I’m scratching my head and decided to ask for help. I’ve been modeling over the past year and am completely obsessed. I had a bottle of acrylic wash and had been using that up until very recently, when I decided to invest in some Ammo by Mig washes. I currently am using a black wash on a Bandai AT-ST and am running into some problems.
Of course it was the best I’ve ever painted anything so far… I’m using testors enamel thinner to remove the wash, which is wiping away the paint with it if i Q tip it more than once or twice and sometimes on the first swipe. I used Tamiya Nato Black to prime, then 2 layers of a mix of model master paints for the imperial grey, primed with X22 clear coat and now am facing some demoralizing repairs. I let the primer cure for a day, then each primary coat for a day each. The clear coat cured for 1-2 weeks, so I don’t think that is the problem. Do I need to use something different to remove the excess wash? No matter how thin of a brush I use there is always some wash left over…
Additionally, I had 3 pieces of plastic just crack and break as the enamel wash was drying for 30 minutes before I removed it. Is bandai plastic cheap? Is enamel wash just hungry for plastic? Just looking for some help.
I suggest that you experiment with using a wash on a scrap plastic model before using the wash on your real model. Last year I painted a model with Model Master Aluminum Metalizer which is a lacquer paint. After it dried I applied an enamel wash that I thined with Testors Enamel Thinner. To my horror, the enamel wash removed the lacquer paint???
From all the washes that I have tried, its my opinion that its not so much your removal technique or what you’re using to remove it. Its the wash itself. If you get any of the washes made by Flory Models, you won’t have any more issues. You just slop the stuff all over the model with a large brush, let it dry for about 30 minutes (even if you leave it on for days, months, or years it won’t ruin your paint work)…then you just remove it with a sponge and/or q-tip dampened with plain old warm tap water. You can apply it right over any kind of paint too, but I would recommend a clear coat to fill in the more porous finish of flat paints. So much easier than all of the other complicated processes out there and I think the results are superior to the other methods. Just my two cents.
The best advice I can give is to refer you to the Painting an Airbrushing forum down below. There are some real finishing gurus there, and wash appliations have been a frequent topic lately.
Never use a solvent type wash over solvent type paint. You need an acrylic barrier coat like Future or Aquagloss.
Metallic lacquer paints are very finicky so it’s best to avoid solvent washes on them. Flory is very safe and easy to use and will do a great job at weathering and griming things out.