There’s no one way to build a Gunpla kit—and that’s true for every step of the process. For example, take panel lining: who says you have to do it in one particular way? Follow along with Gunpla 101 contributor chennerbot as he experiments with multiple panel-lining methods.
One of the great things about this hobby is the freedom to experiment and try new things.
While going through some old articles for inspiration, I came across Metallic Paint Markers for Gunpla in which Lauren used metallics to add some fine detail to her HGFC 1/144 #110 G Gundam. What really appealed to me about this build was how she used the gold marker to highlight the head vulcans on the helmet and accentuate the shoulder pauldrons and front skirts.
I’m a big fan of panel lining, and particularly when I use Tamiya Panel Liner to do it. There’s something really satisfying to dip the tip onto a line and see capillary action fill it in like magic. Color-wise, I mainly use black liner, but I’ll use gray liner for lighter, color-neutral pieces and I’ll break out the brown for warm colors like yellow, orange, or red. I always panel line on the runner—I’ve had a few bad mishaps where I’ve panel lined after the kit is built and the plastic ends up disintegrating.
I’m mainly a build + panel line + waterslide decal + clear coat type of dude. To my eye, these three additional steps go a long way to making a kit look great. In going through my collection, I noticed a pretty stark discrepancy in the color separation on the lighter pieces versus the darker. Most of the blues and dark grays on my kits looked really boring, and I wanted to spruce them up with some alternative panel-lining flair. I took a few weeks to try out different solutions and came up with some fun ideas. I’m excited to share with you all!
See also: How To Apply Waterslide Decals To Gundam Kits
Materials
From top to bottom in the picture, I tried working with the following products. Here are my detailed notes about each liner type.
- Weibo model markers (top two markers shown). I found these to lay down a lot of paint.
- Gundam Marker – panel lining type. These are fine if you want to stick to the black/gray/brown. They lay down a heavier line than I like, but have their uses. These are difficult to get into really tight spaces, like a head/helmet area.
- Gundam Marker – pour type. Probably the most similar to the Tamiya Panel liner in terms of laying down a panel line in a nice groove. You can press the pen down over a line, and it will fill itself due to capillary action.
- Gundam Marker – traditional chisel tip. I had the most fun with these due to the color selection. Also, surprisingly easy to clean up.
- Tamiya Panel Liner (not pictured). This is my go-to product if I need a brown, gray, or black. When used correctly, it is the easiest option to get a panel line onto a kit – particularly useful when you have tight spaces you are working on (like a head/helmet, or a thin line in general). I’ve added some use case examples in this article – scroll down to the RG Freedom, and further down for the RG Tallgeese and RG Hi-Nu. It’s also extremely cost-effective – a $7 bottle will last you much longer than a marker. However, note that when used incorrectly, this product can crack plastic. I typically panel line while the part is still on the runner, and have had good success. The safest option is to gloss clear coat first before panel lining.
I’ve also ranked each of these markers based on my experience with them in a few categories for this panel lining: Ease of Application, Ease of Cleanup, and Color Availability. I’ve assigned each product a 1-3, with 3 stars being “great” and 1 star being “difficult or limited.”
| Product | Application | Cleanup | Colors |
|---|---|---|---|
| ⭐⭐ | ⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ | |
| Gundam - Panel | ⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐ |
| Gundam - Pour | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐ |
| Gundam - Chisel | ⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐* |
| Tamiya Panel Liner | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐ |
*Out of everything, you have by far the most color options available with this product.
I think it’s pretty well documented on the web how the panel lining and pour type markers work.
I decided to play around with the Weibo and the traditional Gundam chisel markers.
Experiment Time!
My first test was on the fin funnels on my RG 32 Rx-93 Nu Gundam using the Weibo model markers. In the photo below, the top fin funnel shows as it comes assembled; the middle is after the paint from the marker has been applied, and the bottom is the final result after scrubbing and cleaning. The annoying part of these Weibo markers is how thick the paint is. I would use an entire cotton swab to clean one fin funnel due to how saturated it would get with paint.
In the end, I think this created a really cool look. Unfortunately, I didn’t think far enough ahead: after final assembly, I realized that the funnels are part of the backpack and would basically never be seen while on display… d’oh!
I decided to start a new build and attempt some of these techniques on an RG 05 Freedom Gundam. There is a lot of flat blue space on the wings with some grooves for panel lining, so there should be some good opportunity for creative expression!
And here is the final look before clear coat. I dropped it while pulling it off the shelf for this picture and the left leg broke. 🙁
The white parts of the kit were all done with black Tamiya Panel Liner.
And another more close-up shot of the backpack and wing assembly. I think this mod adds a lot of depth to the kit, but also found it to be very time consuming, so I moved to another avenue.
How to panel-line for more depth or color
For my next experiment, I used the traditional chisel-tip Gundam markers. I had a lot more fun with this—there are so many colors of Gundam markers, and for me this is the way to go in the future.
What You’ll Need:
- Gundam marker (your choice of color!)
- Lighter fluid
- Cotton swabs
With this process, I found a couple pieces where I wanted to add more depth or color. Not learning from my mistake with the Rx-93 Nu above, I decided to experiment with the funnels on my Hi-Nu Rx-93 and give it some Psycho Frame flare. I picked out the Gundam Marker EX – Psycho Frame Holographic Green color that I had sitting around the workbench.
The process is very straightforward: find the pointy tip on the marker, and put it into the line you want to fill. A very light tap and you should start to see the paint start to flow. Let it run, or move the marker around until the line is completely filled.
If you ever want to test the appearance of the marker on the plastic, paint a little bit on the sprue.
For the black and darker blues, I’ve found that silver and gold go really well to add some additional depth. For the blue parts on this Hi-Nu Rx-93, I decided to go with Moonlight Butterfly Holographic Silver.
Depending on how accurate you were, you may be left with a little paint blotch. Give the paint some time to dry, and then take a cotton swab with a little bit of lighter fluid to clean it up. Run against the grain of the line you made to avoid picking up any paint off the line you want to keep. In the example above, if I were cleaning out blotches around the horizontal line, I’d run the cotton swab vertically.
Here’s a couple cleaned up lines on the right versus how they looked prior to cleaning on the left:
Once you’re done, you can continue on to cutting, assembly, and finishing as you normally would.
Here’s the finished product, prior to clear coat:
See also: Top Coat Guide For Gunpla
I ended up changing the color on the elbow circles and leg vents from the champagne plastic they used to a more golden color. Not exactly panel lining, but I wanted to provide some context. You can see I did add some color accents on the back of the shield.
I added the silver/chrome accents on the backpack wings and the fin funnels using the chisel-tip Gundam Marker.
Here’s a backside shot of the backpack – I added some bronze accents on the recessed backpack parts, as well as on the midpoint of the fin funnels.
Here is a shot that highlights the use of Tamiya Panel Liner – you can see I added black to the helmet, facemask, and V-fin. There’s also gold accents on the rifle.
Here’s some other fun use cases I’ve gone through recently:
Panel lined the Sazabi shield and rifle in gold. I built this for a friend, and unfortunately I’ve already packed this to be shipped and forgot to get finished product pictures.
Here’s a work-in-progress RG Tallgeese Ver. EW. I added a chrome line under the red mohawk, and some gold accents in the shoulder ball. Going back to my comments about Tamiya Panel Liner, you can see I filled in the sides of the head and the markings on the mouthpiece. These lines would be difficult with most other products.
Another work in progress on an RG Build Strike. I added some chrome to the blue backpack wings. Any lines you see here on white pieces were done in black Tamiya Panel Liner. I added some dark brown on the gold V-Fin as well.
I hope my experiments have inspired you to try out some new panel-lining techniques of your own. Happy building!
Creeping towards a midlife crisis, chennerbot is supplanting the urge to buy a convertible Corvette by building plastic robots.
