I decided, upon seeing the black wash first hand, that Grimlock needed the effect continued over the rest of him so I decided to panel line him. This is only my second panel lining project. The first was Cybertron Vector Prime.

I used India ink paint pens (well, one pen, super fine tip). Once I have the ink on the plastic, I dab and smudge with a cotton t-shirt (black, obviously) so as to wipe off excess ink and push the rest into the crevices.

Alt mode & gear:





I took some advice from Matrix Soul (found here) to add a sword handle to the blade.

 

Bot mode:



Sorry about the poor pics but I took them very quickly this morning with a 2 MP point & shoot.

Also, if you can see it in the last pic, I even detailed the inside of the legs and the inside of the grey back panel / flaps.

 

So to "line" these toys as I've seen, it's just by using a pen and drawing in the lines? Really?

 

Well, that's one of the easiest ways to do it. Bandai actually makes markers just for that purpose, but you can probably use any marker or pen with a fine-enough tip.

 

There are a couple of different methods but that is the one that I use.

 

that looks awesome... makes me think twice about selling him!

 

That looks terrific! 

 

You can also do a black wash which is thinned out black paint, then you whiped off the excess. Lining markers probably are the cleanest way.

BTW, look cool.

 

dude, that turned out nice!

 

That's nice... reminds me a lot of Devil's Due Grimlock from G.I. Joe / Transformers. Amazing how something small like lining can really enhance a figure, like the Jetfire from a few days ago

 

I like to wipe the ink off right away. Gives it a natural weathered look.

 

That is, more or less, what I do. I put down a couple of lines that are near one another and wipe away the excess. In areas where I really need some lining but it won't stick, I dab first then wipe.

 

Very nice.

 

Awesome work Nash!

 

how fine of a point do the lining markers need to be? I picked up two black ink pens with a .5mm point. Will those do? Or do I need to go to a paint supply store?

 

Amazing what at little detail can do for a figure. Very nice!

 

I use an 'S' sized artists paint pen. I have no idea what the measurement is, to tell the truth. IIRC, I found the pens I use in an Office Depot or Office Max.

 

You should see what a wash does to a Basics Unicron (*Ahem* Bludgeon *cough* *cough*)

Should have taken before and after pics

 

I've thought about doing that and taking some time and hitting big Unicron and Primus as well.

 

I've slowly started doing that with my Armada Unicron(whole lot of space to cover). Looks pretty sweet with a black wash. I plan on doing a wash with Grimlock when I get him.