Pens For Detailing

[Mike]

Anyone use any sort of pens for fine detailing on figures?
I am thinking banners and shields for my 10mm.

[Geof Downton]

I have, but not always successfully. Some pens which claim to be ‘waterproof’ turn out to be otherwise when varnished. Having resorted to tiny brushes for such things I regret I can not recall which were OK, other than the classic Rotring isograph with its proprietary ink.

One who puts on his armour should not boast like one who takes it off.
Ahab, King of Israel; 1 Kings 20:11

[McKinstry]

I’ve had mixed success.  All I remember is that often the colors ran when sprayed with sealer and that letting them dry for 24+ hours sometimes worked.

The tree of Life is self pruning.

[Mr. Average]

I have often found paint applied with a toothpick to be more effective. Pens are as people have said unpredictable.

[MartinR]

The only ones I’ve used consistently are micron lining pens (in plain black). They work really well and are ideal for shield designs – I use them to outline patterns and fill in details (like eyes etc on hoplite shields) as well as blacklining straps etc.

"Mistakes in the initial deployment cannot be rectified" - Helmuth von Moltke

[Darkest Star Games]

The Gundam pens have worked for me reasonably well, but they are not thin enough IMO.  They can also clog easily.  I used Rotring pens for years (since I had them from the college years of Architecture) but the .0x7 being the best but also tough to work with as the needle can scratch the paint off very easily.  Take a lot of practice to use the “stopper” type of technical pen.

"I saw this in a cartoon once, but I'm pretty sure I can do it..."

[Mr. Average]

Rotrings WERE the best. The 6×0 were the longest lasting, with the diamond fiber nibs. Then they went out of business or something – stopped exporting to the United States sometime in 2005. Maybe that’s changed now? Also the Rotring ink was way more flat and consistent than Koh-I-Noor.

[Cerdic]

I use a white Gelly Roll for the crossbelts on 6mm Napoleonics. Not had any problems…

http://28mmreview.blogspot.co.uk

[Alexander Hay-Whitton]

I’ve had good success using Sharpies (felt-tip pens) to do the sort of detailed work you mention, but only with black, dark blue, and scarlet. Green was a disaster, bleeding into other colours and even through the repeated repaint jobs I did; it took ages to repair the damage there. But I do all my belts and reins with black pens these days, and use the blue and red freely on lighter colours for fancy garments or shields.

I’m very much a 10mm gamer, btw.

[Not Connard Sage]

Posca PCM-1MR paint pens. Never had any problems with them running…because they’re paint 🙂

The PCF-350 has a brush tip that flows well too, but the colour range is limited.

Both of the above have metallic silver and gold for buttons/officer’s lace/whatever

Range

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

[Piyan Glupak]

I have taken to using pens for shields for 15mm figures because I have started doing more stuff with difficult to paint blazons.  The pens that I prefer so far are called “Staedler permanent Lumocolor”.  Agree that sometimes they aren’t quite as waterproof as I would hope.  What I find works best for me is:

1. Paint the figures (acrylic paint) including the shield background colour but not the shield designs.
2. Leave for about 24 hours.
3. Use a 1/4 floor polish 3/4 water with a little Peat Brown ink as a whole figure wash.
4. Leave for 24 hours.
5. Use the pens to do the shield design.
6. Leave for at least 24 hours after using the pens.
7. Varnish figures with a diluted spirit-based varnish for wood, then base.

Must admit that I don’t like the extra time for the shield design to dry thoroughly, but it does seem to reduce shield designs running.

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