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Another newbie question - felt tip pens


JonathanB

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I've been starting out in N-scale modelling and started on a canal boat and the lock. How do people stop the felt tip pen work around the edges from bleeding into the printed parts? Admittedly I haven't used any varnish yet (it was just a proof of concept style trial start) so maybe that will help?

 

I also had problems cutting with my craft knife and making the edges properly vertical - but I think I may have solved that by not trying to cut through the 1mm card in one go. Less pressure and more strokes required!

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Hi Jonathan.

 

It probably depends on what paper and pens you are using, but when I'm building a Scalescenes kit, I find that running the paper along the edge of the tip right next to where it comes out of the plastic casing (I use those fabre castell 'connector pens') and by just touching the paper with the pen very gently, the amount of 'ink bleed' is reduced.

 

I also had problems cutting with my craft knife and making the edges properly vertical - but I think I may have solved that by not trying to cut through the 1mm card in one go. Less pressure and more strokes required!

 

 

Yeah, a number of gentle strokes are the best way to go. It also helps prevent the card/paper from bunching up and tearing.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Matt.

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I use water based washable felt tip pens and get very little bleed, sometimes rather than trying to run the pen along the actual edge if you put the print face down on a scrap of paper and then run the pen along the edge of the print and the scrap it will cover the edge enough.

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  • 5 months later...

Two votes for the pastel (and No.2 regular) pencils. Ink pens of any kind are too unpredictable for me, with the ink tending to "load up" on the paper edge strands that are exposed with even the straightest, most precise cuts.

 

Cutting paper dulls a blade very quickly. Both 1mm and 2mm paper card are thick, requiring a number of repeated light cuts, and the changing of blades the moment that you feel any "drag" as you're making the cut.

 

To keep the blade at 90 degrees to the cutting surface, try using a length of square tubing or an "L" cross-section length of light metal (brass usually) and resting the side of the blade against the side of the metal. {Make sure, of course, that the piece you use is straight and true).

 

Best Wishes--Carl

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