1/700 scale washes

EdGrune,

Thanks for that information!  I really appreciate it.

John Tilley and Surface_Line,

Thanks for that advice about choices of colors.  The problem for 1/700 scale DD's is that it is so very easy to flood the piece on which you are working.  Rather than providing subtle shadow, it stains the entire piece to the point that it makes the ship look decrepit.

Bill Morrison

warshipguy wrote:

Thanks, Rick!  I am building the USS Benjamin Stoddart (DDG 22) for my father, who once served aboard her.  The only kit, apart from the 1/350 resin kit by WEM, is the Dragon 1/700 kit.  Picking out those details is work! Bill Morrison

Iron Shipwright also makes a 1:350 scale Charles Adams-class as the USS Barney (DDG-6)

It is among their new kits which have been released this year.

It will build as US, German, Australian, or Greek versions

Amen to that.  That is what I was thinking when I said "dark color"  (or 'datk', as my fat fingers pronounced it), and I specifically had dark grey or brown in mind.  Black is a very stark thing.

One mistake lots of people make when using washes is to assume that the wash automatically has to be based on black paint.  Not so.  Sometimes black will give you the effect you want, but consider making a wash from a shade of grey (or blue, or beige, or whatever) that's just a bit darker or lighter than the base color.  The result will be far more subtle than the harsh effect produced by a black wash.

I know.  It's too bad that Tamiya doesn't see fit to follow the lead of Skywave/Dragon in their 1/700 destroyer kits.  But, I am enjoying this build . . . it's not like painting them the basic black of my old submarines!

Bill Morrison

That kit is particularly well suited for picking out the bulkhead details with a wash.  The mfr (originally Skywave) put a ton of watertight doors, firestations, ladders, foam applicators, vent screens and the like onto the vertical surfaces.  It is the diametric opposite from some like Tamiya 1/700 kits that do not put surface detail on, and leave it for you to add with photo-etch.

Thanks, Rick!  I am building the USS Benjamin Stoddart (DDG 22) for my father, who once served aboard her.  The only kit, apart from the 1/350 resin kit by WEM, is the Dragon 1/700 kit.  Picking out those details is work!

Bill Morrison

Hi Bill.  Any tips I may have to not include anything as sophisticated as a "ratio".

However, these have been my keys to washes:

• switch medium from the paint that was used to cover the surface.  If paint was enamel, I wash with dark acrylic and water.  If the paint was acrylic, I wash with datk enamel and paint thinner.
• My wash is closer to "dirty thinner" than "thinned paint".  I practice back and forth, dipping into the paint,brushing it on a 3x5 filecard, into the thinner, back to the filecard, until there is barely any color showing on the filecard.  Then give it a try and cross my fingers.

Good luck to you,
Rick