Plastic Modeling

[Spuds]

Ok, need help regarding washes. We FDM printed a larger scale "mini" as a present for someone and I am painting it. The base coat is done minus some touch ups and I have a set of army painter washes that I was hoping to use to get some shading. This would be my first time using them except for a practice piece that wasn't as well printed or basecoated. There are three problems.

1. I am worried the wash will highlight the FDM layers. This happened a bit on the practice piece, but might be less of a problem on the real deal. Not really sure if anyone will have any advice here, but worth a shot.

2. I think these washes were formulated for minis that are much smaller, this being scaled up ~400% I think? That is important because the shading seems a bit off at this scale, and you can see every detail vs smaller minis.

3. The shading is a bit darker than I was expecting, so I really would like a bit more transparency to not change the base color too much.

I think reducing the viscosity with flow aid or extra medium might help with all of these, but if anyone has some advice that would be great. Has to be done by Friday, so I can't afford to mess up too badly.

Also, pics as an offering to the model gods

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Spuds

Ok, need help regarding washes. We FDM printed a larger scale "mini" as a present for someone and I am painting it. The base coat is done minus some touch ups and I have a set of army painter washes that I was hoping to use to get some shading. This would be my first time using them except for a practice piece that wasn't as well printed or basecoated. There are three problems.

1. I am worried the wash will highlight the FDM layers. This happened a bit on the practice piece, but might be less of a problem on the real deal. Not really sure if anyone will have any advice here, but worth a shot.

2. I think these washes were formulated for minis that are much smaller, this being scaled up ~400% I think? That is important because the shading seems a bit off at this scale, and you can see every detail vs smaller minis.

3. The shading is a bit darker than I was expecting, so I really would like a bit more transparency to not change the base color too much.

I think reducing the viscosity with flow aid or extra medium might help with all of these, but if anyone has some advice that would be great. Has to be done by Friday, so I can't afford to mess up too badly.

Also, pics as an offering to the model gods

The ridges will have some affect that you will need to deal with. Just sop up the extra between the ridges with a wiped brush as you go along.
Thinning it will indeed help with your other concerns.

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

The ridges will have some affect that you will need to deal with. Just sop up the extra between the ridges with a wiped brush as you go along.
Thinning it will indeed help with your other concerns.

Any recommendations for what to thin them with?

I've heard:
-water
-soapy water
-flow aid
-medium (comes on matte, satin, and gloss)

Also, would you apply the wash all over, or just where you need it?

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Spuds

Any recommendations for what to thin them with?

I've heard:
-water
-soapy water
-flow aid
-medium (comes on matte, satin, and gloss)

Also, would you apply the wash all over, or just where you need it?

Presuming they are acrylic then the thinner made for them is best. Water with just a drop of soap would be my second choice. Stay away from the base medium as that will thicken it no thin it.
Normally I am an all over guy but in tis case stick to just the edges to reduce build up in the layers.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Capt Spaulding

Just a quick bump for the (US) holiday weekend. Tcoat expressed interest, but did not want to take the opportunity away from someone else. FYI - the badger gun is a model 350. There is also a second, no-name (that I can see) gun and several color jars. If you’re interested TC's left the door open. If no one claims the offer by Monday I'll go ahead and send it to Canada.

They arived and they will be perfect for the additions I wanted.
The Badger being external mix and having sealable glass canisters will be mydedicated flat lacquer brush. No stripping down my double action brush for cleanup after spraying flat top coats.

The Aztek is great to have. I have had a full set of nozzles for years and years but never had the rest of the unit to put them on. They have some very cool special effect nozzles (like "spatter") that I will have to try out.

Originally Posted by Kaotic Lazagna

I would have gotten it, but with only 4 models left to build, and having all the spray cans for them, I decided not to and let someone who has way more models to complete and/or someone who is just starting.

Presuming you stop after those four! These would have been perfect starter units and even have the adaptor for using the cans of compressed air or a spare tire. A $10 innertube that you could fill at your local gas station and you would be ready to rock without even investing in a compressor.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Presuming you stop after those four! These would have been perfect starter units and even have the adaptor for using the cans of compressed air or a spare tire. A $10 innertube that you could fill at your local gas station and you would be ready to rock without even investing in a compressor.

Pretty sure I'll stop after the remaining 4 as I won't have anymore space to display them. lol

[soundman98]

for those that don't know, i re-discovered micromark, which is always an interesting place to look for stuff. best part? they still have paper catalogs, that make for great reading material in bathrooms

https://www.micromark.com/

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by soundman98

for those that don't know, i re-discovered micromark, which is always an interesting place to look for stuff. best part? they still have paper catalogs, that make for great reading material in bathrooms

https://www.micromark.com/

Did you rediscover it in a bathroom?

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by soundman98

for those that don't know, i re-discovered micromark, which is always an interesting place to look for stuff. best part? they still have paper catalogs, that make for great reading material in bathrooms

https://www.micromark.com/

Bot reported.

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by Spuds

Did you rediscover it in a bathroom?

it is now

found my old 2012 edition catalog in some of my hobby stuff

[Kiske]

Ebbro is now making race garages for all their 1/43 cars! At $63ish USD that isn't a bad price but, I cannot find one. Probably a good future scratch-build project anyways-

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Kiske

Ebbro is now making race garages for all their 1/43 cars! At $63ish USD that isn't a bad price but, I cannot find one. Probably a good future scratch-build project anyways-


Attachment 208713

It is sort of cool but cheesy at the same time. Scratch build would be the way to go to get something that has a bit more detail. Especially at that price.

[Spuds]

So, as a follow up, I didn't have time to get the matching thinner for my washes so I wound up getting Liquitex Gloss Medium, Matte Medium, and Flow Aid to experiment with. The gloss medium looked odd, the matte medium worked better for diluting the pigment. It did wind up making the washes thicker which was good in some cases, considering the increased scale of all the features I wanted to shade. The flow aid was great for making the washes thinner. It also had a dilution effect and was great for keeping the wash liquified to move around on the piece. It says to mix it with water, but I found it to give more consistent results just putting some in the wash/medium.

Anyway, the guy I gave it to was pretty ecstatic.
The results:

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Spuds

So, as a follow up, I didn't have time to get the matching thinner for my washes so I wound up getting Liquitex Gloss Medium, Matte Medium, and Flow Aid to experiment with. The gloss medium looked odd, the matte medium worked better for diluting the pigment. It did wind up making the washes thicker which was good in some cases, considering the increased scale of all the features I wanted to shade. The flow aid was great for making the washes thinner. It also had a dilution effect and was great for keeping the wash liquified to move around on the piece. It says to mix it with water, but I found it to give more consistent results just putting some in the wash/medium.

Anyway, the guy I gave it to was pretty ecstatic.
The results:

The wash in the line actually works since it gives a nice texture.