There's been numerous posts about washes and a while ago I promised Ron to prepare a pictorial 'how to' for his (our!) gallery... In fact this also cover other weathering operations and details my 'system' from priming to getting ready to display my model for the first time... Hope you find it interesting enough to give it a go. Just another word, though, this is a technique I developped for AFVs and that I'd not recommend for military aircrafts, and even less to anithing glossy and civilian!
First step, a coat of primer. I use automotive acrylic primers in cans, either in black, red oxyde, grey or white. They are cheap, dry fast, and more importantly will resist any subsequent treatment...
A base coat is applied on the model. See how the black primer still shows through, giving some depth to the color scheme already.
This is the stage when I apply the markings. I rarely use decals onto small scale AFVs, preferring either dry-transfers or hand-painted markings. In this case, over the Zimmerit, I opted for the hand-painted option. Even if I managed to get decals to fit properly, without any silvering over the zimm, they'd look too regular. Also, washes have a tendency to outline the decal carrier film... White is used for the crosses, then a very dark grey is painted over. The turret numbers are also dark grey. Pure black would be too stark for the look I want to give to my vehicle... This is the stage I'd normally paint the tools and other bits, but for this model, I'll leave that for later.
My favourite wash is made of the following stuff..: artists' watercolor, water, dish-washing liquid, and vinegar. The watercolor are very forgiving. Not happy with what you have done?, just place the model under the tap and you're back to square one... Sepia, a very dirty looking dark brown is my 'jack-of-all-trades' when it comes to washes. I'd use black over dark grey schemes, and mix sepia and black over dark greens, but for most of the other schemes, be they single or multi-colored, this is Sepia I use.
The dish-washing liquid will help breaking the water' surface tension. Without it, the liquid will tend to regroup itself into droplets over the painted model. Only a drop is sufficient.
The vinegar seems to help reducing the tendency of washes to leave, once dried, unsighty hard edged demarcations. A couple of drops will be enough.
Other than that, you'll also need a container and a soft flat brush.
The mix. Just place a dollop of paint on the side of the container then slowly, little by little, add it to the water/vinegar/dish-washing liquid solution. Better work with weaker washes than strong ones. It's always possible to add another wash (that will still be easier than putting the model under the tap!). I'd say my washes only have 5 to 10% of paint pigments.
My favourite method for application of a wash is the 'slap-it-all-over' one. A soft flat brush is well suited for that! See how the wash reaches sunked areas that the brush has not even reached. The dark paint will accentuate any engraved detail, and by collecting around raised one, give the model a better 3-D look. Let the model dry by itself. You may want to place it over a rag so that the excess wash that's collecting in the tracks gets absorbed. Liquid pooling around the lower parts of the hull, and other places can be 'drained' with aother brush, but I usually do not bother. With acrylic washes, this would lead to unsighty looking darker 'patches' but I've never had problems with watercolor-based washes. However, if once the wash is dry you feel that some areas are too dark, use a clean flat, soft brush and a little bit of water or saliva to remove the excess (again, something impossible to do with dried acrylic washes).
Once dry, the model can then be drybrushed with lighter shades of the base color... This time, I'll be using artists'oil paints. Their consistency and long drying time are assets that by far outclasses any other type of paints that can be used for drybrushing.
The paints I need here are Titanium White and Yellow Ochre. Again, those are colors I use on most of my AFV kits. Various shades of ochre (when mixed with white) and pure white will do the trick for most single- and multi-color schemes, with sand, browns and even greens. Grey schemes would require shades of grey, mixed from black and various amounts of white. Only one other oil color is required, Burnt Sienna, but that's for later! Oils are expensive, but last just about forever... The Titanium White you see on this pic was purchased in 1988... And I've barely used 1/20 of the tube... Guess it will be part of my legacy, one day!
Anyway, back to drybrushing. Drybrushing is a technique that will deposit minute amount of paint over any raised detail, enhencing the 3-D effect started with the wash.
What is needed is: oil paints, very soft, dry, clean, flat brushes, and rag. I use the back of old pictures (bad ones only!) as a 'palette' for a bit of Titanium White and a bit of Yellow Ochre. Mix a bit of the ochre and the white until you have a shade of color that's slightly lighter than the base coat of the model. Dip a dry,soft, flat brush in the mix then wipe the paint off in the rag. You'll need bristles with barely any paint on. Start brushing, lightly, the paint that's left over the model. I'd start over the underside of the vehicle first, just to see if I haven't got too much paint left first! If so, back to the rag! You'll notice the paint tend to deposit itself over raised details and ridges. That's what we want! It will complement the wash tha's sticking out in the recesses.
Next, use a different mix, with more white, and before going onto the model, remove most of the paint in the rag. You'll need even less paint than during the first stage. DO NOT be tempted to clean the brush you've just used in mineral spirit or turpentine! When brushing over the model, be even gentlier than before. Finish with pure white, with even tinier amounts of paint and the softest touch you can master. Go all over the model but you'll see that the paint will only appear on the sharpest angles of a hull or of a turret, the edges of the wheels and the highest raised details only. That's perfect!
Oils take several days to dry. It's a good idea to place the model in a plastic container, away from dust for a little while.
Here's the model after having completed the drybrushing. The pic is not the best, as the flash has made it look a touch too light, but it gives you the general idea of what a 'washed' and 'drybrushed' model should look like. Without those two operations, the paint scheme is 'flat', 'dead', uninspiring. Washes and drybrushing bring life to your models!
The oils are now dry. We're now into the finishing stages... I'll use pure black, in watercolor, for another wash to be applied onto grilles, mesh, and the like. This time, I need a strong wash, very dark. Smaller brushes are best suited to this job. This is a slightly more 'chirurgical' type of operation, not a 'slap-it-all-over' job. See how this wash adds depth to the grilles. Other areas that could benefit from this black sludge are the opening of the gun and places where you'd want to represent oil or petrol spills.
At some stage, I'll use graphite from a pencil to 'paint' over the towing cables, weather the metal parts of the tools, and make scratch marks near bolt heads, hatches, edges of metal plates,... Of course not where the Zimm coating is! I also 'graphited' the rims of the middle rows of wheels: there, the tracks of the real vehicles have rubbed down the paint/rubber and the bare metal shows...
With the sand color already on the tracks, I'll just add a thick wash of dirty red/brown. I use this time oils again. I like the fact that I can brush off, even at a later stage, some of the paint. The mineral spirit I use to mix the wash reduce the drying time of oils, but I will still have a couple of days to 're-work' if need be. Burnt Sienna and Black are used here. I do not mix the paint very well, as I like my tracks to look different at different spots. It's less boring than a plain colour everywhere. One might be concerned about the fact that I use a mineral spirit wash over an enamel base coat, without any form of 'barrier' between the two layers. Honestly, the base enamel has now been drying for over a week, and I'm not going to do any heavy petting, just apply a thick brush at various places and let the wash flow everywhere. You can notice that the rims of the inner wheels show darker now. I applied a thick wash of dark grey in there. Again, little 'painting' required, just letting the wash flow all around the wheel...
Maybe not the best shot of the tracks, but you can see that the Burnt Sienna/Black wash has given the tracks a completely different look. At this stage, the oil wash is still a bit shiny, but that will soon disappear and leave a flat finish.
Rust. I've tried many different ways, but oils have been my favourite. I use pure Burnt Sienna, undiluted, applied to 'strategic' points with a fine brush. This looks a bit messy and ugly, but we're not finished!
Take a soft flat brush and start dragging down the oil paint down (or however you need it to go - check references!). Wipe the excess paint off the brush very often in a rag. Not in mineral spirit! Just in a rag. Only oils allow for this sort of effect.
I use another oil product, Rub'n'Buff, to finish my tracks. Place a bit of the paint on an old photograph and use another soft flat brush to scoop a bit of the paint. Remove most of the paint that's on the brush on a rag, then drybrush the tracks. Don't forget the inside and the edges!
Pastels. Depending on where and when your model is supposed to be, use particular shade(s) of pastel dust. I use a fan-shaped brush, very soft, to cover the model, particularly on the lower parts, with the stuff...
The very same brush is then used to get rid of most of the stuff. As the brush is very soft, it will not remove the dust that's got into the recesses, the hidden parts. Notice you'll need to dust your diorama (if you do one) with the very same dust(s), so that the model fits in properly...
And here's the completed model... (well, it's still missing its antenea, but as far as weathering is concerned, I'm done with it!). Same technique, same 'ingredients' were used onto the Konigstiger so you can see the technique also work on multi-colored vehicles...
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