"Paint marker pens" Topic

Evening all

As part of a VBCW project I'm painting up a tank like a steam loco or a showman's engine, with a lot of gold trim. I've tried lining using a brush and made a complete cockup of it, so I'm wondering how much success I'd have with a paint marker pen.
Ordered one of these for a couple of quid:

Does anyone have any experience of using such a pen on their models? Anything I should know about? Any tips?

They work great, I use the silver for bayonets and guns and making little button dots. You wouldn't believe how much time it save not having to dip a brush into a paint pot. The only drawback is getting the feed set right, sometimes the tip can get flooded and it will bleed every where.

I use pens all the time for lining and striping. Even to create a houndstooth pattern.

Beware if over varnishing, my black lining pens run

Everyone has pretty much said it all. My only caveat would be that the tip of mine dry out very quickly so put the cap on when not actually using it. I mean eves setting it down for a few moments while painting and it will start to dry. Otherwise they work great.

Great news, thanks chaps.
I might get a couple of different colours in that case.

I use black .05 (or is it .005?) for eyeballs.

Glad to hear you chaps have had success. I got a Pilot white pen to try putting some numbers on tanks – but really struggled to get the pen to flow right.

Writing on a flat piece of un-painted plastic (a spare base) work well – but trying it on the curved face of a painted tank didn't work well at all.

I also found that pressing the nib in to release paint/ink was very unpredictable.

I think the white is a waste of money, never had one that worked on anyting.

Have you seen these?
link

Market pens specifically designed for painting/detailing Gundam (or giant robot) models.

I have a couple that I occasionally use for drawing rather than modelling which were picked up when I visited a model shop in Thailand.

You can see some for sale on e-bay – just search for gundam marker pens.

Tony

That is a "Staedtler pigment liner 0.05" pen, which can likely be purchased from any drafting supply company, or most art supply stores. Here is one place offering it for $2.85 USD + S/H: Staedtler pen link. Cheers!

What would you use for 15mm miniatures(figures)? The 0.7mm Extra Fine?
As far as I can tell they come in
Medium 2.0mm
Fine 1.0mm
Extra Fine 0.7mm
Thanks

they can run :(
I use a light coat of a spray on sealant . that seems to stop the running problem

Well it arrived today.
Turns out I'm still useless at straight lines :(

Most (all?) gel pens run. So it is essential to put a light coat of non-water-based varnish over them after use.
(Water based varnish will just make them run, of course).

I've found they're not as great at drawing straight lines as they are at tracing and shading lines that already exist in the model. Unless of course you're already an artist.

They're also good for dots – buttons, pupils, etc.

But do NOT drop them on the tip! Bought a nice pen for $5 USD, opened it, first thing I did was drop it point-down onto a cement floor. Doh!

I did that with a Rotring Isograph that cost something like £15.00 GBP Zephyr40k.
For the metallic pens you want the 0.7 and for the liners arange from 0.3 down to 0.05. I use black for lining and red, green and blue for cockade centres, edging on turnbacks etc. I've found they are brilliant for tarting up printed flags too.
I also use a thick permanent marker pen for the rims on gun wheels and gun carriage metalwork
I've never had a problem with them running as long as they are allowed to dry properly.