Dad's Army WIP Part 3...Washes

OK, here's the part where the washes get applied. Rather than go for an overall wash in one colour, I have opted for four coloured washes for different parts of the figures. Washes not only put some handy shading in creases etc., they also create another colour. To my  mind this works out as a pairing of lining-in & glazing;  how much of this new colour you want to leave showing is up to you. When you look at the pictures at the end of the post you will see how the creases and shadows have been defined, and new colours created by overlaying the semi-translucent wash over the top of the foundation colours, (you may want to compare these with how they looked in the previous post).

The first wash I apply is the flesh wash. My flesh wash is a homemade mix - see picture below for a visual of the mix. it is composed of mostly Daler Rowney Red Oxide acrylic ink, with some Reaper Brown Ink & Reaper Flow Improver (I can't tell you the exact proportions because I don't know them :-), I just stopped when I thought it looked about right.)

Flesh Wash combo

Next up, the majority of the uniform gets a wash of Secret Weapon Blue Black - I think this colour is excellent for British Battledress, to my eye it is complimentary. I would not use this coloured wash over German Field Grey uniform for instance, I would probably use a brown instead. Over a red uniform I would use Secret Weapon Green Black.

The next wash to be applied is Secret Weapon Sewer Water (don't worry, it doesn't smell like a sewer). This is put on the helmet and the boots.

My final wash is P3 Armour Wash, this is applied to the weapons - doesn't matter if it goes on the woodwork too, that can get tidied up later.
I like this product from P3 for all metal work, works a treat. Once it's dry you can always go back over with some metallic paint if you want some extra shiny bits :-)

Below are the brushes I use for most of my washes. They are soft brushes with natural fibres, but nothing fancy like sable.

Here's what the figures look like once their washes have dried:

A close up of some of 'em:

They look much darker now, but not too dark. In the next stage I will go back over the figures with original colours plus some new ones, leaving some of the glaze colour where I want it.
In the next post I will show you how I paint the flesh on these figures.

All the best,

John.