i never really understood washes. what are they exactly?

Washes are/is a technique used to add depth to the model's surface details. It is a very thinned dark color - usually black, that is washed onto the model and allowed to flow along and into panel lines, around bolt/rivet heads. The wash is best applied to a gloss coated model which greatly reduces surface tension and allows for capillary action to take over the washes flow.

Blah, Hi ya and check out the sticky up top it may help explain it some.

hehe. i though that f.a.q thing was about the forum itself