Is this panel lining and top coating workflow good?

Hi gyus! I’ve just started with this beautifull hobby after about 2 years of only painting Warhammer minis and i want to ask for feedback on the workflow i want to follow. I’m planning to use Tamiya Panel Liner and i want to make sure everything is safe before I start.

Here’s what I want to do:

• I’ll work on all parts separately, not assembled (the spare pieces not sub assembled) • I’ll spray only the “top/visible” side of each piece to avoid wasting top coat • Gloss coat first (light pass), then panel liner, then matte coat, and finally assembly • Tamiya black panel liner on blue/red parts, Tamiya grey panel liner on white/yellow parts • I’ll avoid using panel liner on grey pieces unless necessary (and in that case I’ll use a normal felt tip marker instead) • I’ll use the Tamiya enamel thinner to clean up the excess • I’m trying to avoid spraying heavy top coat on joints, pegs, ball-joints, funnel connections, etc.

My questions:

  1. Will this workflow cause any assembly problems later?

  2. Is spraying gloss only from the top (not fully coating every surface) enough to protect the plastic from enamel panel liner?

  3. Any extra tips for doing this efficiently on kits with tons of parts (like the Hi-Nu that i want to build next year and i'd love it to be as perfect as i can make it )?

I just want to be safe and avoid cracking the plastic or making joints too tight. Thanks a lot for the answers :) If the subreddit is not a good place for these kind of posts i'll remove it :)

Posted Dec 7, 2025, 11:47 PM UTC

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