I painted my model with enamel, then applied gloss coat. I then washed with thinner. I wanted to try a wash with acrylic diluted with water. The wash just beaded it did not stick to thh model. Is this becasue I added a turpentine (oil based product) wash and the two don't mix?

Oil and water dont mix and thats probably why it didnt work. Try making your wash with isopropyl alcohol instead of water. Or better yet, once you added the gloss coat let it dry and then add the alcohol wash.

I have never had much success with an acrylic wash, regardless of the prior coats. I always found the pigments seemed too course. Unless you're really slathering your wash on and running your brush back and forth, you sho8uld be able to get a good wash using oils or enamel over a well cured gloss such as Testors' Glosscote.

When I asked this question about a year ago, Ralph Persico advised me that if you paint with enamels (Humbrol), let it dry for at least 72 hours, you can wash with enamels or oils thinned down. Some people use white spirit for this but I prefer to use Humbrol thinner for both enamel and oil washing. Works fine for me since.

sorry........ left this part out

you dont need to clear coat at all if you let the enamels cure for the 72 hours. One less layer and one less job to do!

Plasticbattle is right. If you let it cure completely and go easy with the wash, you don't even need to seal it. That's what I do with figures. However, I personally feel the wash flows a lot better on a glossy surface. It's your choice.
If you want to try an acrylic wash, maybe add water and a drop of detergent to break the surface tension. That could be the reason the wash refuses to flow, because of surface tension.

Nic

Hi,

This is a real coincidence. I was about ot ask the same question, and since it's already popped up, I'd like to add my experiences in here.

I'm making a 1/72 F6F-5 Hellcat, and wanted to put in a wash. I tried out two methods:
1. I made a wash of Black Artist's Acrylic paint + water + 2 drops of dishwashing soap, and tried applying it to the panel lines.
2. I scraped some black pastel dust + water+ soap, and again tried applying it.

Then I removed the excesses from inside of the panel lines after letting the stuff dry for about 10 minutes by wiping it with a slightly damp tissue paper.

However, in both cases, what I ended up getting was grey lines, and not black. I tried applying the wash mixture in both cases more than once, but to no avail.

Any idea as to what I'm doing wrong here? One more thing : the overall color of the A/C is Glossy Sea blue, which is close to Navy blue color. So maybe the dark color is coming up as greyish instead of black.

Advice appreciated.

TIA, BP.