Road Wheel Wash

[:D] Once again the flyboys attack… Is this what you tread heads refer to as a road wheel wash? Since our planes don’t usually get this dirty, I need some help…

Here was my formula

2 part Interior Black
1 part Panzer Chocolate Brown
20 parts distilled water
1 drop Dawn Dish Detergent

Comments and / or suggestions are more than welcome and often even appreciated [:-^]

Working like a charm Matt… Looks really good. I have never had much luck with acrylic washes, so I guess the soap is the secret eh… Great Job!!

Something about adhesion, but I think my drop of detergent was too big… I’ll have to flat coat them I suppose, then throw on some mud, sand, and general gunk… Gee, who thought building models could be so dirty [:)]

detergent is to break water surface tension & to help it flow out
(as opposed to form beads)
it’s too much if it ‘suds up’ when you stir!
:slight_smile:

for fun surface tension experiment:
put water in small glass, sprinkle black pepper on surface.
(it should float)
wipe your finger across the top of the detergent bottle
(if yours has a glob of soap on it)
touch your finger to the water.
THAT’S what the detergeant does.
:slight_smile:

OK, I’ve done two coats of the wash, and this is how they look:

They look dirty, but not “overly” dirty, that’s what the pastel chalk is for later down the road… I guess

Perfectly dingy… Now rinse and repeat on the rest of the tank!

Ed… Thanks for the lesson Prof ! I know I can always coun’t on an explanation from one of ya’ll for my simplistic mind…

Perfectly dingy… Now rinse and repeat on the rest of the tank!

Ed… Thanks for the lesson Prof ! I know I can always coun’t on an explanation from one of ya’ll for my simplistic mind…

That’s a good effort for a flyboy. Aren’t all those Panzer IV wheels fun? I might have gone just a bit darker, but a nice effort.

Looks good now you may just make adjustments once you weather the whole tank. Generally the underside, wheels are darker than the upper side. So it will be advantageous to finallize your wash once all has been painted for you to make the necessary comparison and adjustments.

Don’t look now but you are doing a better job than me. You could be a full-time darksider now. He-he-he.

I plan on making the upperside a little lighter wash, maybe forgo the drops of black and use dark tan or something like that. This wash thing is pretty cool… I maybe falling to the Dark side “make it dirty, make it go boom” [:)]

Here’s a shot of the completed underside with the upper part (unpainted) for comparison.