Sharpie for highlights

[nickelplate759]

I'm doing a project to decorate a car with cast-on details, including grabs and ladders.  The car is silver, but the grabs, ladders, and a few other things should be black.  It's N-scale, so masking is problematic for things like this.   I think I can do a decent job by painting the car silver then doing the details with a black Sharpie.  If that works out, what's a good clear-coat to seal it?  I recall that Sharpies are alcohol-soluble.

[wazzou]

In my experience, Sharpie has a little bit of a purple-ish hue to it, but with that said, you need to be very careful sealing it with whatever you decide to use because it will run if wet too much.

[Angus Shops]

Sounds like a good idea worthy of an experiment. I’ve used Sharpies, both black and silver, to simulate the gaskets on passenger car windows; works very well. I can’t remember if I’ve over sprayed the car with anything AFTER the window install though...

[peteski]

Yes black Sharpie is actually very dark purple, and yes, Sharpie inks will run when coated with any solvent-based clear (like Dull- or Gloss-cote).  Maybe some water-based acrylic clear or Future (whatever it is called this week) would not make it run.

Maybe there are some felt-tip paint markers (that use "real" paint) that would be suitable for this task?

[wazzou]

@nickelplate759
I'd just get a 3/0 round brush and hand paint the ladders and grabs.

[nickelplate759]

@nickelplate759
I'd just get a 3/0 round brush and hand paint the ladders and grabs.

Yeah, that was my first thought too.  I'm not so good with a brush, and am looking for something more rigid I can control more easily.

[dem34]

Yeah, that was my first thought too.  I'm not so good with a brush, and am looking for something more rigid I can control more easily.

A few art companies make super fine black paint pens. Bit more then sharpies and I don't know which ones won't run when coated but it'll at least be true black.

[MK]

Use a Sharpie Ultra Fine point OIL BASED paint marker.  Pure black and since it's paint, no need for protective coat.

https://www.amazon.com/Sharpie-Oil-Based-Paint-Marker-Extra/dp/B00WL2NDJU/