Reply To: Pin washing (on Space Marines)

[bloodmoonorcParticipant 1763xp 1]

I build historical kits as well as this side of the hobby. A pin wash is a more focussed approach to creating shading as opposed to applying the wash liberally over the whole surface of the kit. Once more or less dry the surface is cleaned too remove excess wash bar that around the detail and in recesses. I tend to use paper towel for large areas or cotton buds or smaller stuff like GW kits.

The key is applying these solvent based washes over a gloss varnish (preferably acrylic based), otherwise you can end up with the wash staining the underlying paint and acting as a glaze/filter. The advantage of having the gloss surface is that you can apply decals and reduce the silvering that can arise from a matt surface.

Once you’ve completed the washes I’d then flatten the whole thing with matt varnish.