Technical pens that are good for detail work on micro armour

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Ray-Skeleton
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2015 9:11 pm

Technical pens that are good for detail work on micro armour

Post by Ray-Skeleton »

Hello all,

I am wanting to get a technical pen that will be good for detail work on my micro-armour (black lining around camouflage) and unit markings.
I use an airbrush (mainly tamiya paints) and vallejo acrylics on my models.

I would welcome any advice on this.

Thanks in advance and cheers,

Ray.

Cav Dog
E5
Posts: 897
Joined: Wed Dec 29, 2004 1:12 am

Post by Cav Dog »

I use calligraphy pens and ink to put numbers in Arabic script on tanks so they should work for what you are describing.

Image

They are available from art supply stores such as Blick:

http://www.dickblick.com/products/speed ... rpose-set/
Tactics are the opinion of the senior officer present.

piersyf
E5
Posts: 625
Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2008 1:59 pm
Location: Melbourne Australia

Post by piersyf »

If you mean what I think you mean, technical pens won't work. I have a full set of them, being trained as a graphic designer pre computer days, but they have significant issues for working with micro armour.
1) the pens have a minimum size of 0.25mm. That's about 3 inches to scale, so the lines are actually still a touch heavy.
2) the pens work through capillary action. That means they work best on a flat surface. If they don't have that, they either stop working or dump excess ink.
3) They are very fussy about the thickness of the ink. You can't run paint through them, and if the ink runs or bleeds, you can't change the mix.
4) The pen uses a fine needle in a tube to allow the capillary action to function. That fine needle will scratch through any paint you have leaving a very clear silver line, or catch on any raised detail and dump excess ink there. Sure, if the pen works that scratch will be filled with ink, but as they need a flat surface to work as advertised, any curved or detailed surface will most likely have just the scratch or a blob.

So I say don't bother. I've had my pens for 25 years and I do not use them on micro armour. Not because I don't want to damage the pens or the minis, but because they don't work that well. The pens are great for what they are designed for (flat illustration board) but not for much else.
There is no right or wrong, only decisions and consequences.

Ray-Skeleton
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2015 9:11 pm

Post by Ray-Skeleton »

Thanks for the advice.

I will try the calligraphy pens.

If that's too difficult, I guess I will just have to learn how to paint.

Cheers,

Ray;.

Cav Dog
E5
Posts: 897
Joined: Wed Dec 29, 2004 1:12 am

Post by Cav Dog »

Ray-Skeleton wrote:Thanks for the advice.

I will try the calligraphy pens.

If that's too difficult, I guess I will just have to learn how to paint.

Cheers,

Ray;.
A few tips for using the calligraphy pens:

Practice a lot first, preferably on the bottom of a large metal base such as the light mortar stands painted the color you are planning to ink over.
Paints are too thick to use with calligraphy pens and I couldn't thin them down enough to get it to flow right without them becoming transparent.
Use water based inks they are easier to clean up. I have used both Higgins & Windsor and Newton and they need to be thinned slightly out of the jar.
Put the ink in a separate container so you can see how far in the nib is going, it doesn't take much ink and too much will run or smear. You can't really tell how much ink you are picking up if you dip it in the jar.
Keep a paper towel handy to help control how much ink is in the nib.
Gloss coat where you are planning to draw, it helps the ink flow smoothly.
I found that if you do get a blob or smear depending on where and how bad, sometimes you can just paint over the undesirable part without having to redo the entire design.
Did I say practice a lot?

Good luck
Tactics are the opinion of the senior officer present.

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