AK Interactive Precision Panel Liners Review — A worthy update to a classic paint

Enamel paints are an interesting aspect of miniature painting. When some people think of enamels, their brains might immediately go to Testors, the notorious classic enamel paint a lot of people started painting their Warhammer with, usually with results being terrifying, or ending up looking great like Fraser Gray’s work (who won the first GW painting competition, The Master Painter!). My memory is of me painting a metal Asmodai from the 90s with Testors Enamels, mom made me sit outside. As I recall, he was very chunky (because what was thinner? I was 10.)

Nowadays, we’re spoiled. Acrylic paints abound, in chunky and thin, and every color. You can weather with them! You can paint neons! You can do just about anything with a good acrylic paint…so why have enamels?

On a chemical level, enamel paints are closer to an oil, which means they have extended drying times, and even after they’ve sat on a model for a day, a little bit of thinner reactivates the paint and cleans them up. They can suspend particulate matter in a way that acrylic just can’t. So these properties make enamels perfect for weathering, detail work, and anything that requires a special effect, and in my next few reviews, I’ll be diving into a few special enamels that AK Interactive sent us to try, starting first with the Panel Liner. 

Some of you may have seen the classic AK Panel Liner, in a large square bottle, as I have in the picture, but AK has breathed some new life into the line by including a new bottle, more colors, and most importantly, a new brush design. 

How they work is simple: give the bottle a shake, uncap, and use the brush cap to lay in paint on the lines of your model (hence, panel liner). This is traditionally a tool that scale hobbyists use, but you can find good uses for gaming, like inking micro details on outfits, panels on vehicles, for me the sidewalk cracks of Marvel Crisis Protocol bases have definitely benefitted from this product.

In my very fun example of weathering the Enterprise, it’s wild how accurate the brush is. The tiniest of lines can immediately be filled with paint, which is due to the capillary action, in which physics and material come together to make paint or liquid flow in the way you need. And if you use too much, all you need is some thinner on a cotton swab or a cheap brush to clean it up. 

What I really love about this version of the Panel Liner is the brush. As you can see, the previous brush was just a little too thick, and personally, I always had issues with it, could never get the paint to flow correctly, too blobby, etc . The new brush is super thin, and holds a perfect amount of paint.

Bottle redesign is lovely too. These bottles remind me more of nail polish, smaller footprint, means more space in your paint collection. I appreciate that so much. Now, the only downside I’ll say is that these new bottles are 10ml smaller than the previous line, coming in at 30ml vs. 40, but you’re not going to really notice. 

You know, they should put thinner in one of those bottles, and maybe some neons, especially for our Gundam fans out there. Definitely go out and give these a shot, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. 

And stay tuned throughout the week for more enamel reviews right here on Gaming Trend!