After doing a wash/washes, whether it be a general wash or a “pin” wash to accent panels and rivets do you usually do a clear coat before weathering steps or do you keep the kind of un-uniform shiny-ness that the wash can create?
that sort of depends on the specifics of what it is that you’re going to do. if you’re going to add some dry brushing with acrylics, the clear coat could probably wait. if you’re going to dab on some oil paints and blend them with turpentine, you should probably protect the wash. also it depends on what you’re using for the wash. see what i mean?
me personally, however, i don’t even remember. i think i put down the base color, airbrush on the weathering, spot weather, gloss coat, wash and dry brush (if i’m dry brushing) and then dull coat. but then i use acrlyics for pretty much everything starting at the base coat but the wash itself which is ink/water/soap.
My base coat is acrylic with a satin acrylic finish. I’m using oils and turpeniod for washes and I’m in the process of deciding when & if I want to seal the oils before using pigments and other weathering techniquies. Damn this trial and error! lol
one thing i can tell you for sure is use GLOSS not satin to put under the wash. it helps it flow better.
i would think oils will be able to stand up to pigment but that’s just one opinion. just make sure the oils are dry, they take a good long while for me.
The washes should be one of the last things you apply prior to a Dull/ flat coat! Once the flat coat is applied, then its on with the filters and general weatherin’! This is how I do things! [;)]
I’m still on the steep part of this model building learning curve. I read from various sources that using oil/enamel based for the wash steps gives “better” results than using acrylics for the wash.
I have been painting the base and camo with acrylic paint. I let it dry for a couple of days then try the enamel to do a general wash. According to the book, it says to put some pure thinner on the surface immediately prior to applying the wash itself.
When I do this, the acrylic paint on the model immediately starts to liquify and do ugly things. I’ve even sprayed clear finish on the model after the base and before the wash and the thinner still acts on the acrylic base, causing problems.
I am obviously doing something wrong here. Can anyone point out the problem?
Thanks a lot,
Larry
I have read and heard that it is not advisable to use oil / laquer over bare acrylics. Especially the laquer over acrylic. The laquer is comparitively nasty stuff against acrylics, and will attack the acrylic most times, ruining your paint job. Over coat your subject with Future Floor polish when the base and subsequent acrylics are dried, and let the Future dry fully for a minimum of two days, maybe even three. Your paint job is now sealed in, ready for shadowing and wheathering.
What I do after that, is a mix of 2 parts acrylic paint, 2 parts water and 3 parts dish soap. This is slathered onto recessed areas, and let dry for 20-30 mins, and the excess removed with Q-Tips or disposeable micro brushes. I love the results. I’ll then use Polly Scale’s Clear Flat to lock that on, and follow up with colored pencils and chalks over the flat, and one last flat coat at a low psi as to not blow off the chalks. HTH, it gives me nice results…
Laquer thinner is very “hot” in terms of it’s capabilities as a solvent. It will attack cured paint as well as fresh if there isn’t some sort of barrier or sealant protecting the underlying coat. When switching between media for wash/weathering purposes, you need to have alternating barrier seals to protect against this sort of thing. Future is an acrylic floor polish and once cured, is an effective barrier for either enamel or acrylic paint, wash, weathering, etc.You need this cured barrier between your acrylic paint and the lacquer/enamel wash to protect the basecoat. Clear finishes are also laquer based generally and will not provide any additional protection but will instead fall victim to the laquer thinner more easily and do more harm than good as a result.
Thank you very much wbill76 and mellotron (love that instrument). Your recommendations will be put into action this weekend. I’m almost to the painting stage of my M108 - 105mm howitzer 1/35 build. I just finished ruining the M18 Hellcat I’d been working on for many weeks with the enamel wash over acrylic paint debacle. I’m working on salvaging that one, but it’ll take some time. I had to do so much sanding on that thing that some of the rivets all but disappeared. I thought of something that everybody probably already knew. I drilled into the hull and glued wire of a gauge similar to the diameter of the rivet. When dried, I cut the wire down to a height approximating that of the original rivet.
Thanks again you guys. This is a great great forum. Have a good weekend.
Larry