i just picked up some graubacker tube water colors for doing my weathering washes...any advice as to the best way to use them..i hear about oils but nothing on water colors..TIA

Ray

Hi Ray,
I love using water colors for washes.
Due to their natural transparent nature, you get a very subdued weathering. Don't look for the same results as you get from an oil wash, cause you ain't, too completely different animals.
I salute you for buying them in tubes, but I'm a cheap old man and simply buy a kid set at the dollar store, it's got all of the colors I need right there for a buck.

I was going to type a rather long article on using water colors, but in reality, every time you read an article where the modeller used pigment powders (reguardless of maker/seller) and they mixed it with a liquid medium, if they are using water, they are making a simple water color wash, no matter what fancy name they want to give it. The pigments really do not care what medium that aritist chooses to mix them with, they simply take on the character of the medium they are mixed with. If you mix them with a water/alcohol based medium, they behave like a watercolor, if you mix them with an oil based medium,( turps, mineral spirits, linseed oil, I don't suggest you use linseed oil, since it is the base of oil colors, and the reason they take forever to dry,)) they behave like an oil wash. if you mix them with an acrylic based medium, (future, tamiya clear, Polly S clear, flat, gloss semi-gloss) they behave like an acrylic. Dry pigments are avalible at any large artist supply house, ( I use to get mine during my young college days at Pearl Paints in New York, had to learn to use them for a class) coming in a wide range of colors that you simply mix as you would any other color.
That's why I never buy pastel sets, I buy the colors sticks I want or need separately at the art supply house, the last complete set of pastels I bought cost me $2.97. The little kid set of water colors for a buck gives me all the basic colors I need to arrive at any color I need to apply a wash, fast simple and easy, all contained in a little container. The few pastels sticks I use, gives me all the colors I need to use to mix to come up with the earth tones I use.
As anything in this hobby, it's all practice, practice, practice, learn, and practice. That's why there are so many pages on an artist pad..... we throw out a lot of mistakes, not everyone turns out to be the master piece we have envisioned in our minds.

when mixing with water should i add a drop of dish soap to make it flow better and easier for clean up..and should i dull coat or future it before the the wash

thanks
Ray

Ray,
I like using el cheapo kids kit watercolors too.I wet the area for the wash with "wet" water,water with the tiniest amount of soap,or I like to use a drop of decal setting solution.then i just mix a weak watercolor wash of the color I intent to use,and apply with a small brush.
Capillary action does the rest.

Hello,

Here is what can be done with tube watercolors:





[url]http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jptrr/detail?.dir=/62f2&.dnm=43e5.jpg[url]

Ok, I use both conventional tube waters, and the new water-soluble oils by Grumbacher (or is it Winston-Newton?).

Now, what I do is a bit different. I do not use water. I thin these with vinegar

I have found that whether you 'wet' the water with detergent, it tends to pull pigments to the outside and leaves a ring when dry. Same with adding alcohol.

The vinegar evaporates outside-in and pulls the pigments with it.

I also use Future for my medium. It tends to do the same thing.

I've started using kid's watercolor palettes. Haven't decided if I like it yet.

I have a carrier deck that I made into a wash test piece. I tested combinations of enamel, acrylic, india ink and tube watercolors with vinegar, ammonia, water, water + detergent, Future, isopropyl alcohol and rubbing alcohol; these were put side-by-side to demonstrate the effects.

Results? Different effects. Some work best for washing/shading, some make random blotchiness...

http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jptrr/detail?.dir=/62f2&.dnm=43e5.jpg

A heavily washed ship.

Never tried these, but surely will. Since vinegar is an ingredient of setting solution, it makes sense that the setting solution would work the same.

I'm glad to see that water colors work so well...I was thinking of using these, now I surely will.

Sean

Well i am very fond of water colours but these look splendid !!!!! nice work on the sdkfz..must try them more