Washing white armor

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

What’s a good technique for washing white armor? My white was built up from greys to White Scar.

[Grotsmasha]

I guess it really depends on the intent of the wash? Is it purely for shading, or is it for weathering \ a used look? 

 

If it's for shading the recesses, I have to recommend the Contrast Apothecary White, but not as an all-over wash, a careful recess only wash with un-dialuted Apothecary White. To add extra shading on the panels themselves for....shadow, I guess?.... I'd be doing a 3:1 Medium vs Apothecary glaze in multiple light coats until I was happy with the colour.

 

If, however you're looking to add a weathered \ worn look, you're better of going for a brown wash like Agrax, again thin with medium and add slowly in multiple layers to get your desired level of wear..

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

I’ll go with the apothecary white - thanks !! :thanks:

[MithrilForge]

It all depends on what Finish your looking for, pristine white with cold recesses (light blue's and grey's) or a warm weathered look with browns (agrax or watered down scrag brown etc) 

I usually go with the warm look, especially on T'AU , or white scars, after the recess pin wash i make a white glaze and wash it on the high spots of the model a couple times to make it look slightly brighter at those points where light hits the most... 

Darren Latham did a nice video on painting white armour (scars) on his old you tube channel...someone out there must've saved it in a link somewhere.

 

Mithril

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Thanks !

[Maschinenpriester]

My battle sisters have white armour, and i wash it with swraphim sepia, and then whipe it off the raised areas real quick with a q tip. This also works with thinned blue and black washes. Edited February 9, 2022 by Maschinenpriester

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Thanks !

[Maschinenpriester]

In case you want to have a look, here is my sisters thread which also contains the reciepe for my sisters.

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/362334-maschinenpriesters-sororitas-vahl-and-paragon-warsuits/

Edited February 9, 2022 by Maschinenpriester

[Karhedron]

My Inquisitor uses Apothecarion White over Grey Seer primer. It went on very easily and looks pretty good so I would definitely use it again.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Wow that does look good !

[Emperor Ming]

Nice conversion!

[Karhedron]

Wow that does look good !

Thanks. I give most of the credit to the paint. White is a hard colour to shade well and I have had mixed results with Contrast paints in general. But Apothecarion White just worked like a dream.

 

Does exactly what it says on the tin.

[Slave to Darkness]

Washing armour you say?? 

[Rik Lightstar]

I've been working on Clone Troopers for Star Wars Legion lately, and have been playing around with how best to get good white results quickly (rather than slowly which is what happened with my White Scars).

 

This is from a perspective of saving time and getting good table top results, people will almost definitely tell me there are more cost effective approaches and I'm sure there are. Using my airbrush for example would have been cheaper but slower, especially as I can bring my models to work and do a coat of spray in the car park in a couple of minutes.

 

My process has been:

 

Spray can step:

• All over spray Army Painter Wolf Grey*
• A 30-40 degree "zenithal" coat of Colour Forge Ghoul Grey** leaving only the absolute recesses Wolf Grey
• A 70-90 degree "zenithal" coat of Corax White*** so it catches raised areas and large plates
• A light coat of Gloss Varnish, I use Plastikote spray

Contrast/Wash step:

•  The ratios for my mix that I've made up a dropper bottle of are:
  • 3x Apothecary White
  • 3x Contrast Medium
  • 2x Space Wolves Grey
  • 1x Vallejo Flow Improver
• I apply this by brush to the recesses and armour joins, or any areas where the grey is a bit too light.
• I keep a clean brush and a pot of clean water to hand and use a clean wet brush to tidy any overspill as I go, I find this quicker than trying to get it perfect first time.

Highlights step:

• If anywhere needs an edge highlight or tidying up I use Vallejo White Grey****
• For absolute edge highlights or any weathering etc I use Vallejo Dead White

It's really VERY quick and looks if anything better than the White Scars armour I've done (link in signature), I won't post pics of Star Wars minis here.

 

* Pretty much identical to GW Fenrisian Grey

** Very close to GW Grey Seer

*** I use Corax White because it's really a very light grey

**** Seems to be very slightly lighter that Corax White

 

You could always jump straight in after the spray steps, but I think they make a big difference.

 

Rik

[Sothalor]

How important is thinning with medium for this approach using the Contrast white?

[Rik Lightstar]

How important is thinning with medium for this approach using the Contrast white?

There are other cheaper options, like a mix of flow aid and thinner. But it's just more fiddling about to get the ratios right and contrast medium isn't particularly expensive.

 

Thinning the contrast paints definitely changes how they behave and importantly the intensity and how well they "contract" into the recesses. It reduces the pooling and tide mark issues you can get with contrast paints, washes and glazes.

 

Rik

[Bloody Legionnaire]

Honestly man, regardless of which effect you're trying to get (shading/weathering) applying a gloss coat to the model and then pin-washing/washing with oil/enamel paints is the way to go. 

 

A bluish tone would be best for recess shading and Ak interactives "streaking" sets are great for weathering. 

You can youtube the process fairly easily, but essentially after applying the wash you only need to dip a cottonbud or make up sponges in a little bit of white spirits to moisten them and then wipe them over the surface of the model. It will leave the "wash" in the recesses and clear up the surface of the paint. 

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

What are some good examples on YT ?

[Onónion]

For a white armour with blue tones I would follow something like this. I was thinking it would work nicely for Biel-Tan.

 

 

For a non-airbrush version which includes the aforementioned apothecary white I'd try this method

 

Edited February 16, 2022 by Onónion

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

:thanks:

[OttoVonAwesome]

I've been working on Clone Troopers for Star Wars Legion lately, and have been playing around with how best to get good white results quickly (rather than slowly which is what happened with my White Scars).

 

This is from a perspective of saving time and getting good table top results, people will almost definitely tell me there are more cost effective approaches and I'm sure there are. Using my airbrush for example would have been cheaper but slower, especially as I can bring my models to work and do a coat of spray in the car park in a couple of minutes.

 

My process has been:

 

Spray can step:

• All over spray Army Painter Wolf Grey*
• A 30-40 degree "zenithal" coat of Colour Forge Ghoul Grey** leaving only the absolute recesses Wolf Grey
• A 70-90 degree "zenithal" coat of Corax White*** so it catches raised areas and large plates
• A light coat of Gloss Varnish, I use Plastikote spray

Contrast/Wash step:

•  The ratios for my mix that I've made up a dropper bottle of are:
  • 3x Apothecary White
  • 3x Contrast Medium
  • 2x Space Wolves Grey
  • 1x Vallejo Flow Improver
• I apply this by brush to the recesses and armour joins, or any areas where the grey is a bit too light.
• I keep a clean brush and a pot of clean water to hand and use a clean wet brush to tidy any overspill as I go, I find this quicker than trying to get it perfect first time.

Highlights step:

• If anywhere needs an edge highlight or tidying up I use Vallejo White Grey****
• For absolute edge highlights or any weathering etc I use Vallejo Dead White

It's really VERY quick and looks if anything better than the White Scars armour I've done (link in signature), I won't post pics of Star Wars minis here.

 

* Pretty much identical to GW Fenrisian Grey

** Very close to GW Grey Seer

*** I use Corax White because it's really a very light grey

**** Seems to be very slightly lighter that Corax White

 

You could always jump straight in after the spray steps, but I think they make a big difference.

 

Rik

Super similar to how I did my own storm troopers only I used daler rowney white ink and an airbrush to do the zenithal step. That stuff is magic.

[Firedrake Cordova]

Honestly man, regardless of which effect you're trying to get (shading/weathering) applying a gloss coat to the model and then pin-washing/washing with oil/enamel paints is the way to go. 

You can obtain a similar result by dampening the area with water to break the surface tension (the same as the gloss varnish coat does), and then painting an acrylic wash into the recesses. If any goofs occur, airbrush thinner on a cotton bud can be used to remove any excess (although if planning to do this, the paint underneath the wash wants to have been dry for a full day before you start the washing process).

 

Not saying oil washes aren't a good way to go, just giving an alternative effective method that doesn't require buying more things.

Edited February 17, 2022 by Firedrake Cordova

[SkimaskMohawk]

I'd recommend both blue-greys and browns washing white. You can use something like apothecary white to add some gradient and shadows, and then a brown like rhinox to line the panels with some dirt. You can get a nice contrasting set of tones as a result imo.

 

[OttoVonAwesome]

 

Honestly man, regardless of which effect you're trying to get (shading/weathering) applying a gloss coat to the model and then pin-washing/washing with oil/enamel paints is the way to go. 

You can obtain a similar result by dampening the area with water to break the surface tension (the same as the gloss varnish coat does), and then painting an acrylic wash into the recesses. If any goofs occur, airbrush thinner on a cotton bud can be used to remove any excess (although if planning to do this, the paint underneath the wash wants to have been dry for a full day before you start the washing process).

 

Not saying oil washes aren't a good way to go, just giving an alternative effective method that doesn't require buying more things.

 

A little gloss varnish in the white paint itself hugely helps with applying smooth layers and dealing with chalkiness no need to apply a layer beforehand. Glazing better than washing if your going for a pure white look add your browns to the recesses only where dirt will collect if your going weathered and still want it too read as a clean white. One of my favorite ways to do white is to hit the model with a coat of a light grey blue paint do a zenithal spray of white ink from an airbrush hit the recesses with wash of medium brown for weathered or medium to light blue then pick out the highest points with a white paint from the pot and finish it with a matte varnish. You end up with something like the above for kinda minimal effort.

Edited February 19, 2022 by OttoVonAwesome