Academy M-18 Hellcat and artist oil wash.

Noticed this was your first post to FSM so welcome .... good to have another Armour lover with us.

I haven't built the M18 yet but it is one that is on my want to do list.

I for one don't do washes but from reading the others a wash including flat black would probably do with working with O.D. Some of the other guys should pop in soon with more complete answers about this topic.

I look forward to your progress pics.

i wish it was as easy as just finding olive drab. the colors they have in the oils are Sap Green, Vindian Green Cadmium Green Permanent Green, Green Gold, and Phtalo green.....id figure i would throw the question up in the air and see if anyone who uses artist oils for washes may stumble upon this and lend me a hand. i thank everyone for helpful hints.

Personally don't use oil paints, but from an artist's perspective I do know mixing black and yellow will give you a good olive colour.

CTri,

Firstly, I'm assuming by your name that you're in CT or RI? Have you been to the CT IPMS chapter? It meets in Stamford. I was a member for years before moving down to Texas. Steve Zaloga, one of the most published armor authors out there is a regular member and he taught me everything I know about oil washes. He's a true master!

As far as your question goes, I have always used a wash of black over WWII olive drab. It seems to work fairly well. Lighter colored armor, you may want to use burnt sienna or yellow ochre (works very well for modern armor in desert paint, i've found). Before you begin the wash, make sure you've sealed your paint with clear laquer.

Hope that helps, and welcome to the forum!

CTrill, I"m a little confused by your second post. I asume you're going to use model paint to paint the model first right? Then when you do the wash you can use any color that's darker than the base color. Burnt Sienna is a good choice for just about anything, add some black if you want it darker. The purpose of a wash is to give the illusion of deeper shadows or dirt/grease etc. and it doesn't need to be the same "color' as the base coat. Make sure you use a clear gloss coat on the model first and if you don't like the wash you can remove it easily before it sets. The wash won't look quite right until it dries completly either though so you might want to practice on a scrap model if you have one. You can go back and re-wash if it doesn't turn out quite right the first time also.

Eric

I recently completed a project using the artists oils mixed with mineral spirits. One thing that I may suggest is that, make sure you wait at least 2 or 3 hours before removing the excess wash. The artists oils & spirits take a bit longer to dry and if you try to remove the excess too early, you will remove more than intended. Also, give it a good gloss coat at let dry overnight before the "wash"

As for the color, I would have to say using black for the wash, would be a good bet.

I use artist oils for washes and ground powders for weathering. My oil pallette consists of White, yellow ochre, burnt sienna, mars red and burnt umber. I find that I can mix my enamels in with the base oils to make variations. A huge tube of white will go a LOOOOOOOONG way. I will us a wash that is a mixture of burnt umber and flat black on OD - but that's just me

While everyone has thier own process to apply washes, I usually will seal the model in future first (it will protect the base coat of paint), then apply a semigloss (50%gloss/50%dullcote then the required thinning). I will do this a couple of times till I've built up the layers and achieve the effect I am looking for. Then I seal with dullcoat - add powder for mud, rust, soot and seal again with dullcote.

This site was posted here a couple of months back and has been an immense help:
http://www.missing-lynx.com/rareworld.htm

You can see my hellcat here:
http://www.finescale.com/fsm/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5245

It's a good build, you just need patience with the suspension assemby and getting all those %#@ little "c" rings to stay put

BTW, A well stocked artists store (ie: pearl paint, utrecht, sam flax, etc) will have more oil colors than you would think possible.[:0]

to answer the earlier quote no im not in conneticut or Rhode Island my name is chris and last name is trill i actually live in the Lancaster/Harrisburg area of PA, thanks for all the tips guys, ill keep you updated with photos.

Chris,

Oops! My bad on your name! In any case, experiment a bit on a model you don't really care about and get somewhat comfortable before you tackle that M-18!