Dry brush or wash first?

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Painting and airbrushing
1

I’m about to install the cockpit in my Ki-46 kit. I’d like to do some dry brushing and apply a wash. Which should I do first? Thanks.

2

Your washes go into the panel lines and crevices or the lowest points of your cockpit areas whereas drybrushing hits all the high points so it doesn’t really matter which order you do it in.

3

I suppose its personal preference, but I dry brush first, Then add the wash. If your dry brushing ends up being alittle to heavy or too stark, the wash will tone it down. Then add your flat coat last.

4

I prefer to do washes first. Otherwise the wash may darken the dry-brushed parts which would require me to repeat the dry-brushing. Also, if the wash gets away from me and gets into places I don’t want it to go, I can fix it during dry-brushing. I just start the dry-brushing using the base color, then switch to a lighter color.

It is a purely personal preference in the end. I would there is no right or wrong way to do it.

Chris

5

I wash and then drybrush.

6

Drybrush and then wash for me,Ilike the way the wash tones down the dry brushing a little,blends it in.

7

ok so i have modeled before allot and detailed a fair bit but what is wash and dry brush?

8

A wash is a mixture of paint and water (or whatever thinner you chose). make it very thin and put it on the model, it will run into panel lines and crevices, adds a depth to the model. Once its dry you can wipe it off and a small amount will remain. Makes the model look grimy most of the time I do it.

Drybrushing is a method where you dip your paint brush in some paint, then wipe most of it off, and go over details. A tiny amount of pain will come off on the raised panel lines, I use this when I do cockpits as it helps make the dials really stand out.

9

Thanks for the replies. I think I’ll try both. See what works best for me.

Craig

10

I find I vary the thinner to paint ratio for dry brushing, depending on the effect I want. Sometimes I don’t even thin the paint, just using the dryness to create the transparent effect I want. If I want it REALLY transparent, just a slight highlight, then I will thin it way down. One area where I use unthinned paint is for bare steel. I prime the piece first with a flat gray primer, then dry brush Testors Steel enamel full strength but quite dry.

11

Don, do you go for the final effect on the first go or do you do washes/dry brushing in “coats”? I use both techniques very limitedly as my skill level isnt there quite yet to ruin a whole model! haha but I usually get it in one try…

12

i havetn tryed washing yet. i have tryed the dry brush method and do find it makes the high points stick out… i think im missing th epoint of wash, why not just paint the cockpit its background color then dry brush it. guess im missing the defintion of wash there…