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Help with washes

I am currently working on a Revell 1/32nd scale Submarine Spitfire Mk I. I finally had the bugger painted and was happy with it so after giving it a day and half to completely dry I airbrushed a couple coats of Future over it and left that to dry a couple of days. I was finally ready to apply a wash, panel lines etc.

- Model is painted with Testors Enamels, Model Masters and 1/4 oz too.

-Wash is a sludge was as outlined in FSM made from water colors dish detergent and water thinned so it is just dark enough to look like a shadow.

The problem is when I tried to clean the excess wash from around the panel lines I noticed the RAF Sky, Brown and Green were all stained in places by the wash. A lot of scrubbing with dampened paper towels and some very light wet sanding helped a lot and made the finish salvageable, when I get to the pastels it is going to be a pretty dirty Spitfire though.

Any ideas as to why the wash would stain. I'm not positive but it seems like it stained through the Future reaching the enamels.

If anyone can offer advice to prevent this in the future I'd very much appreciate it.

Scott Jenkins

Reply to
Scott J
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I can't guess as to how a water color mixture could stain an enamel coat of paint even if the intervening coat of Future were not sufficient to block it. *If* the underlying coat is a flat coat of enamel and *if* the Future did not cover adequately then it is possible that the wash got into the uneven surface of the flat enamel coat giving the appearance of a stain when it is really just lying in the crevices of the uneven flat surface.

Are any bottles mislabeled? Perhaps your water colors weren't really water colors. Perhaps your water wasn't water. I keep distilled water and alcohol side by side in similar bottles. I've confused them more than once.

If your final coat is a flat coat, it will lessen the effect of the washes and pastels. Maybe it will also reduce the visibility of the staining you mention.

Art

Reply to
Art Murray

Scott,

I had the same problem : a wash made of detergent, water and pastel chalk left stains on the paint (Xtracolour gloss, no varnish). But the problem does not always occur. I can't explain it. I think you have to be careful with 1. the drying time (not too long), 2. the amount of detergent (not too much, 1 drop for a small 1/72 scale fighter). The smoother the surface, the better. You don't really need a coat of varnish, which also tends to clog the panel lines, certainly in braille scale.

Reply to
pierre francois

I think it is deeper than that. I was gently wet sanding the RAF Sky color (3 coats 1st light then second two a little heavier) and got down to the primer coat. I really am not sure.

They are some what expensive artist water colors. I got them as a gift from my cousin who owned an artist supply shop.

Good deal I was hoping that might be the case. I know the nice flat coat of Future really highlights it!

Thanks Scott J

Reply to
Scott J

I used much more detergent than that. I made at the same time. I used the formula in a FSM from Nov 2001. Quick and Easy Aircraft Weathering by Paul Boyer. He describes using 5 parts water to two parts acrylic and add three parts dish detergent. I tried it with acrylics originally and the staining was much worse. I was using it on gloss white at the time so I remixed with water colors since normally they are less persistent than acrylics. It was much better that time but there was still some staining. Maybe a couple extra coats of Future would have helped, I was worried about filling the panel lines if I applied it to heavily.

Thanks Scott Jenkins

Reply to
Scott J

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