Basics. Weathering. Washes

This is the place to get answers about painting, weathering and other aspects of finishing a model.

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hoth rebel
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Re: Basics. Weathering. Washes

Post by hoth rebel »

Thanks again.
So if I use a spray can of gloss coat I can the use your #3 option listed above.
What would be a good brand of water color to use and how much of each of the 3 ingriedents should I use?
Thanks.
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Lt. Z0mBe
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Re: Basics. Weathering. Washes

Post by Lt. Z0mBe »

hoth rebel wrote: Fri Aug 18, 2017 3:57 pm Thanks again.
So if I use a spray can of gloss coat I can the use your #3 option listed above.
What would be a good brand of water color to use and how much of each of the 3 ingriedents should I use?
Thanks.
No problem.

Yes, you can use option 3.) (or 2.)). But...BUT I will caution you again that, especially over white/light gray plastic or paint, that glosscoat lacquer will absolutely, positively yellow on you without even the faintest ray of sunlight hitting it.

I re-read your posts from earlier in this thread and saw you had no airbrush. Something to consider is Future being self-levelling and being able to be brushed on. :) Or, sell/forgo half the stash and buy a brush and compressor. :D Back in 1996 when I started taking things seriously with modelling, I took a whole year "off" from buying kits and then took that money and bought a Paasche VLS and compressor. It was leaps and bounds ahead of my little Testor's brush. After 11 years, I upgraded to a Badger 155 and then in 2011, I went all in for Iwatas. I'm waxing philosophical but the joy of doing it well far exceeds the subpar results I would have had otherwise without good tools. What's funny - and you'll go through it too - is how awesome I thought I was in 1996. Now I see those builds and can't figure out what I was thinking. :lol:

Seriously, though as for ratios of ingredients, I start with around 20-to-1 water-to-fludificant. Then add more drops of soap/Flow Aid as needed. For the soap, I like generic laundry detergent. A lot of dish detergent has lotion additives and oils and it screws things up. Again, use distilled water for the water portion. For the amount of watercolors, go with adding small amounts until you get a dirty water appearance like a mudpuddle. Make sense? As for brands, any of the artists' grade stuff would be fine I would imagine. I've only used the watercolor method a couple of times but I used Winsor and Newton watercolors and they worked great. They make them in little tubes (they're just pigment paste in water) and little dry cakes in palettes; they are usually sold with the inks are at the art store.

I hope this helps a bit.

Kenny

www.sigmalabsinc.com


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hoth rebel
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Re: Basics. Weathering. Washes

Post by hoth rebel »

I hate to be a bother but can you list links to the flow aid and the water color?
Thanks.
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Lt. Z0mBe
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Re: Basics. Weathering. Washes

Post by Lt. Z0mBe »

hoth rebel wrote: Fri Aug 18, 2017 4:46 pm I hate to be a bother but can you list links to the flow aid and the water color?
Thanks.
It's no bother. Happy to help a fellow Starship Modeler:

Liquitex Flow Aid Surfactant:
https://www.amazon.com/Liquitex-Profess ... B000KNPM46

Winsor & Newton Watercolors (again, not acrylics):
http://www.dickblick.com/products/winso ... half-pans/
http://www.dickblick.com/products/winso ... lor-tubes/

I hope this helps a bit.

Kenny

www.sigmalabsinc.com


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DeltaVee
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Wiping off Washes

Post by DeltaVee »

What's a good way to wipe off a wash and leave the paint in recesses? I have some pretty shallow panel lines and a cotton swab just removes everything. So do the tiny specialized pointy hobby cotton swabs. Maybe just a paper towel on a finger? Sometimes the simplest is the best.
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Kylwell
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Re: Wiping off Washes

Post by Kylwell »

DeltaVee wrote: Sat Jul 28, 2018 4:51 pm What's a good way to wipe off a wash and leave the paint in recesses? I have some pretty shallow panel lines and a cotton swab just removes everything. So do the tiny specialized pointy hobby cotton swabs. Maybe just a paper towel on a finger? Sometimes the simplest is the best.
Figure or squeegee can do it but you've got to be gentle. Hate those shallow panel lines. I've taken to deepening them usually.
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bcoe
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Re: Basics. Weathering. Washes

Post by bcoe »

I recently tried out oil washing on top of acrylic paints on an 1/144 ATAT and while I was happy with the results (winsor Newton oils heavily diluted in odorless turpenoids maybe 5% to 10% paint) I had a few imperfections I would like to work on as it came out a bit "dirtier" than my initial plan.

I was working on top of tamiya acrylic. pre wet the surface with turpanoids and let streaks flow naturally from edges.
Whenever the streaks were a bit too strong I went over with more turpenoids to try to reduce the wash intensity.
I found this resulted in more of a uniform stain of the base paint than removing all of the oil.

So the questions:
Would you typically seal acrylics with anything before you start oil washes? Or is staining and darkening of the base acrylic paint normal with this type of oil wash? Maybe its related to the turpenoids themselves?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Also I'm accessing thia site from a mobile device and can't tell if this forum support image uploads or just linking?
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