Advice needed on pin wash

[cupoftea]

I sure would appreciate some advice on how to make deltails like panel lines and bolts etc 'pop' on a model tank:
My tiger 1 is sprayed in tamiya dark yellow but that is about my current skill limit with paint. Problem is it looks too bland and uniform and I would love to highlight the details but have read that I need a gloss surface to make a pin wash work. Basically I am rather nervous of applying a gloss finish for fear of messing up what I have done so far. Basically I was wondering if there is another way of achieving a similar effect?

Many thanls for any advice.

[tomhugill]

You don't need a gloss finish at all. If you look at my tiger build I use a pin wash over the tamiya dark yellow and camo and I works fine. I usually do my pin washes after the base coats and any highlights but before the other weathering. If you need any more advice shoot me a pm.

[dgsselkirk]

Pin wash is as it implies. Since you are not going to do clear coat you will have a tougher time getting the thinned out black paint to "run" in the cracks, crevices, and hatch lines.

What I would suggest is have a container of water and a container of el cheapo water colour black paint thinned with water about 90% water 10% paint. 2 fine brushes at least 0 5 and what you do is take a little water first and run it in the channel you want to pin wash. Then with the other brush get a little paint on it and touch it in the channel at variuos spots and you will see it "run"along the channel!
Experiment with it a little in an inconspicous spot till you get the hang of the volume of water/paint you need to accomplish the look you want.
Another little trick is to use a #4 pencil and draw in a metal look. Then take a Q-tip or something similar and rub along the pencil line. I actually do a combination of both.

then you can flat coat everything!

[ALPHA]

One of my old secrets...coffee ....also tobacco water....make sure you seal it after ...


ALPHA