Nuln oil question

[Robbienw]

Hi Chaps,

I have been painting a squad of Dark Angels, and have washed/shaded them with Nuln Oil (normal version, not the gloss one). I have painted it all over the armour including the smooth surfaces, not just the recesses.

It has settled in the recesses of the armour very nicely, as i had expected. However, where i painted it over the smoother surfaces, it has gone a bit patchy.

Is this normal with Nuln oil, or have i done something wrong?

I made sure not to overload my brush so as not to over saturate the details, and was careful not to put too much on to avoid pooling. I tried thining the nuln oil with water for the last 2 marines, but the patchy effect is still present.

I have re-painted 1 marine over the smooth armour surfaces with a thin coat of Caliban Green, just leaving the shading in the recesses, which has fixed the problem and has produced a good look. I am going to do this to the rest of the squad, even though it will be annoyingly time consuming.

So based on that I am thinking i should have just used the nuln oil to shade the recesses, rather than washing it over the whole model, and then tidied up with caliban green. Would you agree with that? Any advice would be appreciated

Thanks

[Charlo]

It's personal preference, really.

 

A couple of pictures would be good.

 

It's always going to be a tad patchy if you paint it all over the model, but then you go over it with your base or layer colour to bring it up.

[Grotsmasha]

Nuln Oil will always go patchy on larger, smooth surfaces.

[Robbienw]

Ok thanks guys, that makes sense. I think in future i will just shade the recesses then. Just wanted to check if i was doing something wrong witht the paint or not :)

[sockwithaticket]

It's not just Nuln Oil, it's any wash. If you put it on a flat surface it will sit there. If you're not going to go back over with a basecoat, but do want the wash to affect the colour being washes (which recess only application won't alter), you just need to make sure you sweep the flat surface with your brush while the wash is still wet and push any potential pools into the recesses.

[Robbienw]

Right, ok.  I was doing that but i guess not enough. 

 

Its not ridculously patchy, just slightly, you have to be up close to see it.  Would post pictures but i am at work away from the models currently.

[Tyberos the Red Wake]

The only way to hide the blotchiness of getting washes on flat, raised surfaces is to do multiple coats (which obviously turns the model quite black, with Nuln Oil), using the new gloss versions, or to gloss varnish the model before washing.

 

Without the gloss, the wash sits there and dries blotchy, it's unavoidable. Gloss makes it run off the surfaces and into the cracks, and also doesn't allow wash to dry and blotch on its surface. Personally I just go back and paint over the blotchy areas with the original color if I accidentally get wash on high surfaces, or was lazy and just slathered wash all over the model.

[Major_Gilbear]

What you've experienced is perfectly normal for a wash, and is exactly how Warhammer TV's Duncan Rhodes paints the models in the tutorials.

To solve the problem, Tyberos' answer is exactly what I would have suggested myself (i.e., varnish first).

A few things to consider though:

- Unless the model surface, paint, and gloss varnish are all very smooth, it will still "catch" some wash, although you can encourage it not to by wiping any wash of such areas quickly after applying.

- You can apply the wash more sparingly to just the recessed areas, which will save on over-painting it on the bigger areas later.

- You can add a little flow aid (something like Vallejo Glaze Medium for example) to wash on your palette, which makes the wash runnier. It may lose a little of the matte finish and take a little longer to dry if you use the medium, but you will get a smoother result and can always apply a matte sealer to get a nice finish back.

Edit: Don't forget that you can mix washes together to get custom colours too! So you can add a little green wash to the black to get a very dark green, and this will also help to blend it into the wider areas better because the colour-jump is smaller. In the recesses though, you mix will still darken it nicely!

[Robbienw]

Thanks for the advice chaps, very useful :)