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Hi Dakka!

I have a small problem. I just started playing dark eldar and used washes for my painting scheme on the kabalites and also wanted to apply the same technique. But when I asked dakka about it and they told me it was a bad idea and I should do blacklining instead. I accepted that fact till I skimmed through that citadel painting guide book raiders of commoragh and they demonstrated using washes on the venoms and raiders and it looked fantastic... No pools no streaks it was exactly like I imagined. Is it true or is citadel faking? Did anyone ever try something like that or seen it?

Using acrylic washes on large models can be tricky, given their relatively short drying times. It's not impossible, but you'd have to work quickly to avoid streaks and pools. Alternatively, you can give the model a good coat of gloss varnish and then hit it with some oil/alcohol-based washes that have much longer drying times.

They covered the entire model in lead belcher and then put druchi violet over it with a big wash brush...

Rather than washing the whole vehicle, apply the washes with a thin brush directly into any recesses and around rivits etc. The current GW painting guide for the Ghostkeel shows this technic. This is probably the best approach for any vehicle with large flat surfaces, where an overall wash would result in pooling and streaks.

The alcohol / oil paint wash is another good technic, just remember that if you use this then your varnish needs to be acrylic to avoid any reactions. Once dried, the excess can be cleaned off with a cotton bud or brush moistened with alcohol.

Yeah but the problem is that I liked the way, the wash tinted the vehicle... And if I only apply the wash/oil into the recesses it won't change all of the color...

You can apply washes over the entirety of a large model, but you'll probably have to go over that with a quick dry-brush of whatever your base colour is. Mostly to correct odd poolings, and to cover any streaks. I did that with my Rhinos, and they're basically boxes with tracks. It also helps to put a natural highlight on details.

You'd probably be ok if you used a metallic base with a wash over top, on a large model. Just brush the wash towards the recesses, so that if you get a pool, it will collect in / along a recess, where you'd want darker shading anyhow.

Sorry misread your post. What would work would be a glaze rather than a wash. Glazes are very thin mixes of paint or ink and rather than applying in a generous way as you would with a wash, you'd paint a thin layer on. The usual idea is to apply numerous thin transparent layers and tint the base colour.

If you were to use a wash as a glaze, paint it on carefully, in a similar many to applying a smooth layer of paint.

Which vehicle are you painting? I think large scale washing in metal colors can work well as metalics are pretty forgiving when you drybrush over it after the wash.

I'd say it is only a problem if you have large bent areas.

PS: I've seen some of the Citadel paint guides, I think they are pretty good, no fakery but you obviously need skill to get on the same level .