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Hey guys, so I just recently painted a Razorback and had some questions. Do you guys wash the whole vehicle or just the details? So far I've only washed the skulls, the heavybolter, and the lights. Any tips would be awesome!

I'm not sure I would ever wash the entire vehicle, just the metal bits if that's the technique you're using. I prefer layering up from a black primer on all my colors. I tend to reserve washes for flesh colors on a figures face for example.

Haha...I was thinking this:

http://youtu.be/njp3n0ue5tE

 GamesEtc wrote:
Haha...I was thinking this:

http://youtu.be/njp3n0ue5tE

Does it say something about me if I completely didn't even think of this?

I give all my vehicles a wash with thinned oil paints. It really brings out the detail and adds a nice patina to hull plating. insta-oomph!

Before:



After:


You can also use it on interiors and infantry:

Oil washes are good, personally I'm playing around with and getting good results from acrylic washes with the help of drying retarder and then just using water for the cleanup.

You can definitely get good results just using acrylic washes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gWAFBreb-k

I've been playing around making my own washes from acrylic paint which contain a healthy amount of drying retarder to give me a bit more time to clean it up. Go panel by panel rather than doing the whole vehicle, if you use enough drying retarder you have a few minutes where you can clean it up so you don't want to try and do an entire vehicle in one hit, you'll just make a mess.

I apply the wash to all the rivets and edges of a panel, then give the brush a quick rinse (doesn't need to be super clean, just get the bulk of the paint off it) and then wipe the brush on a paper towel to get excess water off and start blending the wash in to the panel. Keep plenty of tissues nearby to wipe excess paint off the brush and occasionally rinse the brush to get rid of excess paint. You can also use a tissue to clean up, and if you have some airbrush cleaner nearby so if you find the wash has dried too far to clean up with water you can use the airbrush cleaner to fix it.

I probably make it sound harder than it is. I'm actually finding it no harder than oil washing, with the benefit that it dries a bit quicker and I don't have to huff turpentine fumes while I'm working.

I would say that it depends...

There are a lot of angles to washing and depending on what you want to achieve and how you go about it there is a big difference.

CONTRAST WASHING
When most people start out with washes they use something contrasting sharply to the base paints. One example of this is people swabbing models down with a black wash. This can add panel lines and shadows in general OR it can make something look grimey and dirty. Depending on how you apply. Sometimes this is combined with drybrushing to get the basecolor back on the raised surfaces.

SUBTLE WASHING
If you use say a red, and you wash the entire thing with a similar slightly darker red you can create depth in the paintjob by creating minute variations in the color. This can be a good thing for surfaces that tend to feel flat. The paint gathering in the corners will create a shading but a very subtle shade.

PIN WASHING
This is version when you carefully place the wash in panel lines, recesses and places where you want shading. It can be used subtly or contrasting but the point is that there is much less cleanup. However, it is veeery time consuming.

Personally I use waterbased inks, apply heavily to the top eedges of the area im working on then blend downwards with a very wet brush. The advantage of waterbased inks is you can get some impressive effects by using the "bleed through" properties. Simply paint over the ink using your usual paints, and the ink will disolve and mix with it. If you dont want this to happen, simply seal with a matte lacquer.