And Now to the Brits - washing and OOB planning

[Itinerant Hobbyist]

[Techno]

I bet that not everybody gives the figures a wash before painting !

I have to admit that I often forget to wash the dollies when I'm slapping the putty on them....Which is why the green stuff doesn't stick to the white metal properly !

Good for you IH.

Cheers - Phil

[petercooman]

I bet that not everybody gives the figures a wash before painting !

I never do. I find that it really depends on what you are using as primer. Some just stick better than others!

[Techno]

I'll let myself off, with the 'non washing' approach.....Most of the time I 'Dremmel' the dollies to make them a bit thinner...So I tend to work on 'clean' white metal. 

Cheers - Phil

[fsn]

I'll let myself off, with the 'non washing' approach.....

Yes, there have been complaints.

Most of the time I 'Dremmel' the dollies

Still illegal in 13 US States, including Florida and Missouri.


When we talk "washing", do we mean under the tap, or with a diluted ink?

I don't wash figures, because they've come from Pendraken so never been touched by human hands, and I've never had a problem with them once primed.

If we're talking diluted ink ... or speciality products from Games Workshop like Dead Starfish Brown, or Hitler's Heart Black ... then I have tried undercoating white then washing black; I've tried undercoating black (grey or brown) then dry brushing white. I prefer the fromer to the latter, but the darker colours are (IMnot soHO) more suitable for some fihgures - e.g. mail clad.

[Westmarcher]

Funnily enough, I always wash resin buildings first but it's never crossed my mind to wash my Pendraken Miniatures. Not to say there has been no preparation work involved - e.g., levelling the underneath of bases, evening up the effects of the odd misaligned moulding, removing flash, removing the 'feeder line' under horses' bellies or filling in large "air pockets" in the odd figure. I think my oldest Pendraken miniatures are at least 15 years old now and I have not suffered any problems.

[fred.]

I don't wash metal figures routinely. Occasionally if a certain pack seems to have stuff on them I'll give them a wash, but this is very rare.

I do wash resin before priming though.

[Raider4]

I've always rinsed-off plastic kits under the tap before assembling. Never occurred to me to do the same to metal figs.

[Techno]

When we talk "washing", do we mean under the tap, or with a diluted ink?

Under the tap, with a tiny spot of washing up liquid and a VERY old, wee, paintbrush, Nobby.

There's often a tiny coating of the 'releasing agent' on the metal figures (Talcum powder, or similar) which can mean the green stuff won't stick to the figure.
Like I said above, if I'm working on a new figure from a dolly, I usually don't need to do this....But the odd conversions or repairs to a metal master I do....It's a good idea to wash them first....But I usually forget, to start with.  .....Which means there's a lot of harsh language.

Cheers - Phil

[steve_holmes_11]

I make a point of not washing in the 6 months leading up to a wargame show. 

[lowlylowlycook]

I definitely wash metal and especially resin but not always plastic.

[Orcs]

I make a point of not washing in the 6 months leading up to a wargame show. 

While this was placed as a joke, while helping Steve Barber at Salute a couple of Years ago, his sister came along to help and one of her comments was "quite a few of the wargamers have an aroma about them" 

[Orcs]

I never considered washing metal figures, despite them being handled a fair bit to take of tidy up bases and take of flash etc.

I always was plastic and resin kits or figures  giving them a gentle scrub with an old toothbrush and some washing up liquid, then a good rinse.

The Dystopian wars resin from the now defunct Spartan games was a real b*gger needing a good soak in hot water, a two scrubs with toothbrush and washing up liquid.

There are many other figures I would like to wash........ Karen Gillan, Emily Blunt, Caroline Catz. 

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Only ever washed soft plastic figures, in luke warm water with a very small amount of washing up liquid. Think I ought to wash resin hulls from Cruel Seas as well, but tend to just slap on more paint.

IanS

[Itinerant Hobbyist]

It's a pain, so I will skip it next time and see what happens.

[jaztez]

In 30 years or gamin I have never washed a figure. Never had paint flake off. Literally cannot see what the gain is from all that messing around!

[Norm]

I always, always, always wash, since I heard about the guy who saw ALL the paint just fall away from his miniatures after 30 years and 6 months :-)

No really, everything gets washed, i just figure 'why not' considering all the other investment that I pour into a figure.

[paulr]

No really, everything gets washed, i just figure 'why not' considering all the other investment that I pour into a figure.

That is my thinking as well, i don't use a toothbrush though unless the figures are discoloured or similar

[Inactive]

One of the purchases I made for other purposes comes in very handy for wargaming too.  Ultrasonic cleaner, used for cleaning jewellery etc.  Pretty cheap and I always wash figures simply because I don't want to find out too late that I should have.  Used to be a PITA but now I just dump the the figures (in batches if there's too many) into the basket, squirt of dish detergent, then zap them for 10 minutes.  Then just rinse them off with cold water.

[sultanbev]

Never washed metal figures ever. Soft plastic 20mm figures, yes.

Some of my micro armour still has the single coat of Humbrol enamel I put on them 40 years ago and are still usable, and all my 15mm napoleonics are still looking good 20 years on. Life's too short for making work!