"magic wash???" Topic

When I paint I prime,base coat 2 washes then high light then maybe another wash time consuming but looks pretty good . Question i have about magic wash(never used it or seen it on any figures)is what are the benifits is it alot quicker protect better (I'm painting plastics right now)?Thanks in advance for any help because I've got a few hundred to paint an need to pick up the pace.
Thanks Jason

I use the magic wash alot. Its main benefit for me is that I can mix it with any acrylic paint and make my own wash. I tend to mix my washes a littel thicker. I like a milky consistency so it really clings to the crevases. The wash I uce the most is Ceramicoat Walnut mixed with the Magic Wash. It does a great job on most browns and whites.

I do a base coat. Wash. Re-apply base coat over a smaller area. Highlight. done.

Chuck

Prime, basecoat, wash.
Maybe a little highlighting afterwards.

I use minwax, which is a poly-urethane coating, but it is really shiny, so you need to hit it with a matte sealer, to dull it down (Testors dullocat, if I have any, otherwise Krylon Matte)

The Magic wash I use is four parts water to one part Future floor wax.

Chuck

I use Future floor wax cut with some black/brown acrylic paint but otherwise as pphalen except I don't highlight afterwards.

Very fast, adds a decent amount of shading and protects the figures well. Plastics sometimes have less deep detail so a thin primer is the key to giving the wash something to cling to if there is mail or fur involved.

It leaves a shiny coat (which I like) but you can spray or paint on a matt finish.

Great advice guys I'm starting another batch of british this weekend ,think I'll give the magic wash a try. Start with Chuck's 4 parts water to one part future,mix in some paint and
presto, instant army.Thanks again any more advice would be helpful as I'm still learning how to paint.

i'm a bit lazier than the other people that have responded and use a pre-mixed produce called Wonder Wash. I think that it really is nothing more than floor wax and ink, but it saves me mixing and its cheap.

I just mixed up a new batch a few days ago. I went 1 tsp future, 1 tsp h2o, then started adding single drops of sepia india ink. I was washing a test indian mutineer. I stopped at 15 drops sepia and 2 drops brown india ink. Made enough to fill 2/3 of an old GW ink pot.
Mike D

Who makes the Wonder Wash?
M

What color would be good for faces?

Wonder wash link below.

wonderwashink.com

Does anybody use a coat of gloss varnish or a clear Future coat before the wash? I've been having trouble with the wash staining areas that I don't really want to take the wash. One suggestion doing the rounds in cyberspace is to use a clear varnish coat first to reduce the tendency of the matt paint layer to take up the stain. So far the results have been… inconclusive…

On a slightly tangential note I was very impressed by the quality of the black wash on this fig:

Is a wash that good really done in a single pass? I'm feeling that my problem is using a wash that is too pigmented and that I'd be better off with multiple thinner passes. But there is always the problem of getting the figs on the table – I'm a gamer not a painter and just want the biggest bang for the least number of coats.

Hi,

I am looking at whipping up a small batch of MW using Pledge Premium w/Future (apparantly the SCJW's new name for Future) if I can find it at WalMart or somewhere else. My shipment's of 25s (Perry, Essex, Dixon, S&S, and OG 2nds) are starting to arrive, so I want to start some experementing with priming, painting, and shading tonight. While I want my minis to look nice, I also want to use every angle possible to knock them out as quickly as possible. Let's face it, rank and file (and many officers) who served in the field in the war were not particularly clean. Being very new to this hobby, I am open to different options. When I started purchasing my paints from a local shop, the owner turned me on to AP QuickShade ST. I used it on the WH figs that came with a GW paint kit. I was pretty happy how they turned out (see my thread "Greenhorn Needs Painting Advice" at the top of this board if you want to see my first work). I am reading a lot of post talking about magic wash, how easy and cheap it is to make, how easy it is to use, and how it can provide some fantastic results. While feeling compelled to use the QS because of what I paid for it, I also want to use a different product/concoction if it will give me better results.

Question: what is a good Vallejo color to mix in for ACW 25s, especially for hands and faces to look good?

Thanks for any help!

-TJ

Never understood the need to dilute Future with water, as it thins it, meaning less protection.

The beauty of Future + Ink/Acrylic Paint, is that you can mix up any color you want/need. I just did a blue wash on some white, plastic wolves, and bears: Winter Wolves, and Giant Polar Bears, for AD&D/BattleSystem games. All I did was put some paint on the eyes, mouth, and ears, then blue-wash. Still need to matte coat, but otherwise, they are ready for the table! It doesn't get any faster!

I do this for Army Men figures, too: paint the parts that differ in color from the plastic's color, then apply the Dip/Magic Wash, dull coat, mount, and done! I can churn out batches of Army Men figures, in groups of 20, 40, and more, in a matter of a few hours. When I use the Dip (brush on MinWax's polyurethane-stain), I then pre-heat my oven to 175 F, slip the figures into the oven for 30 minutes, with the door propped open to let the fumes vent (open a window, or turn on the exhaust fan, in Winter). After that, the urethane-stain is fully cured, and it's time for a matte coat, and mounting. Then, it's table-time, Baby!

Whether you use Magic Wash, or the Dip, you can speed up painting dramatically. The finished figures look very respectable, at arm's length. It is probably the greatest addition to mini's gaming, in the past 20 years. Cheers!