Hi Everyone,

I've not actually started my Armada Miniatures, but I have every intention to. The general advice to make details pop on the existing models is to make use of GW's Nuln Oil as a wash. It yields some decent, if dark results. For most miniature work, acrylic washes are definitely the way to go.

I've been fortunate to have experimented with and am now comfortable using oils or enamel washes (usually MIG productions stuff) to bring out the detail on my models.

The advantage to oils is that the longer dry time allows for a more precise application, and the capillary action renders the shading lines created by these washes much thinner than they would be with the acrylic washes. In other words, it helps keep the scale of the ship looking large.

Here's a Revell model kit Venator that I painted up last year. First, after all the acrylic paint and decals had been applied, but without the pin washes:

And after using Mig Productions "Cold Grey Wash":

As you can see, the detail stands out nicely.

A couple things to remember about oils, however:

1. Always apply the washes over gloss coats. In other words, paint the model to how you want it, spray it down with testor's glosscoat, or a tamiya gloss clear first.

2. Don't slop the paint over the whole model like an acrylic wash. Instead use a smaller brush, and touch it to the details you want to stand out, the washes will work their way into position by capillary action. If need be brush some thinner (use odourless thinner!!) over the model first, and this will help the washes work their capillary magic.

3. After about 15 minutes, use a paper towel over your finger to rub down the surfaces to remove excess wash from the facing surfaces, leaving the pigment in the cracks and around detail.

4. Let dry for at least 24 hours, and then spray down with a matte clear coat. Usually testor's dullcote is the best for this kind of thing.

There's a lot of other things that can be done with oils. It's telling that there is actually an oil paint out there called "Starship Filth." I've used it on my various Millennium Falcon models.

Here's an example of this type of wash being used on an X-wing miniature with similar texture to the Armada ships:

Hopefully I'll start doing my own Armada stuff soon... but I have Imperial Armour miniatures to paint, plus a 1/72 Millennium Falcon to finish as well...

As I transition from the traditional Games Workshop/Eavy Metal style painting of old to a more realistic standard, I have begun messing with weathering and oils a bit. They are a different beast from acrylics but the early results have been pretty fun and promising. Sometimes experimenting on a less important figure is nice to take some pressure off, but it's worth a shot for the hobby inclined.

Also worth poking around youtube for some videos on pin washes and streaking effects. There's plenty out there from military scale modelers, and it finally seems like some of these techniques are starting to make it over to the gamer hobbyists.

The transformational book for me was actually a GW book: "Imperial Armour: Model Masterclass vol 1" --inspired me to take the plunge. There are some great techniques out there. One that I'd highly recommend is Michael Fichtenmayer's "Fichtenfoo" website. He does a lot of sci-fi stuff, including the same scale Millennium Falcon I'm working on.

http://fichtenfoo.net/blog

I'd be curious to see how he'd handle Armada repaints...