Plasticard fuselage marking/etching/engraving

[heartbitt]

I try to find (with no results) how in the scratchbuild process the starship/airplanes fuselage lines are made on.
I read something about using pyro-something (I don't even know the right word on english, but in spanish is pirograbador), but seems to be usefull for wood or leather. Also there's another tool which is usually use to cut floor tiles, but no guiding at all, I don't even how to start.
Anyway, nothing to help me how to make those lines on plasticard.
Someone may iluminate me, please?

Thanks

[davidwinter]

Are you talking about panel line engraving?

If so you use a simple engraving tool like one of these;

http://store.spruebrothers.com/trumpete ... 16781.aspx

[heartbitt]

This tools seems what I was looking for.. so I don't how the path I was following drow me so far from the solution.

Now you put me in the right path (thanks).

So if there's no heat and you have to use pressure, it works fine on a starship already builded with organic/rounded forms, angles, etc ... or you have to use on it plasticard sheets (flat), before cutting, warp, ...?
What about no straight lines. Is it still usefull?
How about dremel electric hobby engrave tool, is the same tool but electric (in the ad is used upon glass, wood, ceramic)? or maybe to powerfull for plasticard/styrene

Thanks

[Ziz]

Every model and panel line pattern is different. There's no one rule to follow besides "Work slowly". Whether you do your panel lines before or after construction depends on the particular ship design and how it goes together.

As far as doing the lines themselves, draw them out on the surface with a pencil and ruler to make sure they're spaced the way you want. Use a metal ruler or straight edge as a guide when you start engraving.

That tool is a good idea but I made my own engraving tool from a spare #11 X-Acto blade. Break the tip of the blade off about 1/16" down (if it isn't broken off already). Take a triangular file and make a notch in the back of the blade near the tip. Use the normal blade edge to make your initial cut to mark where the panel line goes. Flip the blade over and use the notched tip to do your actual engraving.

A Dremel or similar tool might go a little faster than doing it with a blade but unless you have a very steady hand it might be more trouble than it's worth.

[elend]

Imho the most important thing with scribing panel lines is indeed patience. Lots of. It's not the most fun thing to do with modeling (I think it's up par with sanding) but very rewarding if you get it right.

I use a "scribing tool" I once bought in a hobby shop. It looks like a pen with a very sharp tip on it. After I scribed several times I then use a toothpick and remove the excess plastic in the panel line. What the toothpick also does is, it flattens the edges of the scribed line a bit so you get quite a decent panel line.

Aw man, that language barrier is killing me.

[ajmadison]

As a beginning scratchbuilder, you may want to or be tempted to add all of the detail through the same kind of relief you'd find on an injected kit. Especially if you are following plans of some sort.

However, even some of the very best FX miniatures, some of this intricate detail, which shows up as one or more lines on the plans, can in fact be anything but a scribed line.

For those of us who have studied this, much of the Star Wars FX miniatures, most of the panel lines were very thin sections of sheet plastic, with a variety of shapes cut out of the edges to hide the fact that they're "just" different shapes glued to the exterior.

The beloved TMP Enterprise, a large number of its panel lines were produced through a Rapidograph pen (or drafter's technical pen) filled with a special iridescent ink.

Both Star Trek and Star Wars FX miniatures had features drawn on in pencil.

I've forgotten which movie, but another FX miniature's panel lines were created through careful masking of the exterior, and a thick layer of paint was applied. The masking was removed, to reveal recessed panel lines.

I myself, because the scale of what I'm working on is radically smaller than the FX miniature (if such an object exists, my current project was just a CGI creation in the Star Trek universe), have experimented and have liked, judicious use of small pieces of decal sheet. Cut into rectangular and circular shapes, they can recreate tiny details found on the plans with out trying to scribe a 1mm by 2mm rectangle.

I point this out, because though nothing looks better than a recessed line at certain scales, sometimes what you're recreating is a tiny hatch, or just showing that there are separate panels in an otherwise monotone exterior.

[TazMan2000]

http://www.starshipmodeler.biz/shop/ind ... entCat=156

The above and other tools are available from the online store.

TazMan2000