Tamiya Panel Line Accent, the Sumi-Ire Wash That Runs the Lines for You
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Flows by Itself – Touch the brush to a line junction and capillary action pulls the paint down the recessed channel on its own. The enamel comes pre-thinned to exactly the viscosity that makes this work.
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The Brush Is the Cap – A fine applicator brush is built into the bottle cap, so there's nothing to mix, thin, or clean between sessions. Open, touch, done.
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Mistakes Wipe Off – Stray paint and overflow lift away with a swab of enamel thinner after drying, leaving color only in the recesses. Sloppy application is part of the intended workflow, not a failure.
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Colors With Jobs – Six shades exist because black on white armor looks like a cartoon and gray on a tank disappears. Matching line color to kit color is what separates lined from outlined.
📝 Product Description
Panel Line Accent Color is Tamiya's pre-thinned enamel wash and the default answer to panel lining across the hobby. The Japanese term for the technique, sumi-ire, predates every tool now sold for it, and this bottle is the one that made the technique effortless: paint engineered to run a recessed line end to end from a single touch.
It suits Gunpla frames, aircraft panel grids, armor plates, and car body lines equally, and a 40ml bottle lines a great many kits. It's the speed tool for builds with hundreds of engraved lines, where drawing each one with a panel line marker would take an evening per part.
🎨 Which Color for Which Kit?
Black is the universal default and the right pick on dark or saturated colors. Gray is Tamiya's own recommendation for white and light parts where black reads too harsh, with Light Gray the subtlest option on pure white and Dark Gray the strongest line you can put on a light kit without cartoon contrast. Brown warms up military schemes and suits yellows, oranges, and reds, while Dark Brown is the armor modeler's shade, reading as grime and depth on tanks and dark military colors.
💡 How to Line a Kit
Shake the bottle, wipe the cap brush against the rim so it carries a bead rather than a drip, and touch the tip to an intersection of engraved lines. Let the paint travel; chase it along long runs with additional touches. Once everything is dry, dampen a cotton swab with enamel thinner and wipe across the surface to clear the overflow. Many builders keep lighter fluid on the bench for the same cleanup step, a long-standing community trick that lifts enamel gently.
⚠️ Read This Before Lining Bare Plastic
Tamiya's own caution comes first: plastic parts can become brittle where this product pools, so keep it away from movable joints and load-bearing areas, and apply it over a lacquer or acrylic base coat rather than raw plastic wherever possible. On snap-built Gunpla, that means lining stressed bare joints is the risk case; a gloss coat first removes the risk entirely. Test on a hidden spot before committing, since the enamel can also bite into some underlying paints.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Will it really crack my Gunpla?
It can, in one specific situation: enamel solvent sitting on bare polystyrene that's under mechanical stress, like a tight peg or a flexed joint. The solvent works into the stressed plastic and the part fails there. Unstressed surface plastic is far more tolerant, and painted or top-coated plastic is protected outright. Line smart and this is a non-issue; flood bare joints and it isn't.
Panel wash or panel line marker?
Different tools for different builds. The wash wins on speed and realism across kits covered in engraved detail, since it does fifty lines in the time a marker does five. Markers win for spot detail, beginners avoiding enamel handling, and touch-ups. Plenty of benches run both.
How do I fix a spot I flooded?
Wait for it to dry, then lift it with a swab of enamel thinner. The wash stays soluble in enamel thinner even cured, while lacquer and acrylic base coats underneath don't budge, which is the whole chemistry trick that makes cleanup safe.
Does it work over flat paint?
It works, but Tamiya notes the caveat: flat coats are porous, so the wash permeates and grips the surface texture, making the wipe-up stage harder and the panel look dirtier. The clean workflow is gloss coat, line, wipe, then your matte topcoat last.
📐 Specifications
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Brand: Tamiya
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Product: Panel Line Accent Color
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Type: Pre-diluted enamel panel line wash
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Volume: 40ml glass bottle with built-in cap brush
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Variants: Black (87131, UPC 4950344871315), Brown (87132, UPC 4950344871322), Gray (87133, UPC 4950344871339), Dark Brown (87140, UPC 4950344871407), Light Gray (87189, UPC 4950344871896), Dark Gray (87199, UPC 4950344071845)
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Cleanup: Tamiya X-20 enamel thinner
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Base Coat Guidance: Apply over lacquer or acrylic paint; test first; avoid movable and load-bearing bare plastic
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Best For: Gunpla panel lining, aircraft panel grids, armor detailing, car body lines
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Country of Origin: Japan
