I was reading over the other articles and someone said that you can’t put a wash over a flat coat of paint. Is this so?? I tried a wash before and it didn’t work out, but don’t the people who demonstrate it in the magazines apply the wash over their flat-painted tanks?? [%-)][%-)][%-)]
Its difficutl to wash on a flat coat because you a flat coat is ‘coarse’ as oppose of a gloss coat being smooth. Thus its very difficult to remove excess wash once it gets into the crevices of a flat coat. Now, this is mainly a concern for aircraft builder because they don’t wan to wash to show up anywhere but the panel lines or use a wash simply for shadows within a cockpit.
Armor people will use a wash for both shadows, grime, rust, dirt, etc… They tend to want the excess wash to be there and artistically put them in a ‘realistic’ way. Seems the trend is going toward powders instead of a wash for this purpose in armor.
I personally don’t like to sludge washes on aircrafts and wash more like the armor guys. So I use a small brush with highly thinned wash to flow thru the panel lines & crevices, minimizing any type of cleanup. Well, thats my 2cents.
I did my AH-1W with an oil wash over the flat clear coat, and I think it turned out pretty good. It gave my Cobra that slightly grimy look without being too over the top. I thought that you wanted the flat coat so as to “grab” the wash, but maybe I’m wrong on that. Either way, it worked how I wanted it to, so I’ll keep doing it that way for now.
I haven’t tried the sludge wash method yet, but I’ll give it a try one of these times.
Experiment, that’s the best advice I can give. Different things work for different people.
on the odd time I build a tank I first spray the finish using Tamiya matt paints and after leaving the model to cure for a few days it is ready to have a wash applied.
I then apply a thin coat of white spirits over the area to be washed and apply the oil wash to the wet surface. The wash then gravitates to all the panel lines, raised and recessed detail. After about half an hour, I go over the model with a lint free cloth and remove the excess wash. Works very well!
cheers
Mike
I primarliy build aircraft so I don’t want a very heavily weathered look.
I had my best results with washes on a gloss coat. I find that the wash runs easier on a gloss coat. It’s also easier to remove.
I have used wahses on a flat coat but the wash tends to “eat” trough a flat coat, leaving you with shiny patches after removing excess wash.
So you would want to apply a gloss coat then the wash and then seal it with a clear flat coat? The other question I have is how well does this work if I am brush painting the model?
Personally, I ALWAYS apply my washes over flats. I’ve found the paint settles nicely into the nooks and crannies with any excess easily removed with a tissue. I’ve never tried it on gloss paint. I’m usually pretty happy with my weathering results, which is all that counts.
Armin:
I always put on a glos coat, decal, put on second gloss coat and wash.
RichFLD120 - glad it works for you and that is all that counts! But what media are you using for the base colours and the washes. I tried an emamel wash (turpentine thinner) over an enamel flat and it was a disaster. Maybe I wasn’t patient enough and too sloppy in applying but the wash spread out of the panel lines by capillary action through the flat and was impossible to remove.
Sorry to hear it didn’t work for you Simon. I always use an enamel base and enamel (turpentine) wash. I give the base at least 10 days to dry before weathering, so lifting or contamination is never a problem. I usually end up ‘touching up’ a few spots where the wash didn’t settle quite as I’d like, so yes, patience is a good commodity to have in large quantity!
I should mention I use this technique on armour. Not sure how it would work on aircraft?
something which may help ye:
use different tpes of paint for the wash and model… eg: paint the kit with acrlys, do the wash in enamels… this makes it easier to remove the excess coz enamel thinners wont eat thru acryls, and vice versa…
What paint I use doesn’t seem to matter (either acyllics of enamel).
The basecoat on which the wash is applied matters a lot though.
Sure, the base coat is chosen in regard of the effect you wish to accomplish. I always put a coat of Future on the kit before apllying the washes. Well, always: I’ve done otherwise:
A flat coat is flat because it isn’t smooth. This sounds very logical, perhaps silly, though essential. The flat coat is made up of many small bumps, like a miniature sand layer. This irregular surface leads to it that it doesn’t reflect light and thus not be shiny. These “bumps” or sandgrains form ‘canals’, through which thinned paint easily flows. It flows far and uncontrolled, forming a ‘fractle’ (an ‘organic’ computer image, hope this makes sense to you). When you want to make a consistent shade along a panelline, this uncontrolled far flowing flat coat methode turns into a disaster, in my humble opinion. A disaster - as aforemntioned in other posts - is almost impossible to clean up. Well, thats is if you don’t want to remove all the paint on the model.