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I’m going to preface this long-winded post by saying :
1. I should have probably taken some more photos as I tried this technique out to demonstrate my points, but I didn’t imagine myself writing an essay on it.
2. Take all of this with a pinch of salt, I’m not a great painter, and might just be being overly critical.

So, I can’t be first hobbyist out there who watches far too many YouTube tutorials in comparison to actual amount of painting they get done, and noticed the recent trend of creators using AK Interactive enamel products. Particularly, their Streaking Grime wash. To single out one YT creator in particular, Zatcaskagoon Miniatures (also known as Grimdark Compendium) makes quite a fuss out of it, using it as an airbrushed wash, heavily cleaned up with white spirit.

This post generally refers to this same technique demonstrated here:



And here:



I found myself really attracted to this ‘grimdark’, not necessarily Blanchitsu style. Recently having invested in an airbrush, I thought I’d pick up a bottle and have a crack at it myself, partly inspired by the Necromunda bulkheads in the second video on chipping techniques. I primed them black, basecoated with Mechanicus Standard Grey, then gave them a zenithal highlight with Dawnstone. A light coat of Vallejo matt varnish later and was then ready to go.

This afternoon I sat at my desk, and 2/3 hours later and managed this:





Short answer is, I’m pretty unimpressed with the actual ‘reductive technique’ that Zatcaskagoon uses, or at least it didn’t seem to turn out as intended. After coating the miniature with the enamel wash, I used wool daubers at first (as he uses in his videos) to lightly dab off the wash wherever you want to appear like a highlight. It didn’t occur to me before but this means removing basically 90% of the wash, and would require a lot more cleanup than Zatcaskagoon lets on.

I found it dried... Not great? The tide marks were very ugly and messy (I known, a photo here would have been helpful), and produced too much of a buildup in the crevasses that needed breaking up. In the end I switched to a small brush, and spent the best part of 60-90 minutes cleaning the mess up, then adding more Streaking Grime selectively in the intended technique of vertical streaks and blending them.

Streaking Grime isn’t cheap, so I don’t think this is at all an economical technique for vehicles or terrain, besides the actual intended streaking effect. So I’m glad I tried this on a test piece I picked up just to try new things out on.

Not to be totally negative, I really liked the chalky texture in some places (which the photos I took doesn’t really show), and the actual streaking effect worked great. I’m not knocking the product. Perhaps if I’d also done some salt/ fluid chipping beforehand it’d look a bit more impressive considering the effort. Maybe I just screwed up somewhere fundamental like not thinning the wash enough (I found a ratio of 1:0.5 thinner seemed to coat best). Maybe my expectations were unrealistic.

But on the whole, my first impression is that the act of coating the whole thing in the wash seemed unnecessary and wasteful, at least for a piece this size. I haven’t given up on it yet, but next time I’m going to test it out on a regular infantry miniature. So stay tuned for that.

Anyway, sorry that this was a bit of a stream of conciousness rant. After a bit of a hiatus from actually posting on Dakka, I’m hoping that being more active on P&M will help kickstart some more productive habits with my hobbying.

If you’ve got any thoughts, feedback or suggestions please do share. If anyone else has tried the reductive technique to better success I’d love to hear some tips.

I wouldn't cost the whole thing in the wash. Applying streaks or patches in the areas you want then feathering out with a soft brush is the way for sure.