Is there a quick and super easy way to use Nuln oil? I’d love to be able to wash some of my ships (like the ones below) but I really am not a very good or patient painter. Can you just slop on a bunch of Nuln oil then just wipe it or shake it off and call it a day?
I am definitely an unskilled painter, and I have to say that both Nuln Oil and drybrush have been lifesavers. I just fill up the brush and slather the ship with the Nuln Oil, and let gravity work to fill in the cracks. This ship is an example of what that technique looks like. Notice that it does add a somewhat brownish tinge to the entire ship.
For drybrush, I just add a bit of white paint to the brush, wipe off as much paint as possible on a paper towel, and then loosely swipe the brush across the ship. This one here has had both Nuln Oil and drybrush added to it.
Others will probably be able to suggest more sophisticated ways to use both, but I'm responding to let you see what it looks like when a beginner does either method. Hope that helps!
Thanks, that’s the kind of help I was looking for. After you slather it on, do you have to wipe anything off or do you just let it dry on?
I find that its good to quickly go back again with a wet brush to clean up open panels and areas otherwise the pools will show edges and stuff when it dries. Best to guide it into the edges before that happens.
Plus I also saw a video (Tabletop Minions) that suggested to thin the nuln with lahmian medium or just water so that its not as dark. Then you can apply the same layering method to go as dark as you want when working on panels.
citadel paints (games worshop) make other colors of "shade" mediums, basically nuln oil but different colors in case you dont want the "soot" look.
say you painted a ship grey and you want the details to have a green tint, you can do that.
i use them and theyre great, just remember that its very thin, like colored water, so dont dilute it like regular acrylics
I usually have 2 brushes on hand for washes, a "slather" brush and a fine detail brush.
depending on how clean i want the model i may well just follow the recessed lines with the detail brush, filling them in without touching the rest of the painted area's. It kinda defeats the purpose of a wash and can be fiddly on large models, but can give great and clean effects.
pay particular attention to the docked shuttle and yellow gradient for an example ( use of nuln oil for the black and cassadora yellow for the other panel lines, my shaky butt could never be that clean without it!)
4 hours ago, Vontoothskie said:citadel paints (games worshop) make other colors of "shade" mediums, basically nuln oil but different colors in case you dont want the "soot" look.
say you painted a ship grey and you want the details to have a green tint, you can do that.
i use them and theyre great, just remember that its very thin, like colored water, so dont dilute it like regular acrylics
I was wondering about the colors too. I think a brown tint might look better on the red. I saw something called Earth Agate or something like that, is that their brown shade?
Washes can be seem like a miracle tool and to be honest, they are. However, no matter how you apply the wash, be it slathering the entire model with wash or carefully applying it in measured amounts into each individual recess, you are going to need to perform some clean up afterwards.
In many cases, you can get away with just dry brushing the original colour on top, and perhaps slightly repaint areas where the wash has pooled heavily. You can of course try to avoid pooling while washing by carefully 'cleaning' areas where the wash is too heavy. Just allow the bristles of another brush to gently soak up the unwanted wash.
Of course there are some tricks to help with the washing stage. If at all possible you should use gloss varnish on the model before washing it. This makes the model 'slippery', allowing the wash to pool better in the intended recesses. It also tends to extend the drying time of the wash, which in turns allows you to manipulate the wash longer. An unintended, but not unwanted side effect with the varnish layer is that the basic paint job will be more resistant to wear and tear.
Another little trick (advanced painters only!) I've found is to use airbrush paint cleaner to remove unwanted wash. First of all, this requires a properly applied layer of gloss varnish that has been allowed to dry at least 24 hours otherwise the underlying colours will be dissolved as well. Apply the wash as normal, then, just after it has dried, use a brush dipped in airbrush cleaner liquid on any spots where you ´don't the wash. This method gives a great degree of control and is especially useful when painting wash directly into panel lines as you inevitably get some small overflows/spills when doing so. It saves a lot of time since you don't have to repaint all the panels surrounding the lines.
I know I keep posting this everywhere and it may be getting annoying but,
If you're looking for a cheap and easy wash try this link. The only problem I've found is that it makes a lot and I don't have enough room!
-DD
P.S. It does take some time to figure out the right color.
Edited by Darth DragoOn 1/29/2018 at 6:26 AM, Bullox said:I saw something called Earth Agate or something like that, is that their brown shade?
Agrax Earthshade (make sure not to get the glossy one) or Vallejo's Umber Wash are good on warmer colors, unless you prefer the darker, oily look that Nuln Oil has.
I sometimes thin my Nuln oil with some drops of water when I'm trying to avoid making the ship too dark, but listen to MacrossVF1. He's got a much better handle on painting than me.
22 hours ago, MacrossVF1 said:Another little trick (advanced painters only!) I've found is to use airbrush paint cleaner to remove unwanted wash. First of all, this requires a properly applied layer of gloss varnish that has been allowed to dry at least 24 hours otherwise the underlying colours will be dissolved as well. Apply the wash as normal, then, just after it has dried, use a brush dipped in airbrush cleaner liquid on any spots where you ´don't the wash. This method gives a great degree of control and is especially useful when painting wash directly into panel lines as you inevitably get some small overflows/spills when doing so. It saves a lot of time since you don't have to repaint all the panels surrounding the lines.
This technique is very similar to what I used on my A-wings. As a then total novice I also just tried to slather some famously "magic" wash on my ships, and was rather disappointed when the result turned out to be a muddy, dirty looking ship - but not in a good way. So I resorted to some Q-tips and diluted cleaning alcohol and carefully rubbed off the excess wash. To a lesser degree I also used it on my ARCs, but by then I had learned to use the wash more sparingly. Also, ARCs have deeper panel lines than the A-Wings, so applying a wash in a controlled way is easier.
1 hour ago, TheWampa said:This technique is very similar to what I used on my A-wings. As a then total novice I also just tried to slather some famously "magic" wash on my ships, and was rather disappointed when the result turned out to be a muddy, dirty looking ship - but not in a good way. So I resorted to some Q-tips and diluted cleaning alcohol and carefully rubbed off the excess wash. To a lesser degree I also used it on my ARCs, but by then I had learned to use the wash more sparingly. Also, ARCs have deeper panel lines than the A-Wings, so applying a wash in a controlled way is easier.
When using oil washes, this is pretty much the standard cleaning method as well. If only it worked the same on acrylic paints.
Of course, oil washes and the cleaning of said washes can be used to achieve effects that are much harder to do with acrylic washes. Dirt streaks in particular tend to look much more realistic when using oil paints. And now I'm veering off topic. Sorry!
If you use Nuln Oil (or other colour) shade, and leave it too long or get called away before you have a chance to finish it properly, you can use Lahmian Medium. This 're-activates' the other shade. On larger ships, you can then clean the center of the individual panels. This leaves the nuln oil in between the panels, and leaves some of the nuln oil out towards the edge of the panel.
Thin stripes or splotches of Agrax Earthshade (for example) can be used to simulate rust streaks or patches.
1 hour ago, CyCo said:Thin stripes or splotches of Agrax Earthshade (for example) can be used to simulate rust streaks or patches.
Not to go off on a tangent but, here is what I use for rusting and such: https://www.amazon.com/Vallejo-Rust-Chipping-Effects-Colors/dp/B00GZRYRNS
-DD
I tried some washes today. I bought Vallejo black and umber washes.
I first sprayed them with a light layer of gloss clearcoat. Then I applied the washes, black to the Z95 and umber to the Hawk. Mostly I just slathered it on. After a little touch-up on some of the red paint, I sprayed them with matte clearcoat.
The washes definitely darkened them quite a bit. I tried to brighten the red up a bit with a little extra paint but that’s tricky to do without filling the panel lines back in.
Here are some after pics. The Z95 looks a lot better. The hawk doen’t look much different. I may have gone a little too light on the umber wash and maybe accidenty repainted some of the lines. I really like the matte clearcoat. It gives the model a hint of metallic sheen without making it glossy.
Edited by Bullox
While not exactly Nuln Oil I am really a fan of Enamel (oil) based washes. They flow much better into the crevices and assuming you do a intermediate gloss coat they don't stick to and darken flat surfaces nearly as much. They also have a much longer dry time, you can easily wait an hour after applying them before going back to clean up and when you do you just use a q-tip with a little bit of White Spirit/Enamel thinner.
Here is an example of how it works:
On 2018-02-05 at 5:00 AM, mcgreag said:While not exactly Nuln Oil I am really a fan of Enamel (oil) based washes. They flow much better into the crevices and assuming you do a intermediate gloss coat they don't stick to and darken flat surfaces nearly as much. They also have a much longer dry time, you can easily wait an hour after applying them before going back to clean up and when you do you just use a q-tip with a little bit of White Spirit/Enamel thinner.
I suppose I'm nitpicking a bit here but enamel paints are not quite the same as 'regular' oil paints. They cure/dry at different rates and in different manners.
40 minutes ago, MacrossVF1 said:I suppose I'm nitpicking a bit here but enamel paints are not quite the same as 'regular' oil paints. They cure/dry at different rates and in different manners.
Guess it depends on how you define things. Yes it's not on oil paint as in the type of paint used by artists but it does use an oil derived product as its solvent. Now the reason I put (oil) there is that I have seen some people here and in other model forums use oil paint when they mean enamels and I wanted to be sure those people knew what I was talking about.