How to use Wicked color’s as a Sludge Wash for novice to intermediate scale modelers.
We gave Createx’s Wicked line of colors a try as a means of making a good robust sludge wash for model and figure painting. We found that the ‘Detail’ colors within the Wicked line of paints are very well suited to use as the color in a good sludge wash. What I mean by a ‘Sludge Wash’ is a way to easily highlight engraved details like panel lines and rivets or places that tend to stand out like areas of shadowing along edges and in crevasses with a removable wash that can be brushed on and later wiped off of any unwanted area. The trick to a good sludge wash is a superior paint that is slightly transparent or not fully opaque but settles into a fully opaque color when drying in engraved areas. The secret of this ‘Sludge Wash’ is to use a good mixing ratio of paint to distilled water with just enough detergent added to make the wash be able to be simply wiped off of gloss coated surfaces, no tide marks left behind. The process depends on your subject/model being painted and to the stage you want to begin popping those engraved and raised details. Hit your model or figure with a nice clear gloss coat and let that fully cure, when using Acrylic washes the gloss needs to be either a lacquer or urethane gloss clear. The Mixing Ratio is 3 parts paint (Wicked Detail Black W051) added to 5 parts distilled water and then adding 2 parts of yellow concentrated dish soap (my goto is Joy Ultra) then mixing well. A little goes a long way, so 5 drops of distilled water + 3 drops of Wicked Detail Black in this case with 2 drops of Joy and we have enough to wash half of the model we used in the video. Take a wide brush and cover the clear coated subject and let it dry long enough that every area the wash collected looks like its dry and then just simply take a clean soft cloth or shop towel and begin gently wiping off the excess wash. You can use q-tips and other similar tools to get into tighter spaces and have better control in removing the sludge wash just leaving the accents behind in the crevasses. Note that in the video we actually did the wash on a unprepared bare plastic model and got good results, doing this on a good gloss clear coated model turns out amazing. The best thing about adapting the range of Wicked colors for these kinds of washes is that novice to intermediate builders will be able to use the full range of colors to achieve a nearly infinite number of colored washes by mixing these colors and exploring a myriad of ways to use the washes on their project without being confined to a handful of panel liners.