Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So I'm painting my Tau army white and I gave up painting my Fire Warriors and started on my Commander. It's turned out gak. I've sprayed it white and painted the black and gold as normal. I then painted 2 layers of white before using a wash. I only used the wash in the recesses of the model but now that I've come to paint another layer of white to finish the model off all of the wash on the model is showing through even after a few layers. I was going for a crisp white with a black outline in the gaps of the armor but it doesn't look very white and some of the outline has been painted over by mistake. I was told that a good way to do this is to not us washes at all and paint black in the armour gaps and layer up from grey to white, but this will mean there will be no shading and it will look very two dimensional.

What do you guys think about how I should paint my colour scheme?

This is the sort of style I want to achieve: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGvYriSBzg0

Yeah I don't think that was washed, or it was oil washed instead.

Have a look at this guide, and then push it a bit further to pure white;

The video you linked looks airbrushed but that's overrated. For my buggies I drybrush in one direction, but that gives a texture, which I assume you dont want for tau. Just work up your shades or follow the vid kb linked.

Spray model white. Spray model with clear gloss varnish. Use black oil wash to paint recesses and a clean cloth to wipe off excess. Let oil wash dry compleatly. Spray with clear mat seal. Paint rest of model as normal.

Vallejo has a nice grey wash that looks great on white. Gloss varnish before the wash too keep the in the cracks.

The way I do white is I start with a very light gray, like wolf gray from Army Painter or whatever GW calls Space Wolf Gray these days. Then I'll wash it with the blackest wash I can find, but dunk my brush in water first so it will be watered down. After the thinned wash dries completely, I'll go over the raised edges with a white drybrush and it's done

+1 on the VMC grey wash, perfect for white, lather it on and dry brush works nicely for 'dirty' panels. a more controlled application with a finer brush would be ok for a clean one.

However an oil wash over gloss acrylic, perhaps using a mid grey oil seriously thinned with white spirit would work better, or a deep brown maybe.

Get the mix right, essentially white spirit with a hint of paint in it and a decent sized brush with a point - 'touch' it to the model and the capillary action will suck the wash along the join panel lines, has to be over gloss.

Once dry can wipe it off, or use a brush with clean white spirit to wash it off, then once fully dry (leave it overnight) seal with spray acrylic varnish, seriously easy way to black line models.

Important tip though, after you varnish the model to start with, go over any decals with gloss and a brush, a fine spray will protect paint but the white spirit will wreak decals (discovered the hard way)