Sludge wash is a technique that looks right for my latest project – I remember reading the article in the mag way back but can’t locate the issue or the reprint at this time.
Is this the correct procedure? Mix acrylic with water, add a drop of liquid soap, brush liberally around/over detail to be highlighted, wait till it’s almost dry then wick away excess with q-tips. Is an overcoat essential?
Corrections/comments on this technique are most welcome!
Sounds like the recipe to me. I seem to remember it used on a tank and an aircraft. If kept in a reasonable enviorment a topcoat shouldn’t be necesary, in fact if any detergent leech out it will probably cause fisheye, even with future. In two months it should be stable so if you want do it then.
Should the empire last a thousand years, they will look back and say, this; was their finest hour.
Just hope you get it at the exact moment so it doesn’t stain everything below it, including decals. Also hope it’s cured enough so the wash in the panel lines doesn’t get soaked up as you remove the excess. Also, hope the brushing action doesn’t start to attack the previous layers of paint. Oh, well, if any of these happen, you can always buy more decals, right? Maybe just strip the kit down to bare plastic and start painting all over again. Yeah, I thinks sludge washes are just great.
Why not apply your wash where you want it? Mix oil paint to a watery consistency and use a fine brush to apply a spot in panel line junctions and at the base of raised detail. Capilllary action will draw the wash along and you won’t be putting paint where you don’t wat it. Nothing to try to clean off and not scrubbing at a painted surface.
I’ve got the article in front of me. Written by Paul Boyer. His recipe is 5 parts water to two parts Polly Scale water-based acrylic paint. Add 3 parts liquid dishwashing soap. Stir don’t shake. He says the ratio of paint/soap/water isn’t critical and you can adjust as desired. If you find it difficult to remove the excess sludge, add more soap to the mix.
He says that this must be done on a glossy surface, the wash will go on better and come off easier than a flat finish.
I did a sluge wash once with some acrylic paint on a white surface, and kinda ruin the interior of my Panzer I.
I decided to replace the acrylic by Tempera paint. Works great!!! You just let it dry, and you can wipe it off easily with a slightly wet Q-Tip or micro brush. Be carefull as it is really too easy.
I used the same ratio as mentionned in the magazine. I will experiment with a oil wash one day.
You should practice on a old junk subject first [;)]
It’s a scratchbuild project and I have some Evergreen scribed sheet detailing on which I’d like to make the grooves really pop, so wash is the obvious technique. I’ve used capillary action as my standard method for armor in the past, though I’ve heard of folks plastering an oil wash over the entire model and calling it a ‘filtre’ to tone back/even out the model as a whole.
I have an enamel finish, so chemical interaction with acrylic shouldn’t happen (if I’m remembering the tables correctly), but I’m wary of making a mess as this thing already has ten coats of paint in some places and I’m on a completion deadline, so any further disasters are to be avoided at all cost!
I’ll see how far capillary action gets me before I experiment with the sludge wash.
Many thanks, again, for the ratios and experience advice,