Let’s begin with the basics. Here’s the rudder of a 1/48 B-17 Flying Fortress. Some of the models Sunward Hobbies sell have coloured plastic parts, so if you simply want to add some depth and detail to your model here’s what to do. Tamiya Panel Line enamel paints are ideal for highlighting panel lines and other details to give your model a more realistic depth. The paint has been pre-diluted into the ideal viscosity and can be easily applied into crevasses such as panel lines with the brush on the bottle cap. Once dried, any excess may be cleaned up by using enamel thinner. (Bottle contains 40ml)

H.G. Barnes is a former voice-over artist and retired sales and marketing professional. He’s the author of two large volume science fiction adventure romance novels with many more in the works. For well over 40 years he’s been building scale model replicas and now does commission work for clients in Canada and the USA, plus completes projects for companies in Asia and Europe. As you can see in the picture there’s quite a difference between the two color tones. The lighter looks as though rain had collected then dried while the softer brown has that earthy look. The point is you can have multiple shades and not be restricted to one. Tail with two cups Next, you’ll begin to remove the excess. Work 90 degrees against the direction of the line when you can. Rubbing the same direction will, in many cases, remove the wash entirely. Don’t press too hard, remember you’re just adding thinner. After a few strokes the pigment will rehydrate and begin coming away. Turn your cotton swab often to a clean spot and replace it when it’s covered with pigment. Blue arrows on tail Is this really such a big problem in today's world of cheap postage from pretty much everywhere in the world? Now let’s get a little more organic. One of the great features about these products is blending it for a more idea shade. Sometimes light grey is too bold. In this picture you can see I’ve cut the ratio 50/50 in a mixing cup. This will give that spot a look of being hit by the muddy wind of propeller air-wash. Brown and grey in cupPlastic parts may become brittle when using Tamiya Panel Line accent colors. Avoid using on movable parts and take care when applying to load-bearing areas.Apply over base coat of lacquer or acrylic paint. Accent Color paints may damage underlying base coat. Test before applying it onto the model.Take care when applying on flat base coat colors as Accent Color paints may permeate more readily. This picture shows what can expected on flat paint. Notice how the brown has flowed down the panel lines? centered on flat blue

When you’ve completed remove the bulk of the excess there will be some residue. Now you may opt to leave this as a weathering effect, clean it up a little as a “post shade” or get rid of it entirely. It all depends on the look you’re after. Tail and smudged grey wash with blue thumb You can still buy these chemicals in "industrial" quantities/sizes/volumes so instead of buying a 1 litre bottle of acid, or a small bag of something - you now have to buy 250 kg or a 25 litres!!! Talk about barking up the wrong tree because someone with sinister motives wouldn't buy a 1 litre bottle - he would buy a couple of 25 litre ones, and so has these bans only created problems for those who need it whilst not stopping it for those who shouldn't have access to it... Lastly, I took the time to scribe the panel lines and rivet the rudder of the B-17 Flying Fortress. Then it was primed and sprayed light sky grey and given a mat clear coat. After the prep work had dried, I used the brown color to accentuate my detail work. Notice the difference between the pronounced detail in the lower part of the picture vs the bland upper half of the photograph? A much-improved look, something simple to do and takes very little time to pull off. Tamiya Panel Liner Completed Application With the introduction over we can move to a real-world example. All the products used in this tutorial are available at Sunward Hobbies, so there’s no magical hidden formula or nonsense. Again, the stuff I’m using is the same you’ll be buying. Here’s a Tamiya 1/48 Russian Shturmovik WWII aircraft. Tamiya Model Kit IL-2 box lidThis service does not deliver on a Saturday or Sunday. If you would like Saturday delivery please call us on 01782 409310.