Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color review

I’ll admit it, I kinda hate panel lining. Not because I’m not that great at it, but I hate the whole prep and clean up aspect of enamel paint. So you can imagine the allure when I discovered Tamiya sold a pre-mix wash for this exact purpose.

At $6.50AUD, roughly 1.5x the cost of one bottle of enamel paint, you get 40ml of pre-mixed wash, coming in black, grey, brown and dark brown versions. The mixture inside is as you’d expect, the said colours from Tamiya’s enamel line, mixed with their X20 enamel thinner, to a decent consistency which you’d use for an enamel wash for panel lining. The bottle cap also comes with a dropper, so you don’t need to use another brush for application. You’ll still need to BYO thinner or zippo fluid for cleaning up your parts afterwards though.

Here’s some test shots from my MG Rick Dias. The consistency of the mix is pretty good for well defined panel lines, but some might find it just-ever-slightly thick for less defined areas, such as the two circular areas on the back of the leg armour. However this could be that I just ended up applying too much and the paint did not flowing correctly.

While some might be disgusted and instantly write this off as a cash-grab by Tamiya, as a ‘lazy-modeller’ I can actually kinda appreciate this product. It does the job exactly as required is pretty reasonably priced. The 40ml is enough to last you several kits, and I suppose as a bonus you don’t have to constantly remix your own wash, and it’s always there in ample amounts.

Pros

+ Reduces prep and clean up
+ Works as exactly as intended
+ Great for lazy modellers

Cons

– You could mix this yourself for a fraction of the price
– Some might find the mix slightly too thick
– Still need enamel thinner for clearing parts