washes ....agian

Did you add a bit of dishwashing liquid to your mix??? A drop of vinegar will also help.

I've tried the soap, I heading to kitchen in search of vinegar now.

Asykr,

The dishwashing liquid is the 'agent' that will break the water surface tension, allowing the paint to flow and flood everywhere... The vinegar will help preventing hard edges appearing once the wash has dried (don't know why, but it works!). Mix both into your paint solution. If you're using water as thinner, you could try isopropyl alcohol instead...

I should have first asked what the problem is... I've never had troubles applying washes to any paints (other than gloss paint), be they enamel or acrylic..

Would it be a good idea to apply either a watercolour or acrylic wash to a gloss coated surface or will it not stick at all?

Honestly, I've never tried that... On my airliners, which have a satin finish, I do not use 'slap-it-all-over' washes but I apply minute amounts of wash in 'strategic' areas, removing the excess (if any) with a slightly wet rag, or Q-tip. This does only work with watercolours, not with acrylics (dry too fast). The same effect can be had with artist oils or thinned down enamels, this time usinf mineral spirit as 'removing' agent...

Actually, that's not true!... I've used washes on glossy finishes, on cars in particular, but it's always been oils, and again, tiny amounts in recesses (body/doors joints,.).

You might try a light/dilute spray of 'dullcote' to provide some tooth to the paint you are putting the wash over. The problem with washes is they are highly dilute mixtures of the medium...water, alcohol. thinner, etc...and the pigment color. Without something to adhere to they tend to flow off the undercoat. Once the washes have provided the desired effect if you want a glossy appearance you can spray a top coat of 'gloss', otherwise you can finish with another spray of 'dullcote' to fix the finish.

Randy

I have just started using washes. I just did a was of acrylic black thinned wit isopropyl alcohol. it went on fine but i could not take the slope of very well and made kinda of a mess. Also it turned some of my model white in spots...what did i do wrong.

What do you mean by 'I could not take the slope of very well'???

The wash that i put in the recessed lines...a little not much went out side of the area i wanted it on. it had a coat of future on it so i could correct some slop over mistake. but when i tried to get it off i could not. is there an easy way or didi i do something wrong. i dont have the steadiest hands in the world so did i mess up?

what % mixture do you guys usually use for your vinegar /dishwashing liquid /paint/ thinner wash mix?