The Loose Association of Wargamers

Hi,

I've been looking into using oil washes on 28mm Historical miniatures and have found a ton of stuff on Fantasy/Sci Fi stuff in terms of tutorials/vids. Either my google foo is very off or the tutorials/vids simply do not exist.

I'm aiming to use them for The Crimean War, Ancients, Dark Ages and Late Medieval mini's.

Does anyone know of any such tutorials/vids using Oil Washes on 28mm Historical miniatures?

Thanks.

I use them all the time, brown ink if you want soft depts, and black if you want hard lines of definition and deep shadows.

Basically paint the figure as normal, then use a thin wash over it. If say painting Austrians in white uniforms, I matt varnish then ink wash, so it out lines the belts etc, without staining the white coats.

FreddBloggs wrote: ↑Thu Aug 18, 2022 5:30 pm I use them all the time, brown ink if you want soft depts, and black if you want hard lines of definition and deep shadows.

Basically paint the figure as normal, then use a thin wash over it. If say painting Austrians in white uniforms, I matt varnish then ink wash, so it out lines the belts etc, without staining the white coats.

Any images of the end result please?

30 years ago, when we were still painting with Humbrols, we’d use artists oils like you would use washes today. Burnt umber was my go-to back then.

These days I mostly save them for vehicle weathering.

Jeremy wrote: ↑Thu Aug 18, 2022 9:38 pm 30 years ago, when we were still painting with Humbrols, we’d use artists oils like you would use washes today. Burnt umber was my go-to back then.

These days I mostly save them for vehicle weathering.

Thanks Jeremy, My Fine Art degree immediately informs me that oils of a normal consistency for canvas would have too much Linseed Oil in them for them to be viable- to get an idea of what I have in mind please see Grimdark vids below:
https://www.youtube.com/c/GrimdarkCompendium

To get it right with historical mini's one would have to be even more subtle and Linseed Oil packed paints just won't allow such a deft touch.

Am I not right in thinking that there are ranges of water-based "oil" paints?

BaronVonWreckedoften wrote: ↑Fri Aug 19, 2022 6:35 am Am I not right in thinking that there are ranges of water-based "oil" paints?

Yes. They have quicker drying times though which is not what one wants either as oil washes ought to allow as much time to work on the removal of the wash as possible.

Also, they're generally very bad quality unless you buy the high end paints.

The military modelling fraternity use them all the time as weathering, pin washes etc. Perhaps look at some of those sites?

My suggestion, would be to buy a couple of oils of various makes, paint some figures and just experiment. It might be that supercheap work better for this than very expensive, or vice versa.

My understanding of the water based oils, was yes they dry quicker, but hours instead of weeks, not acrylic speed drying.

Etranger wrote: ↑Fri Aug 19, 2022 9:39 am The military modelling fraternity use them all the time as weathering, pin washes etc. Perhaps look at some of those sites?

I have looked but their techniques quite rightly are mainly for 45mm on upwards and I suspect that the majority of techniques do not scale down very well(?). You're right though, I should take a deeper dive than I have done already.

FreddBloggs wrote: ↑Fri Aug 19, 2022 11:00 am My suggestion, would be to buy a couple of oils of various makes, paint some figures and just experiment. It might be that supercheap work better for this than very expensive, or vice versa.

Thanks. Experimentation is going to be the order of the day anyway as I have never tried using oils before.

FreddBloggs wrote: ↑Fri Aug 19, 2022 11:00 am My understanding of the water based oils, was yes they dry quicker, but hours instead of weeks, not acrylic speed drying.

I've used oil washes on actual paintings hundreds of times and as long as they are mixed with a quality thinner they do not take long to dry at all. Maybe a day, two max. It really depends on i/ how much actual oil there is in the paint and i.e. how thinned it is and ii/ whether or not you are willing to use a hair dryer (yep, that works). There are always little "hacks" with all painting techniques be they acrylic, oils or a mix of both. I'm just trying to work out what they are at present, thus the reason I popped the question re: video resources for 28mm historical miniatures using oil washes