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Washes!


Mr.modeller

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Hi guys,

Im trying to learn the art of washing(pin washes)but it isnt going very well:(

I use humbrol clear for the gloss coat(it is acrylic)

And tryed pastel and acrylic washes.

The pastel washes wouldnt stick to the gloss coat

And the acrylic washes still have surface tension after adding soap.

Would the enamel washes work better?

If so, i am thinking about buying a premixed wash from humbrol or thinning a tin of enamel.

Finally, is there another method you find to be useful?

Thanks in advance:)

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Humbrol Clear is a great gloss product, but it needs 2-3 coats to get a good shine. Then you need to leave it for a minimum of 48 hours to cure.

For washes, I use thinned oil paints. Apply to the panel line or rivet head (aircraft or armour) with a small pointed brush & capillary action will take it along or around the feature.

Leave it to dry for an hour or so & then wipe off any excess with a cotton bud.

IMHO it's not giving the gloss coat enough time to cure that causes most of the problems with washes.

Hope this helps

Patrick

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Enamel washes or oil washes see easier to work with as you get longer working time and you can clean them off even when they are dry using thinners, which if you use a decent acrylic gloss, won't touch the paint!

You can use acrylic but you need to work in small areas to avoid drying as once they're dry that's it!

The other option you might want to explore are the clay based washes, such as the Flory models ones or the Ultimate Modelling Products, worth a look on YouTube for videos of these products.

Phil

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  • 3 weeks later...

Back in my youth I never once used varnish and I used enamel paints only. (They didn't have acrylics back then) It was a simple case of painting the model the colour you wanted, letting the paint dry then using darker colours thinned down as a wash. After the wash was dry, dry-brushing with lighter colours then picked out the highlights. It was simple and just as effective as all this modern-day nonsense.

Since my return to modelling, 35yrs later, I have tried using acrylics and varnishes and whilst I've had some success and can see the benefits in certain instances, I think, on the whole, that most of it is just 'fashionable'.

And to be honest, I think that enamel washes over enamel base coats with no varnish barrier actually work better.

Badder.

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Am I alone in thinking that the underside of the aircraft in the video looks just plain wrong with such hard and dark panel lines showing?

I realise we can all do as we please, thats the fun in it, just that sometimes, as Badder says, it seems some things become the fashion rather than something realistic.

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Am I alone in thinking that the underside of the aircraft in the video looks just plain wrong with such hard and dark panel lines showing?

I realise we can all do as we please, thats the fun in it, just that sometimes, as Badder says, it seems some things become the fashion rather than something realistic.

I didn't watch the video but now I have. And I had to have a little laugh. Yeah, a little on the dark side, but maybe only for demonstration purposes so that they show up on camera?

But that's not why I had a little laugh. I don't do aircraft, but I do do weathering. I would NOT use the product in the video. It's money AND time wasted. Why cover an entire model with a very expensive product, let it DRY, then wipe 99.8 percent of it off?

So, MrModeller,

If you want to darken panel lines or any other recess/groove/slot/depression/crack, then use pin washes. Dip a brush in neat thinner, touch the tip to the end of the panel line, recess/groove/slot etc and let capillary action draw the thinner along. Then dip the tip of the brush into very thinned paint of the required colour, then touch the brush tip to the end of the panel line. Again capillary action will do the rest, only this time the flow will be eased by the previous application of thinner. Any spills or accidental spreading can be wiped off immediately with a clean brush and a tiny bit of thinner, or a cloth/cotton bud etc. None of this waiting half an hour for an all-over wash to dry and then all that work to remove it all again!

Still, some people will spend a fortune on a pair of trainers because of the logo on them....

Regards,

Badder.

Edited by Badder
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try using oil paint, or enamel, with liquid 'zippo' lighter fuel, it's basically light petrol or Naptha, ie low molecular weight, 6-7 carbon molecules, if this sounds complex, natural gas is methane, 1 carbon, gas lighter fuel is butane, 4 carbon, car petrol is 7-10, white spirit is like paraffin, about 15, and diesel is 25-30.

so liquid lighter fuel is very volatile, so evaporate fast, and is very thing, so flows very well, into corners and cracks. Experiment on scrap first!

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try using oil paint, or enamel, with liquid 'zippo' lighter fuel, it's basically light petrol or Naptha, ie low molecular weight, 6-7 carbon molecules, if this sounds complex, natural gas is methane, 1 carbon, gas lighter fuel is butane, 4 carbon, car petrol is 7-10, white spirit is like paraffin, about 15, and diesel is 25-30.

so liquid lighter fuel is very volatile, so evaporate fast, and is very thing, so flows very well, into corners and cracks. Experiment on scrap first!

Technically - thats 6-7 Carbon atoms bonded to Hydrogen atoms, thereby forming short chain Hydrocarbon molecules. ;)

Itll stink the room out, but does sound like it could work well.

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  • 1 month later...

I'd seen a video which used a wash using lighter fluid and enamel paint. One question Would this work on a humbrol gloss coat. Or burn through it...and destroying the finish?

Just need to know as I don't want to destroy me tamiya 1/48 spitfire..as me Mrs will kill me! Lol!

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I make my own washes just using Lifecolor Acrylics which I have found better than Vallejo.

About 50 or 60% Vallejo Flow Improver and the rest paint.

First I use in short spurts for shading marks differences in paint colour caused by sun and weather.

I use a .2 at 10psi. Every now and then I give a squirt to make sure flow is maintained. But it is very

rare to get a blockage. Left for an hour it will carry on where I left off with just a quick spurt.

On completion I give an overall quick wash at a higher PSI to lightly fade in the effects above.

I like lifecolour as most items I am making are dessert based and they do a good range of sand

type colours.

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Technically - thats 6-7 Carbon atoms bonded to Hydrogen atoms, thereby forming short chain Hydrocarbon molecules. ;)

Itll stink the room out, but does sound like it could work well.

it will smell less than using white spirit or even normal enamel, the volatility means it's easy to get rid of the fumes

I'd seen a video which used a wash using lighter fluid and enamel paint. One question Would this work on a humbrol gloss coat. Or burn through it...and destroying the finish?

Just need to know as I don't want to destroy me tamiya 1/48 spitfire..as me Mrs will kill me! Lol!

test it, on something else first! It shouldn't affect acrylic varnish any more than any other hydrocarbon based solvent would, but always worth trying on scrap first to be sure.

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Technically - thats 6-7 Carbon atoms bonded to Hydrogen atoms, thereby forming short chain Hydrocarbon molecules. :search: :search: :search:

Itll stink the room out, but does sound like it could work well.

try using oil paint, or enamel, with liquid 'zippo' lighter fuel, it's basically light petrol or Naptha, ie low molecular weight, 6-7 carbon molecules, if this sounds complex, natural gas is methane, 1 carbon, gas lighter fuel is butane, 4 carbon, car petrol is 7-10, white spirit is like paraffin, about 15, and diesel is 25-30.

so liquid lighter fuel is very volatile, so evaporate fast, and is very thing, so flows very well, into corners and cracks. Experiment on scrap first!

it will smell less than using white spirit or even normal enamel, the volatility means it's easy to get rid of the fumes

test it, on something else first! It shouldn't affect acrylic varnish any more than any other hydrocarbon based solvent would, but always worth trying on scrap first to be sure.

I normally approach this matter via the non- toxic and non explosive position. :search::hypnotised:

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I normally approach this matter via the non- toxic and non explosive position. :search::hypnotised:

Don't get it Laurie, why do I need to use google?

, I have been using lighter fuel for various tasks for years, degreasing, label residue removal, paint thinner, I know what it is chemically, and it's only explosive in a confined space at certain level of saturation.

Given the amounts used in a wash are tiny, toxicity is not going to be a problem, just ventilate well.

Re-reading your post, I'm not taking about putting it through an airbrush, but then doing that is not 'a wash'.

Putting it through an airbrush could lead to an explosive mixture, but I tend assume a basic level on common sense here.

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First Troy apologies the Google thing appeared from no where. So rest easy on that point.

On the Lighter Fuel. Benzene, assuming that is the base of the one you use, is a

Carcinogen.

Carcinogens are substances nastly involved in causing instances of cancer.

In small or large dozes. Benzene can cause Leukemia and Hodkin Lymphoma.

It all depends on your own bodies resistance to these carcinogens.

Washes. They are simply thin transparent paints. How they are applied does not

alter the fact that they are washes. Rather like travelling from A to B using the

many means of transport. The airbrush, hand brush or what ever means you use

transports the wash to its destination.

As an architect, moons ago, we applied washes to our finished design drawings.

We used a variety of means including an old fashioned forerunner of the airbrush.

A pipe bent at 90degrees hinged at the centre. You blew down one end with the

other in the wash. We used brush rags and tissue to control the wash. We also used

sponges to apply the washes to obtain certain effects

Laurie

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