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Hey guys,

I've been experimenting with an oil wash on my last model, but it didn't turn out like In hoped. It cancelled out a lot of the highlighting I've done with my airbrush and looks quite "dirty". Any idea what I did wrong, so I can avoid it next time?

Before the wash:



After the wash:



After the cleanup with White Spirit:



Cheers,


IK-Painter

Did you gloss coat it before starting the oil process?

Also doing multiple thin washes works out better then one thick one acording to me.

Yeah, I gave it two thin coats of gloss varnish - the wash flowed beautifully into the recesses, but didn't leave much of a mark - maybe I overdid it in the hopes of seeing change.

I will try and do thinner coats on the next model.

I never like wasing the whole thing like that,much better to do a pinwash with oil.
But way better than oil paint is enamel,thins with the same thinner but dries in hours instead of days.
A wash will be 4 parts paint to 6 pRts thinner
Steaking grime is 7 parts paint to 3 parts thinner
A filter is 7 parts thinner to 3 parts paint.

One other thing you want to use satin varnish not gloss.
Gloss is not porus enough and the wash goes everywhere,the satin gives it a tiny bit of grab.

Your pictures have various steps done in between them so it obscures a lot of what we are seeing.

I agree, thinner is better when it comes to washes. Better to do it 3 times right then 1 time to think and gunk up areas you don't want darkened.

Eisenhorn wrote:I never like wasing the whole thing like that,much better to do a pinwash with oil.
But way better than oil paint is enamel,thins with the same thinner but dries in hours instead of days.
A wash will be 4 parts paint to 6 pRts thinner
Steaking grime is 7 parts paint to 3 parts thinner
A filter is 7 parts thinner to 3 parts paint.

One other thing you want to use satin varnish not gloss.
Gloss is not porus enough and the wash goes everywhere,the satin gives it a tiny bit of grab.

Me Agree

OP:
I think you may have used too much paint:thinner ratio because if you did actually give the model a coat of gloss varnish then it shouldn't be that dirty

Thank you for the tips guys, I will try playing with the thinner:paint ratio and using satin instead of gloss varnish.

Ol'Rowdy is supposed to be an old Warjack anyway, so I will try to salvage the paintjob by adding some weathering.

Cheers,


IK-Painter

Honestly, from what I see in the "after" photo I think it looks pretty dang good.

Seriously though if you use Humbrol or testors enamel dark brown instead of the oil piant you will be pleasently surprized.
Dont go crazy just get a dark brown and try it.
It is how they make MIG and AK weathering products.
They use more than just dark brown depending on the finish,green brown for winter camo,blue brown for Grey Panzers ect
For metal a blue/brown works wonders
Maybe I should do a tute

Just got back from training and stuff.
I have to disagree with about everyone in this thread, if you want use oil paints use white spirit, i once tried thinner (tamiya) and it turned out bad, at least for me.

Also a good tip for washes is first do a 100% coverage WEAK wash, followed by a more normal pinwash.
This gives the pin wash a softer transition.

And for the love of god get a bottle of Johnsons Clear, then there is no need to mess around with stupid varnish recepies.

Edit: Take a look at my tanks in my gallery if you want to see how my washes turned out.

And you dont need cotton swabs since these are very rough, simple use a thick brush wet with white spirit to wipe away any unwanted wash(this is the whole point in using oil paints)

I haven't used the stuff (although very excited to try it myself), but I would guess your mixture is too rich or you aren't putting enough elbow grease into the cleanup process. Have you tried going back over it again with the spirits and cotton bud? I have a feeling that if you let it completely dry it's not going to come off without a good buff.

Something stupid happened.

@IK-Painter- What is the effect you are trying to acheive with the "wash" I use oils extensivley in my work, and there are very few times in my expereince where I have coated a whole model.

About the only time you want to coat an entire model is when you are doing an oil filter. This is a very thin coat of spirits/oil paint applied over the whole model the change the hue or tone of the color. For example putting a blue filter of a red base color will deepen the color.

Now if what you are trying to do is create dirt effects and general wear and tear, rust effects and other blend type things that you will need to work in a manner simmilar to normal painting. Use the spirits to thin the oil down to a paint like thickness, and then apply, wipe off if done incorrectly.

There is a tutorial in the paint section where someone posted a step by step that I had done at one point with oils, you might find it helpful, here is the link;

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Oil_Washes

Really I would reccomend the Future Floor Polish as a prep clera coat before oils, I usally dont do that any more and just work on flat surfaces, but when you are first starting out it is helpful.

Ashton

Redfinger wrote:
About the only time you want to coat an entire model is when you are doing an oil filter. This is a very thin coat of spirits/oil paint applied over the whole model the change the hue or tone of the color. For example putting a blue filter of a red base color will deepen the color.

I always start 100% thin wash before any other weathering. Nothing wrong with that. (Although not if im doing a oil filter and i never do that on 40k vehicles)

Redfinger wrote:
Really I would reccomend the Future Floor Polish as a prep clera coat before oils, I usally dont do that any more and just work on flat surfaces, but when you are first starting out it is helpful.

As i said, use of Johnsons Clear.

Redfinger wrote:There is a tutorial in the paint section where someone posted a step by step that I had done at one point with oils, you might find it helpful, here is the link;

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Oil_Washes

T'was me!

And if anyone has anything they want to add to any of the oil articles, please feel free (or let me know and I will update them on your behalf - I will be happy to add more oil painting tutorial pages if people write the text and tell me what images they want putting in).

Redfinger wrote:@IK-Painter- What is the effect you are trying to acheive with the "wash" I use oils extensivley in my work, and there are very few times in my expereince where I have coated a whole model.

About the only time you want to coat an entire model is when you are doing an oil filter. This is a very thin coat of spirits/oil paint applied over the whole model the change the hue or tone of the color. For example putting a blue filter of a red base color will deepen the color.

Now if what you are trying to do is create dirt effects and general wear and tear, rust effects and other blend type things that you will need to work in a manner simmilar to normal painting. Use the spirits to thin the oil down to a paint like thickness, and then apply, wipe off if done incorrectly.

There is a tutorial in the paint section where someone posted a step by step that I had done at one point with oils, you might find it helpful, here is the link;

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Oil_Washes

Really I would reccomend the Future Floor Polish as a prep clera coat before oils, I usally dont do that any more and just work on flat surfaces, but when you are first starting out it is helpful.

Ashton

Thanks for the input Ashton. I think my whole approach was a bit flawed, as I used a much to heavy coat on my first pass - as this was my first foray into using oil paints, I wasn't sure what to expect, so I just went a bit overboard. After thinking about it, the pin-wash approach would have been much more suited to my goal of just adding more definition to the model. But you live and learn and with my next mini I won't make the same mistakes again.

Living Still wrote:I haven't used the stuff (although very excited to try it myself), but I would guess your mixture is too rich or you aren't putting enough elbow grease into the cleanup process. Have you tried going back over it again with the spirits and cotton bud? I have a feeling that if you let it completely dry it's not going to come off without a good buff.

That's what I think too - thinner mixture, multiple layers, more precise application. This will also make cleaning up easier - In will have to try a brush instead of a cotton bud, as was suggested in this thread.

Cheers,


IK-Painter

Bla_Ze wrote:Just got back from training and stuff.
I have to disagree with about everyone in this thread, if you want use oil paints use white spirit, i once tried thinner (tamiya) and it turned out bad, at least for me.

Tamiya thinner is either Isopropyl alcohol or if it has a yellow cap Lacquar Thinner thats why it did not work with your oil.
Tamiya paint is actually a Lacquer Hybrid that thins with both alcohol and Lacuer Thinner it is called acrylic to they can sell it easier.
For oil you want to use odorless Spirit which they sell at home depot for $5 a quart or you can spend $30 a quart at the art supply.

I quite like it as it is, it looks grubby and oily. Which for a Warjack, belching smoke and oiled joints would make sense.

However I also understand you don't like it, which is fine and I can see what you want to achieve. Not having played with Oil washes, if you want a controlled wash why not PIN WASH with Acrylics or ready made washes (alternatively make your own). I do this often on my FOW tanks to get more "POP" at smaller scales, as previously alluded to, Satin Varnish allows a bit more of a key for washes to adhere to.

I think another problem is that when you put the gloss varnish you will also loose some of the highlights which is one of the reasons a lot of people don't use varnish. You mentioned you don't see the smooth transitions you created with the airbrush before so y question is whether you could see them after the varnish step and before the wash. Also instead of using cotton buds you can use the applicators for make up, no idea what their name is, but it is basically a soft foam which is pointier and thus allow a more precise cleaning of deeper surfaces in the model.

When I stole a few from my girlfriend the bag said foam triangles
Thanks Bacms from me,my girl is giving you the finger right now though :p

Eisenhorn wrote:When I stole a few from my girlfriend the bag said foam triangles
Thanks Bacms from me,my girl is giving you the finger right now though :p

Always a pleasure to help

Looks pretty good to me mate! Not sure what you were after if this isn't it?!

Kanluwen wrote:Honestly, from what I see in the "after" photo I think it looks pretty dang good.

I agree, looks just fine...but it would seem my standards are quite a bit below the Dakka average.

Just as quick note, many people think varnishing is the final step. This is not always the case, many interesting and dynamic effects and painting techniques involve painting over varnish, washing over varnish, and multiple layers of varnish of different type and effect.

The point is that some techniques such as Pin Washing and Oil Washing only work on Varnish. Varnish is not the last step and often Gloss or Satin effects can be countered with a final light coat of Dullcote "MATT Varnish". Varnishing is not necessarily the last step or the end of painting and acrylics can be used on varnished mini's if your are careful and use the Varnish with a good key.

mwnciboo wrote:Just as quick note, many people think varnishing is the final step. This is not always the case, many interesting and dynamic effects and painting techniques involve painting over varnish, washing over varnish, and multiple layers of varnish of different type and effect.

The point is that some techniques such as Pin Washing and Oil Washing only work on Varnish. Varnish is not the last step and often Gloss or Satin effects can be countered with a final light coat of Dullcote "MATT Varnish". Varnishing is not necessarily the last step or the end of painting and acrylics can be used on varnished mini's if your are careful and use the Varnish with a good key.

QFT

I often varnish my models several times during the painting process. Just a light coat of Matte Varnish from my airbrush seals in the paint job and can even act as a "save-button" if you make a mistake along the way. And the Matte Varnish has a bit of a tooth, so painting over it can be just as easy as painting over Primer.

Cheers,


IK-Painter

Another QFT here
Especialy when weathering with oils or enamels.
I varnish at every stage to protect the work done,finishing with dullcote