I am reading about washes and filters and it seems like oils are popular with mineral spirits to work the magic. Why can't you use acrylic washes and filters over an acrylic paint job that has cured for a week or two? Put a few spots of paint on and use some soapy water to do the same thing to make streaks and stains?

for me Enamel / Oils washes are much more controllable, they dry more slowly and if you do not like the result they can be removed very easily with a little thinner,I tried several times with acrylics (Vallejo, Citadel and True-Earth) but they never completely satisfied me.

Hey Greg – the out-of-the-pot acrylic brands I’ve tried (Tamiya, Mr Hobby) don’t seem to accept washes too well & while a micro-droplet of liquid soap does minimise beading it can interfere with the pigment’s stability when dry & continues to feel slightly sticky. That’s one reason why I abandoned modelling paints & use student-quality (i.e. half the price of the good stuff) artists’ acrylics from any Art supply shop because they’re designed to accept washes, I’m just posting an update tonight to the Operation Anthropoid thread on the Diorama forum on this subject which might be of interest.

You definitely can use acrylics for washes. I came from miniature painting, and there are some ink washes designed for use with acrylics - I like the Games Workshop Agrax Earthshade and Nuln Oil. A lot of people have their own secret formula for creating washes of different colours, usually including some amount of Pledge or whatever furniture polish, which helps the wash settle into the recesses better.

For plastic model kits, and now for miniatures, I prefer oil washes mthough. You c the areas you want much easier- this is really good for panel lines. The oil/thinner mixture dries much slower and therefore smoother, without lines at the edges of the wash area.

The downsides to oil washes are: solvent fumes; cleanup; the drying time mentioned above. The end product is better enough that I definitely prefer to do my washes with oils now.

Testor's developed an entire range of Acrylic (and some enamel) washes a few years back that works quite well, called "Create FX". Here's a link to thier line:

https://www.testors.com/product-catalog/testors-brands/createfx/acrylic-paint

I bought several in a close out at Hobby Lobby in Lakewood Washington a couple of years back, including a "rust & dirt, mud, and a green wash. I have yet to try the green wash, but the rust and dirt and mud washes work pretty well over Tamiya Acrylic lacquers, and Model Master enamel flat paint. I don't know if HL still carries these washes or not-- I haven't seen them for a couple of years now. They also have an engine oil and grime enamel wash in thier enamel wash line, which is excellent-- it really looks the part. I've seen similar washes lately at Michael's, in a different bottle in the Testor's paint rack line. Not sure they are the same though. The bottles I bought at HL were the size of the old Floquil bottles. The Michaels bottles I've seen are are the standard "model master" sized bottles.
VR, Russ