Pre-made washes

I find that having available pre made is easier. It is right there when you need it,  No time or mess to make it yourself, Will be exactly the color you need, be of the highest quality, made right every time. You should look at the Wilder line of Nitroline washes and pigments.  Made by Adam Wilder, a real pro. It's the Best Ive found. Ammo of Mig is Really good too.

Convinence!

At one time I would have made my own but I'm at a point where I can afford to pay someone to make these items for me.

There is also the thought that if you made your own and something went wrong there might be the thought that your home made product was defective.

JMorgan

Why do modelers buy premade washes? It seems they have more control when they make their own.

I wholeheartedly agree. I think the same goes with pigment powders, too. They are overpriced for what they give you. And making your own isn't difficult. My paint shelf is pretty full just from bottles of paint, the last thing I need is more bottles to take up space.

Besides, how convenient is to have to mail order a specific color because the LHS doesn't stock these kinds of things? To me, getting the color I need from the LHS is more convenient than to have to wait a few days for the "late war, western front, winter-time wash for Allied vehicles."

I also like to make my own.  When I paint a regular coat of paint, I have to thin the paint anyway.  So thinning it way down to a wash is no more bother than just using regular paint.

Because premade weathering products have cool names... 

No, what modelmaker66 said sounds about right.

Well, I rather make mine. Is it a bother? Not for me. I make my own out of artists oil paints and Turp, it only takes me a couple of minutes to make a batch in any color and strenght I need for pennies of what the commercial washes cost and get the same results.

However, I do have some clay based Flory Washes which are fenomenal and produce outstanding results.

There is a massive marketing barrage from MIG, Valejo etc.  As a businessman I give all these people credit for having a succesful business. I have bought some of the products and they are good. That said the whole thing with pigments.  I go to a good art store get the high end pastels (individually), in a much more varied color selction, and they have lasted years.

I have a set of fine Grumbacher oil paints to use for washes, that has lasted a couple of decades. You have total control over the color variation.

To each is his own, though.

I like Tamiyas Panel Line Accent Colors set because it's convenient and has a bottle that has it's own brush in the lid and there really isn't any clean-up whatsoever which I love. I can just grab my kit and the bottle I need, be it black, brown, or gray and go right in and paint panel lines and then recap the bottle and leave the pieces to dry and I can walk away.

No muss, no fuss. To me, thats worth paying a little extra just to have the ease of it as well as the mix is pretty high quality and as good as any wash I've ever produced. Just my two-cents.