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The reason I'm looking for an alternative is because Army Painter is a) expensive b) not stocked locally c) solvent based which I'm not crazy about using. I know there has been thousands of threads about this but in everyone I look at although people say use this and that they never say what particular shade they use. I live in the UK so bear that in mind when you're mentioning particular brands as they may not be stocked over in good ol'blighty

I'm resorting to dipping because of the huge amount of Firewarriors I have in my to do pile at the moment, I'm not particularly found of the models and as long as I can achieve a table top quality with minimal easy I would be quite happy.

Cheers Pastel
.

Water based wood stain found in any decent hardware store.
I used some on my deathguard (check them out in my gallery).
I actually dipped them as at the time my right arm was in a cast.

Bubber is there any particular colour wood stain you used? I looked on B&Qs website there seems to be loads of different types.

The one I used was medium oak:
http://www.wilko.com/paint/interior-wood-paint/icat/interiorwoodpaint
In terms of darkness I suppose it depends on what the main colour you're going over.
I got lucky first time as the colour I chose seems to be about right.

I'm going to be using mechanic us standard grey as a base for the armour and eshin grey for the fatigues, if that helps?

Greys are hard as most 'dips' are some variation of brown.
You'll need one of the darker shades like 'rustic oak' or 'dark oak'.
'mahogany' looks too red.
Also check out this artical by a fellow Dakkarite:
http://www.adpublishing.de/html/death_guard.html
You might be able to find a black stain - this would be better I think.
Due to the relatively cheap cost, a trial run would be ideal.
Both greys have a slight blue tinge to it which makes the brown tricky.
You could also try mixing clear varnish, Lahmium medium & artitsts ink instead.
FW use this stuff:
http://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/daler-rowney-fw-artists-acrylic-ink-295-ml-black-india/565566-1001
You get loads in a bottle. Haven't tried it yet as I haven't painted anything for ages (the joys of depression) but always willing to share my thoughts, knowledge & experience!

If you pick up some of those Daler Rowney inks, get some matte medium and flow aid and you can make tons of your own washes using Les' recipe here: http://awesomepaintjob.com/index.cfm/resources.recipes

If you go for artists inks, Liquitex are another fine brand, and are the popular brand of matt medium too.

Liquitex Acrylic Inks;
http://www.artsupplies.co.uk/colours-liquitex-professional-acrylic-inks.htm

Daler Rowney FW Inks;
http://www.artsupplies.co.uk/colours-fw-acrylic-inks.htm

Matt medium;
http://www.artsupplies.co.uk/item-liquitex-matt-medium.htm

Flow Aid;
http://www.artsupplies.co.uk/item-liquitex-flow--aid-flow-enhancer.htm

I use both varnish type dips (the army painter ones, and basic minway polyshades) and a lot of washes.

I would suggests giving good old washes a try; specifically try the armypainter inks (they are washes, not inks).

I don't recall which, but one of them is a perfect match for the old GW devlan mud, which might give exactly what you are looking for.

Best of luck!

Thank you all for the input it's been very helpful as I have said previous articles I've read haven't gone into so much detail.

BTW if you go to a graphic art shop for inks, make sure you buy acrylic inks rather than shellac based.

Shellac is fine in itself, but it won't mix properly with acrylic media.

I've been and bought my goodies today but nowhere could I find any plastic dropper bottles :-(

Oh well I have to wait for FleaBay to deliver some

Here or Here for dropper bottles. I like the ones I have from USPlastics.com because the screw-top lids are also transparent... you can just see the color easier the way I have mind racked up. I use .5 oz bottles personally, so I cut the recipes in half.

I recently tried to make my own washes.

Firstly I used oil paint and artists thinners to good effect but the smell of thinners didnt agree with me even though i used a low odur one.

Then, ive tried to follow Les's recipe (to some degree). I used what i could get hold of from shops in the uk. I mixed distilled water with vallejo matt varnish in about a 60%water - 40% varnish then added a few drops of ink.

the wash its self works excellent but the result is shiney and is not waterproof, when i tried to varnish it down the wash ran off. Sorry to waffle on. I would like to dip my orks if i can get a good mix.

I've been getting good results with dark tone ink mixed with Game Colour black.