When you apply dots of oil paints on a base color, do you apply dots of "unthinned" oil paints or "thinned" oil paints?

I wet the surface with thinner,apply "unthinned dots" and fade with a thinner dampened brush.

Exactly the same here.

I also only do one color at a time so that they don't all run together and make a single muddy-brown color.

Isn't the purpose of a dot filter to bland different colors of dots, giving more color variations to the base coat? Whenever I read about dot filters in FSM or modeling books, the authors apply dots of different colors (white, ochre, green, umber, etc.) and bland them. Am I missing something?

For my purposes, the idea is to create variations in the tints and tones of the underlying base coat colors.

It's my opinion that this is best accomplished by applying the oil colors individually, spacing their application to allow room for each different color. This allows each oil color to create a distinctive variation in either the tint or tone or both of the underlying base color. It is these distinctions in colors and tones across the surface that is my objective.

I also select the oil colors according to the underlying base coat color(s). So, I might use indigo and blue with yellow ocher and raw sienna on a green base. I might use a red and or burnt sienna and burnt umber on brown base colors. Dark yellow base colors might get raw sienna and yellow ocher, etc. I use white to create a faded or bleached look on any color.

Doing this allows me to deliberately vary my base color in predictable ways. Again, for example, on a green base color, adding a blue oil will make the underlying green darker and richer. The yellow ocher will make it paler. Raw sienna will make it browner. Red will have the same effect - a browner and richer green. All the while, the base green still remains green, but now with variations between places that are darker, lighter, browner, etc.

Also, the placement of the oils can be used to supplement pre- or post-shading by using darker oil colors in the shadow areas and lighter colors on the highlight areas.

However, I have found through experience that adding all of the oil colors at once and then allowing them to mix creates a generic muddy brown color with little to no variation in the tints and tones of the underlying base colors across the larger surface areas.

While it is possible to "stump" each color and retain its distinctiveness while adding them all at once, it is easier to get a specific result by adding them one at a time - at least it is for me.

You can easily see that when all mixed a brown is the result by simply mixing one oil "dot" of each of your selected colors on your pallet. Mix them all up and the result is invariably a generic brown color. If this color is created and spread around on the surface of the model, the result is the same as if you had just applied one brown color instead of a variety of different colors. In some places it will be heavier and in some it will be lighter, so you will have some variations, but these are not as distinctive as they could be.

Here is an example where I've applied each color individually:



Note that this is still an intermediate step with much more weathering and finishing to do. You can see some pictures of the finished model here:

https://armorama.kitmaker.net//features/3516

Just my approach...

Thanks for the great information, Mike. Your post should be a sticky! You're absolutely right. I just re-read a FSM article about a dot filter. Although the author applied dots of different colors, he didn't mindlessly bland them. Instead, he preserved each color and bland different colors only when necessary. I guess a highly experienced modeler can do so. I haven't used dot filters before, so I'll apply one dot at a time. If I apply many dots, I'll surely create a brown mess. Thanks again.