Magic Wash issues...

[MrMorden]

Hello--

Today was my first experiment with the so-called \"magic wash\" of Future floor finish with water. On a recommendation I read (I think at Dr. Faust\'s Paint CLinic), I made the mix 4 parts water to 1 part Future, measured in a plastic milk jug (it\'s about half full).

I\'m painting resin sci-fi terrain pieces from Ainsty (ainsty.uk.co...highly recommended!). I primered them with Dullcote (I\'ve been doing my minis that way for a few weeks with no issues, based on the article I read at this site, seems smoother than primer), and washed them down liberally with the magic wash, to get the weathered look.

So now I go back to paint in the details, highlights, etc, and the model seems hydrophobic. Any paint thinned at all and not applied in fairly large amounts seems to pool a bit like water on oil.

Can you paint over a magic wash? Did I use too much Future? Is this a peculiarity of resin and the combination listed?

Should I try a regular wash and see how that goes? I don\'t want to use regular white primer on these because the models are already a beautiful gray resin, and I\'d like to keep the gray as the base color. I guess I could not base coat them and just Dullcote the heck out of them when I\'m done, but I don\'t know the ramifications of that on resin.

Can anybody assist?

Anybody?

Beuller?

 

[Samurai_Girl]

I\'m kinda new to magic wash myself, but I was told to mix 6 to 1 and just dip the brush in it once in a while to keep things flowing smoothly.

 

[MrMorden]

Hmm...maybe I\'m doing it wrong. I mixed the wash with the paint on my palette, and just washed it on from there.

Thanks Samurai_Girl!

Any other opinions?

 

[Dr. Bob]

My guess would be that you had too much Future in the mix, leading essentially to a clear stain resistant coating on your project.

Maybe another coat of Dullcote on top of the magic wash will get rid of the problem?

 

[JimG]

Strip it!

I use a 10:1 Water to FFF mix. I then mix it 1:1 with the paint on the pallet WHEN I USE GW PAINT. (10 H20:1 FFW:11 paint). The H2O/FFW percentage increases as the layer gets higher to decrease the pigment.

Use about 1:5 with Vallejo (10 H20:1 FFW: 50 Vallejo). I use the same ratio as the Vallejo ratios with inks. I think Vallejo is already Much more thinned than GW paints.

Back to your actual question, I have been using the ink ratios on GW primered Dental plaster and it holds paint well after the fact.....

 

[aon14]

Johnsons klear is acrylic gloss varnish.
I\'ve only ever used it at late stages in painting anything and then not to splosh all over the piece. I\'d suggest next time...
Put less varnish in and paint details on first. I also think the name \"wash\" is misleading. You\'re best off painting a wash into the lo-lights rather than splashing all over.

 

[MrMorden]

Thanks guys.

aon14, I know that normally one does not wash an entire model. But I was looking for a \"weathered\" effect, and wanted to get the maximum effect for the minimum effort (I have a TON of this stuff to paint). The idea is that the gray resin looks pretty good as is, just wash it down to bring out the details and then paint anything that needs to stand out.

Dr. Bob, I was thinking about another Dullcote layer this morning myself. In fact, I think I\'ll go home at lunch and hit it again, then it will be dry to work on this evening.

I guess on the rest of these pieces I\'ll try doing the painting and drybrushing first, then use the wash. I\'ll also thin out the wash to around 10:1 and see if that helps (I\'m using GW paints, BTW).

Thanks for the suggestions; I think I just got too overzealous with the wash, and made it a bit too strong with Future.

 

[MrMorden]

One last thing

Is there a good way to strip resin back to its original condition, in case I want to start these two pieces over?

Thanks.

 

[GarnetJubilee]

I have had no troubles with stripping resin minis using \"painter\'s pal.\" It is made by the same company that makes \"goo gone\" and I found it in the paint section at a local store.

As to your wash problem, I use the 4:1 water/floor wax mix and haven\'t had that kind of problem. The only thing I can think might make it pool is that you used too much all at once and didn\'t allow the layers to dry between applications.

good luck!

 

[MrMorden]

Thanks Garnet!

I hit the models with another blast of Dullcote at lunch, I\'ll mess with them some more tonight. If they start looking unrecoverable I\'ll see if I can find \"Painter\'s Pal.\"

 

[Doctor Faust]

It may be the Dullcote, not the magic wash. I have experienced this problem before. Nine times out of ten you can paint over Dullcote with no problems, but occasionly is causes new layers of paint to bead. I don\'t know what the exact cause is. Perhaps another layer of Dullcote will help, but I do not know.

 

[necrofx]

I agree with Tony (Dr Faust). The most likely culprit is your dullcoat. Since you are using alot of \"thinned\" paint, there is very little bonding agent left in the paint. I personally would have lightly primed with some grey spray primer then applied the magic wash (perhaps Shadow Grey primer).

Best of luck

Necrofx
Brian Hoey

 

[MrMorden]

Gahh!

Hmm, I did NOT want to hear Dullcote was the problem.

As I said, I sprayed it again, maybe it will work out this time. Otherwise, into the vat of Simple Green it goes...

 

[MrMorden]

UPDATE

Well, it seems that Dullcote is the culprit. After putting another coat on and attempting to paint over it, the same problem manifests. Into the Simple Green vat they go.

If I try to just put paint on the bare resin, then seal the hell out of it later, will I have durability problems? I\'m looking for a way to avoid priming models that are already a nice gray I like, but I\'m starting to see a bunch of priming in my future... :flip:

These are for use in a tabletop environment, so they will see a lot of handling.

 

[Doctor Faust]

Damn I\'m good.

Try this instead: First, clean the piece very well. You already said you have Simple Green, so spray it down and scrub it well with a toothbrush. Rinse and let dry. Next, get some enamel paint and thinner. I suggest flat black, but you can use whatever color you want, as long as it is flat. Make a very thin wash and cover the entire piece. The thinner and the paint will allow your acrylic paint to bite into the surface of the resin. That should do ya.

 

[aon14]

If you want grey as the main colour, you could undercoat with grey spray on car undercoat. Halfords are a UK chain do good undercoat here, dunno about in the states.
For terrain... I always prime resin.
I then usually paint most areas using a 1\" house brush if it\'s about larger than 15mil scale.
Paint from inside out - ie a dark version of main colour then damp brush over lighter layers, paint in any details then damp or dry brush weathering over.
For hills and stuff I like emulsion, I\'ve also used this for home made walls and stuff where I wanted to add resilience. Emulsion WILL fill in details.
You can paint acrylic over emulsion and even mix em.