hi guys! my girlfriend just gave me a monogram 1:48 F-15c for my bday and i have just completed the cockpit this weekend now im working on the body... my question is how do i make the raised panel lines on the plane appear? any help and tip is highly appreciated

You mean disappear...don't you? What you now have ahead is one of the most frustrating tasks in modelling, i.e. scribing panel lines... Older kits were moulded with raised, rather than recessed panel lines so what you have to do is to reverse the process. The most effective way to do this is to use a handy little tool called a scriber, the two most-used are produced by Squadron and by Bare Metal. The adresses are:

www.bare-metal.com, and www.squadron.com.

To use the scribers, you have to use something to guide the scriber, I use the tape produced by DYMO, which adheres to the lines of the plane and acts as a guide. The scriber cuts into the plastic and leaves a neat, engraved panel line. It is useful to gently sand off the raised panel line using very-fine sandpaper to clean it it up. Good luck and hope to see your fotos up soon... Jim

thanks a lot jim would you recommend if i use the back of my exacto knife to scribe the panel lines?

Hi crismag. I've used the back of knife blades and razor saw blades to scribe panel lines in the past. The razor saw was especially god. The only problem I've had is that sometimes they leave a small raised lip either side of the new line and I've had some sanding to do to remove them.

I humbly suggest another method - especially if you are fairly new. Leave the panel lines alone. When you are finished painting your eagle, then use the drybrushing method to pick the raised panel lines out.

Simply put, mix some of the base color you used to paint the eagle in, then darken it by 20 -25%. Dip a wide brush in the mixture and then wipe it on a paper towel or napkin until there is no more paint coming off of your brush. Now gently scrub the surface of your model until the panel lines slowly start to appear, highlighted by the darker color on the brush. If you have done it correctly, the panel lines will appear, and they won't look too stark.

BE PATIENT, go slow and you may want to practice on some parts or other models before you put paint on your airplane.

A second method if you are using an airbrush is to take a darker mixture such as I have described above and paint along the panel lines with the darker paint, and then go back with the original color and blend it in until only a subtle line remains.

Scribing panel lines is one of the single hardest tasks in modeling, and I DO NOT recommend it unless you are committed to the look. There are a lot of great F-15 kits out there with nice recessed panel lines for not very much money, and that is a much better option (getting another kit) than spending weeks rescribing a kit that really isn't worthy of that much effort. Hasegawa and Academy both make 1/48 Eagles that are really nice, and if you have some $$$$, try and get the Tamiya 1/32 F-15C. The kit is museum quality.

Best of luck to you. HTH.

Scott

thanks a lot guys for your tips maybe ill try the dryrushing method instead this will be my first AC model and im having so much fun building it

No sweat. Hope you enjoyed the model and Armorama. Hope we helped. Post some pics when it is done!!!!

Scott

PS My vey first model I ever built was an F-15. That was when I was 10 years old...

Yeah, Didimius, I agree completely, panel line scribing is a difficult technique and not for the faint-hearted, I use the scribers because I'm basically lazy...
Crismag, the most important thing to remember, is to enjoy the hobby and not get tied-up at the beginning with complex techniques and spend a fortune buying expensive tools etc. One thing you may want to have a look at however is the excellent Osprey book on aircraft modelling for beginners or even the Verlinden one, both are truly excellent.. Good luck, Jim
p.s. a girl-friend who buys 1/48 aircraft kits?, be careful, it has to be a trap, next thing it'll be furniture.......

hehehe! i guess im already trapped

thanks again guys for your very kind comments! alls highly appreciated. by the way, dont get me wrong coz this is not my very first kit, though its my first AC kit :-)
i have contributed two two articles here at armorama, if your intrested they are:

http://www.arMorama.com//features/104

http://www.arMorama.com//features/123

anyway, im a car modeller by choice but after getting hold of the F15, i think ill be shelving my on-going car projects at the moment

If you like to look, check my car models featured here:

http://users.skynet.be/automotomover/scale/kit_206wrc.htm
http://users.skynet.be/automotomover/scale/kit_subaru.htm
http://users.skynet.be/automotomover/scale/kit_mitsuevo6dio.htm
http://users.skynet.be/automotomover/scale/kit_zakspeed-c.htm

well, back to my workbench and my F15 hope ou like my other works
thanks a lot guys for your much needed and inspiring help

If you are enjoying it, go ahead and built it with raised lines. You can use a needle or X-acto blade to rescribe the ones erased by sanding. These methods will actually raise a little of the plastic so the lines will look similar to the others. I wouldn't worry about rescribing the whole plane. Nothing will suck the enjoyment out of modeling like a total rescribe on a 1/48 F-15. *shudders*

And I'd seen your rally dios before, it's good to "meet" the person who built them. Good work.

Amen, Mr Fate... Errr, Twisted, that is...



Scott

thanks a lot twisted

Re:scribers, I have a Bare-Metal scriber, but I notice that I don't somehow get the scribed lines I like, i.e. fine, narrow ones. Do these come in sizes? Mine doesn't mention any size.

I have the one from Micro-Mark. It's got two ends. They are both supposed to be the same, but since it's hand ground one side is slightly finer than the other. Still not super fine but good enough.

hi there! heres a link to the current status of my F15

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/t106318.html

Gorgeous cockpit work. The office is my favorite part of any plane model.

Keep it up! Very very nice...Did you have reference photos or are you just "good?

Scott

Mighty damn fine work there cris! :-)

thanks a lot guys :-) i have 5 printed pages of reference pics of the plane i researched through the internet

A lonely voice from the woods cried "WHAT ABOUT PENCIL?"

Yep, you don't hear much about it these days, but for a 1/48 scale F-15C, penciled panel lines would look a heckuva lot more scale like than engraved lines (even though I've scribed two Monogram F-15's in 20 years)

The Monogram Eagle instruction sheet used to have a fairly good four-view with major panel lines and joints shown. Use that to lay out the lines on the painted model, and then seal the lines with whatever clear flat coat you use. Of course, you have to sharpen your pencil frequently in this process. I use my trusty Pentel 0.5 mm with HB lead and a Staedtler white eraser to correct mistakes, and it looks a lot more delicate and scale-like than a lot of engraved work.

Just my three cents worth (inflation)

A good point, MC. And a MUCH better alternative, IMHO, to rescribing panel lines...

I have seen it done very well, but it requires skills that I, sadly, do not possess.

FSM has had many aircraft in its' galleries done with this technique.

Regards,

Scott