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Morning, painting gurus,

Hopefully you can help me out with this.

I was messing around with an AoBR Terminator, who I was in the process of painting as an Imperial Fist. To try an shade all the curved surfaces, I watered some Gryphonne Sepia down a fair bit, and then applied it to the panels. I then added progressively more concentrated Sepia to the panels as I worked my way from top to bottom, dabbing it onto the already-wet surface, which give me a really neat, smooth shade right down the panel.

Pleased with myself, I left him to dry, intending to return later and take a few snap-shots of my 'cheater's blending'. However, when I came back, I was sad to find what can only be described as a tea-stain on the yellow, with a distinct line of the Gryphonne Sepia going round the very edge of the panel.

Why did this happen? Is it because I used water, and not flow aid? Is it because I diluted it in the first place? Is there a way to make this technique work? I very much hope so, as it looked great when I left it.

Thanks,

Martin

From my experience... not much you can really do about it. Washes are really finicky about flat surfaces. If you want blending, you'll have to do blending.

lol, run off.
fething learned that one the hard way myself.

If you want to cheat and blend with a wash, dont water it down.

Also, rather than dabbing it on, im affraid you will have to go the long way and use alot of thin layers.

Heres my cheated blend, and thats with around 12 layers or so.

I have to agree, the only real way of getting it to work is using lots of thin layers.

I think it may just be the way the wash dries (watered or otherwise) which is going to be hard to change. I've found that washing large flat panels gives very mixed results (which is ok if you're going to paint over it again but not if it's the final layer) it's just not designed to sit evenly on a surface.

The only thing I can thin of is letting it dry between coats, but I can see the same thing happening anyway (and to be honest, you might as well blend with paint if you're going to go the trouble of drying the layers). You could try a similar technique with inks or very thin paint but again, that's kind of defeating the object.

Nice! That DP looks fantastic.

So, just layers? Ah, not all that bad, I guess. At least it's still do-able. I was worried it was just downright impossible.

Thanks for posting.

You simply have to stain away at it as it were.

start from the top of the section and apply a wash.
Let it dry, then move down a small bit (a few mm)
Keep going until you at the bottom.

The fact that the drying time is harsh means something like a heated lamp will help alot, but still took me 2 nights to get the skin done on the prince, simply because of drying time.


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it's just not designed to sit evenly on a surface.

Stippling makes it quite nice for large flat surfaces.
Also, thin bursts from an air gun work well too.

Popsicle , try this:

The wash you apply has a specific way to pool or accumulate right? Flip it to a side where the gravity will help hold the pool in place. Take a hair dryer ( better if it has hot air type ) , turn setting to low and ta da.

Another vote for a hairdryer. If you're not used to using one, you might end up moving the still wet paint around with it. But when you get the hang of it, it's an invaluable tool in your toolbox. Get a cheap one, you don't need the 25kW monster-dryer.

Then, it's just like blending, a lot of layers. Patience and a lot of fun