discussion Washes in acrylic ?

[Guest]

See what you mean now. Old Boris Gamges there (a GW 28mm I think, he’s standing on a penny) was shaded in some places with W&N inks to achieve a similar effect.

I paint my 1/72nd scale wargames figures this way. I bought a tin of translucent brown paint (intended for furniture etc.) for shading sand, khaki, etc. uniforms, and made my own dark grey from a tin of colourless paint plus a tube of black pigment for use on field grey, olive drab, and similar colours. I find this works better than a wash because it’s more controllable and doesn’t run down to the bottom.

Here’s some Caesar Miniatures British troops to show the effect:

View attachment 301452

At left is unpainted (duh …), the one in the middle just has the basic colours, the one on the right is the same but with nothing more than a coat of the translucent brown paint.

 

[Guest]

Very effective Jakko.
I've just looked at mine this morning........ Seem very faint. Would probably work better if in my case the base colour was a lot lighter. Will post the out come later .
John.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Hi Jakko
Like those, quite effective. Coloron dark oak is one usual recommendation as a replacement for Army Painter dip...sounds similar to what you have used. Vallejo flesh wash is pretty good though. Brings out faces pretty well with no real effort. I think it would be a magic ingredient for reluctant figure painters.....
John, one issue with these washes is that they do dull down the main paint coat, so it sometimes pays to go lighter. Like everything, it is down to a little experimentation. Think of it as a pin wash for figures and you’ll get the idea....
Cheers
Tim

 

[Guest]

Hi all . I'm about to post those figures on the Stalingrad thread.
To be truthful on a lighter background they might be ok, on the German uniform the grey too many coats would be needed. I tried the light brown wash , too thin. I will continue to try them, if you try to add Model Air to the wash small bits of pigment appear. Yes I had shaken it ! The only thing I don't like as I said before is the drying time with oils, and some of the AK washes are quite strong, after years off working with lacquers , cellulose, French polish, caustic strippers and the whole lot of thinners I've had enough as you can imagine . I want clean air !
John.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Hi John
Thin the model air with airbrush thinner. It’s what I do for the prepaint definition coat on my small figures (Look at my Ansar thread to see what I mean). I would use black and burnt umber 50/50 for paint then try about 10/90 paint to thinner. Field grey is greenish in tint so you need a warm black to shade it nicely. VJ flesh wash is great for faces though.
Cheers
Tim

 

[Guest]

Thanks Tim. I shall give that thread a look .I have just posted the figures .
John .
Tim just typed in Ansar thread with your name and nothing came up ?

 

[Tim Marlow]

Hi John
It’s in the figures under construction forum as “Ansars on a postcard”.
Cheers
Tim

 

[Guest]

Cheers Tim .
On my way :thumb2:
John

 

[Strenko J]

Hi John,
I've used both and the acrylic washes seem to work better on figures for me. when they are still wet I can blend them a little more. On AFV's, I find that they don't tend to provide the same level of detail that oils do. I still always use a varnish in between base and any washes as well.. I've used a combo of both oils and acrylic washes on some of my vehicles too with mixed (no pun intended) results. Hope that helps.. I think its up to the individual as well on what look that you want to or may not want to achieve.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Joe.
I agree with you on this. Unfortunately not what I hoped. But if you don't try then you never know. I like some of the tips Tim has mentioned. The grey works ok on any light base colour. I tried it on a bread bag and it achieved what I wanted, but that's about all, oh and a wash on the skin. Right it will be back to smelly oil washes, and maybe some drawing inks.
John.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Hi John
Don’t write off the Vallejo game colour washes. They make quite a few colours. I know they are in quite small bottles, but how much do you really need anyway....
I think the grey is designed to shade white clothing and surfaces.
Cheers
Tim

 

[Guest]

Evening Tim.
No not writing anything off mate , in my reference to the grey I was referring to the Vallejo acrylic wash.
Quite understand your statement about bottle sizes, the amount of figures I do or will do is miminual. I shall ask you for some recommended colours please.
John.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Hi John
73204 flesh wash is excellent. Paint the flesh with a mid flesh colour, add highlights, then use flesh wash. Brings the figure to life quite nicely, but is probably too crude for anything bigger than 1/35th. There are good reviews on the net for them, have a look and see what you think. I would paste links but have never got the iPad to work that well for links....I would think the sepia, black and umber will all come in handy.
Cheers
Tim

 

[Guest]

Tim .

Thanks for that, I'm off to have a look .:thumb2:
John.

 

[Guest]

Hi Tim .
Back , an interesting couple of hrs, one spent looking at Doctor Faust's Painting Clinic on U tube. Can now understand fully about washes, using them and methods of controlling the wash.
Found the part about using a clean towel to remove excess liquid from the brush helpful and touching a large blob with a dry brush to wick it away .Going to have to look at some more videos.
Thanks for your help, really appreciate you giving the time and advice.
John.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Hi John
Glad I could help.
There is also a good “how to” on the VJ website...unloading the brush is essential for keeping control...if you don’t the paint flows uncontrollably onto the model...I always use an A4 sheet of printer paper next to my mixing pallet....
Cheers
Tim

 

[Snowman]

Hi John, I have used both types the Vallejo Game colour wash and a home brew with oils & white spirits. Both work in their own unique ways so its really down to the user to determine what works and where.

Good luck!:thumb2:

 

[Guest]

Tim.........Will look at that " how to " . :thumb2:
Gavin...... Hi mate, thanks for looking in. Just a matter of experimenting now until I find what works for me .:nerd:

John.

 

[Guest]

Morning all
I've been considering moving to acrylic washes, I know , don't all shout at me ! :flushed:
Been trying to do washes on the Kitten using sprit base AK . It seems very bitty, I can see small flecks of pigment of course in this scale they look like lumps of pigment. ! Yes before you ask it was shaken !
I've watched on U Tube several videos of useing acrylic ,seems to be ok as long as you keep cleaning the over spill.

Steve Jones produces such impressive work on smaller scales, that's the type of finish I would like to acheive.
So anyone have any experience or ideas please .
John

I know I’m a bit late to the party here, but acrylic washes in my opinion offer easier results at the trade off of less control. Enamel washes take more time to use and are more painstaking but offer greater control and more flexibility.
John

 

[Guest]

The effect can be seen here as dirtying the engine.
View attachment 301964
View attachment 301965
And on panel lines and rivets. If you notice the streaking on the wing, that was able to be done with great control with the enamel wash
View attachment 301967