadow and I only needed black.