"Black wash as undercoat" Topic

Recently I moved from a full black spray undercoat to a watered down black brush on.

The issue I have is the black wash I created is simply a little of my mat black acrylic paint and some water and so when I brush it onto my new figures it kinda gathers in sections like the figure is made from oil or something.

Does anyone have an idea of what I can add to my wash or do to my figures prior to applying the wash?

A drop of washing-up liquid will break the surface tension so it tends to flow into the recesses.

I am guessing that the water to paint ratio is too high and that at the molecular level the paint is breaking down.

Artists can use clear acrylic products like a glaze, which are themselves acrylic, so the the amount of acrylic applied stays the same, though the colour becomes substantially weaker as the pigment becomes thinned. (Future floor polish might do the same thing, since it is acrylic based)

Try switching to Vallejo Surface Primer. It is designed to be thin enough to go through an airbrush but works very well as a brush-on primer ….. and more to the point, it is a proper primer, which I think is preferable to ordinary acrylic paint.

Because the fluid is so thin, it seems to get easily drawn into all the creases and folds, but is thick enough to always stay of the highlights as well.

Sometimes I need to quickly go in a second time to hit areas where I can still see a bit of metal showing through – although I doubt that is strictly necessary.

Generally, many people suggest applying washes over a clear-coat finish, to avoid it staying on the major areas.

Add a drop or two of liquid soap, to help it run into the creases, as desired, since that breaks up the surface tension a bit, and the clear-coat is slick, and keeps it from pooling in areas where you don't want it.

Thinned inks are generally better for this, supposedly, than paints.

I am guessing that the water to paint ratio is too high ..

Very likely.

I am guessing … that at the molecular level the paint is breaking down.

No.

Acrylic paint is a complex mixture of solids (pigments) and liquids (acrylic polymers) dispersed in water. Adding water does nothing to the molecular structure of the any of these constituents. It merely dilutes them so the physical properties of the mixture (such as its viscosity) change markedly.

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Martin Stephenson
The Waving Flag | Twitter | eBay

thanks guys i will give both ideas a go.

Recently I moved from a full black spray undercoat to a watered down black brush on.

But how well will your paint adhere to the figure? I'm still a big believer in primers.

Grey primer and a thin black wash…. Also a big believer in the primer :)

Another vote for a real primer

A primer should provide a chemical/mechanical bond to the surface

With the wash, extreme dilution can break up acrylic paint and most people recommend using a water/matt medium mix.

The surface tension can be broken up by using a flow improver. This has the same effect as washing up liquid – I'm not sure whether it is worth the money or not. The artist kind is concentrated and you dilute before use so it isn't that expensive over the long run.

I also suggest using distilled water. It isn't a big thing but allows for better consistency as the amount of solids in tap water may change over the year (drought in California at the moment :()

Let us know what works

John

I dont know anything about primers or have one so I will try the washing liquid first

Primer helps the paint stick to the miniature…

You might try this, Krylon grey spray primer, then watered down black acrylic paint with a very small amount of liquid soap.

I don't find the soap necessary, but it will break the surface tension.

You should get very good contrast and a well prepared surface for starting your paint job.

I threw more paint in and a drop of washing up liquid and it seems to work well with 1 coat now and act like a nice enough black for areas that need to stay black such as shakos.