Weather Washing a P-61 Black Widow

Personally....I do not like a gloss finish at all. Makes things look toyish/fake/not right, just a bit too much...especially "at scale".

A "sheen", however, is a good thing in this situation. The method to my madness for this is....do what you'd normally do if you were going for a flat finish....gloss, decals, gloss(seal in the decals), wash and final dullcoat over all. To get the sheen...buff with a soft cloth (old t-shirt, sock or even denim works well).

Gentlemen:

Thank you all so much for your very helpful information!

Most washes are applied either by brush or other implement, to local areas.  Even if applied by my airbrush, I do not apply to whole model.

To dull down a plane with gloss paint, I airbrush a dullcoat to top surfaces, easing off as I go around to sides.

If you are dulling down to represent a matt/flat finish, do not use a wash, apply dullcoat to whole model.

Agree with Johnny. I believe these dulled fast in the South Pacific. Is it a Monogram or Great Wall, if it's a Great Wall, try a panel line wash with a grey. Here's an idea how I did mine which may help.

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/2/t/168128.aspx

Try and add some "chipping" effect using alluminium paint on the wing and props.