The Washes

One of the most tedious tasks is starting the weathering process with a wash of oil paint and thinner. The thinner that I use is Winsor and Newton Sansodor Low Odor Solvent. I use four oil paints, Burnt Umber, Crimson Red, French Ultramarine Blue, and Lemon Yellow Hue. To get this to work, the tank has to be fully coated with a clear gloss coat, and for this one, I have used Future Floor Polish shot though my airbrush. This needs to be fully dry, at least for 1-2 days, before starting.

I have adopted the technique of dot filters, which are now fairly popular, and seen in the modeling magazines with some frequency. I start with dotting the surface in irregular intervals using the four colors of oil paint that I have chosen. For the top and upper surfaces, I used about 50% Yellow, 30% Burnt Umber, and the balance in Ultramarine Blue and Crimson Red. The Red and Blue are so strong, that a little of them goes a long way. As I worked my way down the tank to the wheels and lower hull, I gradually shifted the ratio to where I was using almost all Burnt Umber, especially around the roadwheels and underneath the hull.

Once the dots were in place, I started to move the oil paint using a ¼” wide flat brush, dampened with clean solvent. This is important. For this to work, you need to frequently clean the brush that you are using. To move the paint, I would move and pull, especially on the vertical surfaces. In tighter areas, I would use the same technique, but would use a 3/0 brush. I worked my way around the entire kit, and then started over, using a slightly lighter technique for the second pass. The third pass was even lighter. Using this method, it took about four passes to get the effect that I liked. On some of the vertical surfaces, where the effect of rain and water could be seen, I left some slight streaking for effect.

In other areas where I wanted more of a dirty build-up look, I allowed a little more of the thinner to remain in the brush, and this will give the oil paint the ability to run into crevices and lines, such as the inside of the rim of the roadwheels. This will take the place of a pin wash so that I do not have to go around again to get into these panel lines. The other part that will help emphasize the panel line and detail will come a little later, after I apply the dustcoat pigments. I spray a sealant over the pigments, and this causes them to go slightly into solution, which makes them do the same thing as a pin wash. But, more details on that, later.

I have also used on other kits the method known as “Sludge Wash”. This works great too, but because of the amount of detail and fiddly parts on the Tiger, I didn’t want to break anything when rubbing off the excess sludge. So oil washes work best here.

Once I was happy with the oil wash, I let it dry overnight, and then sprayed a slight coat of Dullcote over the Tiger. This will protect the washes from being smeared during handling while I am dry brushing, which is the next step.