Video tutorial: How to use a Wash to bring out detail on scale model figure uniforms

To me, figures really are what makes a tank or soft-skinned vehicle come to life. 

You can have a stunningly built and weathered tank, but without some context it remains a little flat, a little ho-hum.  Add figures and scenery, for even the most basic vignette, and it suddenly tells a story, the viewer connects with it and has a dialogue in their imagination. You don't get that with a single vehicle, it remains a showpiece but there is no emotional connection.

My latest video tutorial is about using washes to really make details pop on scale model figures.

Anyway, this video wasn't pre-planned, I happened to be working on my resin Soviet figures and realised I needed something to improve one of them. Turned on the camera, and voila, the rest is cinemagraphic history.

Do please check it out and see what a difference washes can make. They are so ridiculously easy, and so ridiculously fast, there really is nothing stopping an aspiring model maker from having this in their repertoire.

It works equally well on resin figures, plastic figures which come included in your standard Tamiya model tank kit, as well as Dragon or Master Box figure kits. It works in all scales, although I tend to work fairly uniformly in 1/35 scale.

It is also a technique which translates to different mediums. Acrylic paints, enamel paints, oil paints all work with washes.  My only word of caution is keep an eye out for a glossy or semi-gloss finish which can result from a wash. Easily rectified with a finishing coat of matte varnish or dullcoat.

So yes, try it - what have you got to lose?

Video link: How to use a Wash to bring out detail on scale model figure uniforms

Until next time,

Cheers,

Dave