Different colour washes/which colours to use them on

[kruno59]

Guys,

Apologies in advance if this has already been covered.

I do mostly planes - some armor - my question is, as the title suggests, is there a general guide for which colour washes you should use with certain colours - hope that makes sense.

I know a lot of our hobby is trial and error but a basic guide might help newbies like me.

Thanks in advance for your help.

John

[MarkVerploeg]

Well i do apply some basic guidelines in my choise of a washcolor
I look at this from a armor building point of view but i think that for planes it is rather similar
i build German armor most of the times so lets go from there
dark yellow and dessert yellow - very dark brown wash
tri tonal German camo - again very dark brown or nearly black
Dark grey - nearly black wash
medium and light grey - dark grey wash or brown wash
dark green like olive drab - very dark green or near black wash
Black or very dark grey - a light grey wash

But you can also have a camoscheme like you see.on modern Russian armor and then a mix could be usefull
as a example i use the T-90 wich can have a camoscheme made up from a light grey , medium to dark green and black
With such a scheme you can use 3 different washes to.get most out of each camocolor
I used a light grey waah for the black , a nearly black wash for the green and a brown wash for the grey

But i have a collection of different washes to use as i have most of the Mig productions and AK interactive so i have lots to choose from
but still i keep the guidelines i just desribed in mind
you can refine the choise to your own liking ofcourse and sometimes it is better to do so
if you want a F-16 with the common camoscheme of grey you can use a very dark grey or black wash bit you could use a lighter color
like a grey that is only just a bit darker then the grey paint
that will result in a cleaner look in the end as the panel lines are not so dark wich gives the idea that the panel lines aren't filled with dirty grime and such

I hope this helps
cheers

[kruno59]

Thanks Mark - very interesting

[cib2265]

try not to use a black wash on aircraft, especially if youve preshaded - go for greys, dark blues and other colors. Its too intense and will make the model look like a diecast toy.

Black is only really appropriate for radiators and fine mesh, dark brown washes are better starting point for AFVs.

Just remember the whole vehicle doesnt need to have one single color wash - you can have different colors in different areas for tonal variance.