New Member - Question About Oil Washes

Hey Dominick

Here are some specifics from work on LOW SIDE GONDOLA. i put decals over an oil wash (I KNOW, I KNOW i seem to be so excited to get to weathering i forget the decals). anyway Sunday evening i put decals on, some sheen but not awful. Let them sit and 1600 Monday i put on a second wash of Winsor Newton Winton middle grade raw umber with Gemini odorless mineral spirits. At 1845 it was still a bit "greasy" to the touch but i mixed up some pastel rust for the metal and then mixed some mid gray pastels and streaked the wood over the still "damp" oil with no problems. checked this morning at 0800 and its dry. my stained basswood from Sunday still feels wet. i will check decals and, if no sheen on decals, will not overspray with dulcoat.

i live outside of Denver Colorado so we have low humidity, it was probably in the high 40s low 50s last night and i was in the basement bunker.

For monthly club contest theme, i will pull old models off the shelf, brush them down and apply an oil wash. With these i practice mixing some colors to try different effects. For example i took and sand colored Syrian SU-100 and mixed a bit of mid gray and ocher to get some hatch and fuel tank color differences. all the upper surfaces were washed with a thin white to create a faded paint look. mid gray was used for pin wash.on roadwheels, hatch hinges, bolts etc.

i find i don't have to be as "precise: with the paint color as i can darken it or lighten it with washes. just practice, willingness to experiment, and KNOWING WHEN TO STOP. if you think it's done, it really is done.step away from the oil paint and give it a couple of days.

Dominick,

The best and most sincere advice I can give you on this topic is to experiment, perhaps on an older or junked model, to determine what will work best in your particular instance. It's honestly hard to give you a one-size-fits-all answer on drying times because those will depend on a myriad of factors, including the kind of thinner you use, the age of the paint, and even the atmostpheric conditions--humidity level, temperature, etc--on any given day.

These types of modeling questions are best answered by personal experience, with the caveat that there is no definite, "final" answer.

One thing I"ll add is tat most modelers that I've seen use waaaaay oo much sealer coat when it's ntirely mostly unnecessary, except for instances where you have an unwanted sheen of gloss, or when you need to protect weathering effects like filters when you're going to be scrubbing away a hairspray coat of paint to give radical chipping effects.

i will oil wash a color and sometimes a second color right away. usually i wait least overnight. i\ prime with ACE HARDWARE NOW before airbrushing acrylics. No lift off even with Vallejo Air and silly putty. i don't spray a barrier between acrylic paint and oil wash. well maybe a bit od dulcoat if i have a silvering issue but usually nothing. no sealer coat either. not to brag but look uo UN UNIMOG in armor. it's UN white and all the weathering is oil over Tamiya.

I only do pin washes with oils, so these numbers may not apply to a "general" wash, but here are the numbers I use.

1) 0-15 minutes;

2) 15-30 minutes; or 24 hours if I am applying oils on top of oils;

3) 24 hours.