Wednesday 16 February 2011

Promodeller Weathering Washes Review

Okay, since I really started this blog, I've been wanting to write a review of this fantastic weathering system which I find is a really good augment to oils, pigments and filters. These washes are clay based, meaning they are water soluble, so they can be removed at any time from the model, without damaging the underlying paint.

So what do you get?


Please ignore my tip of a desk, so you get a range of the washes, Black, Dark dirt, Light dirt, Mud, Rust, Sand and Concrete. So really at the moment I've only tried the Black wash, shown on the grey knight in front, the combination of the Dark and  Light durts to make a light dirt wash for my Baneblade turret and the rust wash.

Application method: 



So the video gives you a better idea of how to use it than I ever could, but it boils down to:

  1. Depending on the amount of wash you want left on the model, use either matt varnish (alot), satin (medium amount), gloss (very little except for areas you can't reach). I personally use gloss.
  2. Once the varnish coat had dried, apply the wash liberally with either a paintbrush or airbrush (as always airbrush will be more consistent, but depends on what you have in your arsenal)
  3. Once the Wash has dried (20 minutes, or 5 seconds with a hair-dryer) begin to rub off the wash on the model with a damp Q-tip (cotton bud) or a decent kitchen roll.
  4. Then follow up with another coat of varnish (preferably from a spray can or airbrush) to seal the wash.


The actual effect of the wash is grainy, if you want to use it to shade recesses by excessively rubbing it off the surfaces, it's fine, if you want it to look grimy, it will look good. However if you want a really smooth finish, keep with the GW washes/inks, they give a really smooth coat you can't get with these. So I would advise these as an easy way to add depth to your models (especially space marines and tanks), they're also brilliant at bridging the gap between oils and pigments and are also easier to use as a beginner.


The turret really shows off their effects.

I'm really just scraping the surface with this product, but IMO this is a good system.

Does anyone know of any other weathering systems, that are less well known and fill their own niche?

Also if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments below and I will endeavor to answer them.

Thanks for looking.

2 comments:

AoM said...

Whoa! I'm going to have to see if I can find these somewhere locally. This looks like a really nice middle ground between plain powders and oils.

Starforged said...

@AoM I've just updated it with a link to their online store.

The full set comes with free shipping. Orders £1-15 are £1.50 worldwide and £15-30 are £3.50 anywhere.

I also included a list of stockists from their website.

Hope that helps you out.