Lining using a Rotring pen?

[alcazar]

Using the Rotring type pen, with nibs for drafting film and Rotring's own coloured inks?

[James]

Freestone Model Accessories supply similar pens and various inks and the results can be pretty good. I'll try and photograph the results if I get chance - only problem is the loco I did using them is at my parents' house!

[Dr.Glum]

Hello there,

 

I didn't try lining, but about twenty years ago I tried using those pens (the smallest: 0.3mm? sorry, can't remember) to write white destination scrawls on 7mm wagons (the sort of info that shunters used to chalk on wagons: a mixture of destinations and totally indecipherable shunting information).

 

It worked, in that I could write very small words freehand, but the difficulty was that I was more used to using the pens on paper or tracing film which, on a drawing office surface, has a certain amount of give in it. This apparently affects the way you move the pen, and on a solid hard railway model vehicle, I had trouble moving the pen without digging into the surface. It became a test of how well I could hold the pen vertical to the wagon surface. This was also important to ensure that the ink (or dilute paint) was drawn evenly out of the end of the nib, thereby giving uniform line width.

 

I regret to say that I recommend that you try it yourself on a hard primed metal or plastic surface (as appropriate). (I hate having to only offer that!) It may take a bit of practice.

 

I'm sorry if this reply has degenerated into something that I'm now not sure if it will help if I send it, but there might be something here that helps you.

 

Cheers, Tony

[Jol Wilkinson]

The most likely dificulty is the opacity of the inks that you can use. That's why the professional painters tend to use bowpens with enamel paints (Ian Rathbones book is a very good guide on painting and lining).

 

I use Rotring pens only for applying black in the centre of coach beading, over gold/yellow enamel applied with a bowpen, as I haven't found a yellow ink opaque enough. I also found red too "thin". Most of my expereiments were some years ago (I have settled on my current approach as it works for me on 4mm LNWR carriages) and more modern inks may be better. However, as they are probably intended to be used on a pale background you could find problems using them over dark paints.

[Adrian]

The most likely dificulty is the opacity of the inks that you can use. That's why the professional painters tend to use bowpens with enamel paints (Ian Rathbones book is a very good guide on painting and lining).

That's one of the reasons why Bob Moore developed his lining pen. He tried the rotring pen but couldn't get the colour density in the line. Hence developing a pen to run humbrol enamels neat, straight from the tin.

[Sir Balin]

The late Bernard Weller (through Exactoscale) used to supply a range of inks specially designed for lining using Rotring style pens, but they are not listed on the current Exactoscale website. Sadly, I didn't buy any when they were available (haven't we all made that mistake?). I seem to recall a favourable review in MRJ, but I can't remember which edition. The were (are?) manufactured by a gentleman in France, and apparently had a much denser pigment than ordinary drawing inks. If the are still being produced, perhaps someone might take up the baton and reintroduce them here?

 

Ian

[coachmann]

I used a Rotring pen (Kern Prontograph) 15-20 years ago but only for black. The ink was special too (Type T or K I seem to recall). It was an etching ink that did not run into globules on gloss cellulose paint. It was used for running the fine black lining inside yellow lining on Southern Railway full panelled olive green carriages.

 

As others have already said, the colours were mostly transparent and quite useful for our purposes. The arrival of these pens with their constant-width lines spelt doom for draughtmans box-pens unfortunately. They hadn't been invented when I was in designs reproduction so I'm biassed..

[relaxinghobby]

Does any know how to revive a Rotring Pen. On my the nib, which is a very fine hollow needle seems to be allowing ink to flow down it when

I squeeze the soft palstic ink reservoir but not when I try to write or draw with the pen.

 

I had it soaking in a bottle of Rotring cleaning solvent for a week.

 

Are all my inks and slovents too old?

 

Is there a triclk to clean out the air channels hidden in the pen head or nib?

[relaxinghobby]

It's back in soak in water as it seems to have bunged up overnight.

Is water a good cleaning fluid?

[Il Grifone]

From what I remember (It's a long time since I last used one* - I can't even recall where mine are!), A Rotring pen needs dismantling and then washing out with water (At work, we used to line up in the 'Gents' in the morning...).

 

There are various use and throw away substitutes available - I have a set of black in various sizes from 0.1 (the smallest Rotring IIRC, but 0.3 was the most used). Other colours are available, but the colours don't seem dense enough for lining.

 

* They may even have changed the design.

[ian@stenochs]

Hi,

I use Mechanorma pens and clean them out in my ultrasonic cleaner with warm water and a bit of detergent then a change to plain water. If leaving them unused for a while I always empty the reservoir and put a drop of cleaner in it, shaking it to get it right into the nib. A wash through with water before the next lot of ink goes in plus a few practice stroke to ensure the ink is undiluted before working on the model. Works for me.

Ian.

[Fat Controller]

From what I remember (It's a long time since I last used one* - I can't even recall where mine are!), A Rotring pen needs dismantling and then washing out with water (At work, we used to line up in the 'Gents' in the morning...).

 

There are various use and throw away substitutes available - I have a set of black in various sizes from 0.1 (the smallest Rotring IIRC, but 0.3 was the most used). Other colours are available, but the colours don't seem dense enough for lining.

 

* They may even have changed the design.

In the days when I used one regularly, the set included a piece of very fine stainless wire with a handle on it, which you used to push through the nib to clean it, removing any adhesions. There may even have been several different sizes to cover the range of nibs. The water for washing out may need a 'wetting agent' mixed in; washing-up liquid or IPA perhaps?

[JeffP]

Depends on the nib size.

 

I've successfully completely dismantled them down to 0.18mm, removing the nib, the outer lower part of the nib and even the little weight with it's affixed wire inside the nib.

The whole lot is then soaked overnight in water with washing up liquid, the outer lower parts of the nib being cleaned with an old toothbrush.

 

I then blow water through the nib, and sometime suck it through too. I then use kitchen roll and twist it inside, then untwist it back out again, to remove deposits,but an ultrasonic cleaner would probably be better.

 

The little weight/wire assembly should be handled with extreme care, and can then be slid back into place, it usually goes straight into the nib unless you have bent the wire.

 

Pens of 0.13 I have never successfully un-bunged, the only recourse is a new nib, they can now be had off a certain auction site quite cheap.