Dipping vs washes

[Colonel White]

As you all may know I am an advocate of the Army Painter Dip. However I have never been 100% happy with the results obtained on vehicles in particular 20mm eg Airfix. I have found that Devlin mud , diluted with water and a drop of flow enhancer does the trick and provides a great "pin wash" .

So my vote goes for Troops - Army Painter Dip with a coat of Dulcote/Matt Varnish

For Vehicles- Devlin Mud wash.

[carvel2]

@colnel White ...Flow enhancer?

[Fury]

Flow enhancer?

From the "What is a flow improver?" thread on the Reaper forums:

Flow improver is an additive that you use with water. Flow improver helps break the surface tension so that the paint flows off the brush more smoothly/easily.

[Cubster]

@colnel White ...Flow enhancer?

You can get various stuff you add to your paints instead of water to help achieve certain results. Flow enhancer will allow you to thin down paint to get a thin wash without it 'bobbling' into drops like adding a lot of water does. It breaks down the surface tension lets you get really thin colour washes that still give good coverage. I use water with washing up liquid in to get a similar result, but the flow enhancer is probably going to give a superior finish.

Another type of thing in a similar vein is drying retarder, which allows you to work wet blending techniques without the paint drying halfway through.

[carvel2]

@cubster...if washing up liquid works for you that's way good enough for me! How much do you use? Are you saying that i'd pretty much be making my own citadel wash from my standard paint?

[NTM]

I use Acrylic Matt Medium mixed with paint and water to create my own washes.

[Parus Ater]

I use the tiniest, tiniest amount of washing up liquid. Tip of a brush sort of thing. Rick Priestley wrote the book on it, literally infact, in my case!

[Cubster]

@cubster...if washing up liquid works for you that's way good enough for me! How much do you use? Are you saying that i'd pretty much be making my own citadel wash from my standard paint?

Oh hell, urm, well I guess I make it up the same way as the washing up water - ie. just a little squirt into a coffee jar of water, say. Just enough to see some little bubbles on the surface, then give it a go and play around until you get the effect you want. I've never used the GW washes, but I use their inks and wouldn't try to replace them with this method because the concentration of colour on the inks is lovely. But I do use the washing up liquid method if I'm just putting some very thin layers of colour on for a really subtle effect, like a suggestion of dust on a model's feet and legs, for example.

[carvel2]

Ok..I'll try that . Cheers

[grant]

I would add that Vallejo make a range of great washes - I have moved out of the Devlan Mud, which I loved when it came out - and now use Vallejo for all the paint washes I need. They even have a really cool grey wash, handy for whites, as it is really light.