Hello all,

 

I am a total kitbashing n00b. All I ever have done is the Alt Prowl leg mod. Anyway, I just got a TRU reissue Starscream and I'd like red eyes on him. I also have Thrust and Dirge from my childhood that could use the red eyes too. Anyway, I was looking at Walmart and saw some paint pens, from Testor's, near the model kits. There were two types, I think acrylic and enamel.

 

Does anyone have experience using these? Which of the two would work better? Would it be easy to clean off and try again if I mess up? Or would I be better off with a tiny brush and bottle? If brush and bottle would be best, what type of paint would be recommended?

 

Any advice is appreciated!

Paint pens are awesome, but you have to be careful because if you press to hard, it can come out in a big pool of mess. IMO you'll need to put some primer on the eye areas first, so that the red will show up, and then pick out a model red that you like, and apply both the primer and the red with a tooth pick or other small edged something like the tip of a mechanical pencil.

Hello all,

 

I am a total kitbashing n00b. All I ever have done is the Alt Prowl leg mod. Anyway, I just got a TRU reissue Starscream and I'd like red eyes on him. I also have Thrust and Dirge from my childhood that could use the red eyes too. Anyway, I was looking at Walmart and saw some paint pens, from Testor's, near the model kits. There were two types, I think acrylic and enamel.

 

Does anyone have experience using these? Which of the two would work better? Would it be easy to clean off and try again if I mess up? Or would I be better off with a tiny brush and bottle? If brush and bottle would be best, what type of paint would be recommended?

 

Any advice is appreciated!

 

 

My advice is to use a brush and bottle. I use a 10/0 size red sable hair brush. I also use strictly acrylic paints, and I never use primer. To get the best effect for the optics, apply a base coat of silver to the optics and let dry, then, over that, use a red clearcoat Tamiya makes colored clearcoats in a variety of hues. The red clear over the silver wll create the appearance of glowing translucent optic lenses. The only thing better is light piping.

I'd go with acrylic if you use the pens. With acrylic you can wash it off real quick with water if you mess up. The enamels eat into the plastic so if you mess up you're screwed