"“The Dip” and Camouflage." Topic

I need some help here from everyone. I am about to paint up some 28mm Warlord Games plastic American soldiers in the 2nd Armored Infantry camouflage uniforms and later some Waffen-SS grenadiers in Pea Dot Camo scheme. My question is this: at what point do I apply "The Dip"- after Base Color of the Camo scheme, then apply the dots, or after all the Camo is applied, then highlighting the Camo dots using lighter colors of the Camo dots? What is your method that works? I do not want the the Dip wash to darken the Camo, but do what it is supposed to do: create shadows in the uniforms where shadows are supposed to be, yet feature the Camo job on the uniforms. Thanks!

The dip will definitely darken things up. Two alternative suggestions:

Paint your pattern much brighter than natural, so that the darkening effect of the dip makes it look normal. Easy to say, hard to do.

Instead of dipping, apply the dip with a throw-away brush to make sure you get it where you want it, and then use a clean throw-away brush, cue-tip or paper towel to wick up the excess from any area that looks too dark.

Yes, I failed to mention I do not literally dip my figures, but do apply the solution with old, throwaway brushes picked up from Daiso (the brushes they sell are surprisingly good) . Still open for more suggestions on painting Camo with the dip method (applied via brush)…

You could look to use the GW agrax earthshade diluted 1:1 with their medium (Lahmian medium IIRC). Not as strong, so your camo work will show through, but still get the auto shading effect similar to the dip.

I have taken to painting with florescent paints. I use the brightest most unnatural colors one can find off the paint racks.

My pre-dipped fully painted figures look much like a troop of clowns right out of the big top. Once dipped though, those now muted colors show through the fog much brighter and colorful… as compared to my previous natural painting scheme. The dark is gone!

Does anyone actually dip their figures?

EC, some do with 28mm. I find their technique wasteful though (flicking the excess off). Brushing works better for me (especially on 15mm)

I've painted camo schemes on plastic 54mm Army Men figures, then brushed on The Dip. I use camo colors which are around two shades lighter than what I want them to be, knowing that The Dip will darken them by at least two shades. It works well enough, for me.

Caveat: I want my camo figures to look like they've been in the trenches, and muck, for a while, so I like the effect of The Dip.

You can try painting them with Pledge Floor Shine (goes by various names…), before you apply The Dip. This will smooth the microscopically rough texture of the camo acrylic paint. This will allow The Dip to flow over it, and leave less tinting over the colored dots.

Try a test figure, or figures, to see what works best for you. Everyone's tastes, and desires, are different. Cheers!

"Does anyone actually dip their figures?"

Occasionally, but mostly only on Biblical period folks with lots of skin showing and Arabs in light colored robes…

Half the fun of the full dip is spinning the figure to get off the excess…although that can make a mess if you're not set up properly.

There is also that moment of horror when you pull the figure out of the dip (and before spinning) when its so dark you'll think you've ruined the paint job. The full dip (i.e immersion into a can of well-mixed Minwax Polyshade Tudor) is definitely an act of faith.

Another way to reduce the darkening from Dip, wash, magic-wash etc…

Is to give your figures a gloss coat on anything you do not want to darken. The gloss coat allows the wash/etc to slip off the higher areas down into the lower parts to be shadowed.

Here are some write-ups I did in the last century:
link

link

I made the mistake of using Minwax on some figs that I had not yet sealed and which I had highlighted using Testor's metallic enamels (which to me set the gold standard in metallics – pun intended), only to watch the gold and aluminum metallics drip off into the Minwax can. That was heartbreaking.

Just an FYI, the solvents in Minwax have no effect on cured acrylic paints. Oil-/solvent-based paints, I have never tried with Minwax. Thank you for sharing -- a solid warning for the rest of us to recognize. Cheers!

You can thin the dip so that there is nearly no darkening but the same protection. Personally, I dip after all is done to protect the figures.