Can Sharpie Markers Be Used For Preshading?

[RKic]

are they compatible with tamiya and polly scale acrylics?

[Andy Mullen]

Not tried the technique myself, but it would probably best to test your combination of marker and paint on either a test kit, or the inside of a two piece wing.

[Old Man]

I suspect it would be a bad idea, Sir.

The ink has a tendency to bleed and turn purplish, under acrylic anyway. I did recently discover that if lightly gone over with unstirred Pollyscale acrylic, used very spariingly and touched only once, there is no appreciable damage to the ink, and it can later be gone over more fully without risk, but it still makes me nervous as hell, and I could not in good conscience really recommend it. But it might be worth an experiment.

[Pappy]

I have used sharpies to go over panal lines and so far it has'nt hurt the paint. Hope this helps.

[jrallman]

i tried this and found that it wasnt compatibility with the paint that was an issue, but the clear coats. the paint went over the sharpie just fine, but when i sprayed a clear coat on, the sharpie bled right through. future seemed to have the least reaction, but it still did bleed some. i would not recomend it, more of a headache than it is worth.

[Holeshot]

I used a Sharpie on the missile part of Trumpeter's SA-2 SAM launcher kit. No issues with paint compatibility (Humbrol enamel with Future clearcoat), but I just wasn't happy with the effect. The Sharpie is too thick to get down in the panel lines, and gives too much of sharp edge on either side of the preshading. I'm sticking to airbrushing with flat black.

YMMV,

Curtis

[Old72s]

Sharpies and PollyScale acrylics DO NOT mix well. Something in the acrylics makes the colors separate and the purple will bleed through. Purple panel lines do not look good.

[Zmey Smirnoff]

Ditto with MM enamels. Not worth the trouble.

[Ricardo]

One word: DONT!

It just won't work. Learned it the hard way. Looks ugly and it is a pain to take it off.

Ricardo ;)

[RedHeadKevin]

Yeah, I tried using one in wheel wells for the plumbing, and then hit it with a coat of Future. Have you ever seen a purple wheel well? I have.

[BAM'n'IVM]

Sharpies have their uses...but I'm thinking this ain't one of them. I tried various Sharpie techniques in modeling and 2D art, and nothing really worked well if other media was involved. Sharpies only go well with Sharpies.

Now, an all-Sharpie paint scheme might be interesting...on a kit you don't like much...

[RKic]

Thanks for the tips guys. Sorry to hear about your disasters, but like Bismark once said: "Only a fool learns from his own mistakes, a wise man learns from the mistakes of others"

concidere me taught

Ralph

[VF-x]

I've never used a Sharpie to pre-shade, however, I have had success using Gundam markers with MM acrylics.

The results aren't too bad except its hard to get a smooth fading transition from the darker region to the color of the airplane. This problem is caused by the fact that the marker creates hard edges, as opposed to using an airbrush.

So, from my experience, I won't use a marker for anything larger than 1/72. In fact, I'll be using my airbrush for my new 1/48 scale kits in the future.

I hope that helps.

Cheers,

VF-x