I personally don´t like washes. I think that the technique is difficult and the results were not always the same. However, there is one situation were it is the best option. Working with dark colors, specially black, may hide the details that you try so much to put in your models. Here, oil washes with light colors may help to show your work in a way that is not that artificial. While looking at black planes, you often see some kind of light brown or gray colors along the panel lines. That´s the central idea on weathering on black: wash the panel lines with white!
Here you have an example of what i am saying. You can see the light color along the panel lines.
Bellow you see a sequence of pictures from the weathering of a SR71A Blackbird. It illustrates the weathering of the kit using the white wash technique.
1) Here you have a picture of one of the rudders of the blackbird. It is already molded in black. It has recessed panel lines, that were necessary for the washes.
2) To get the base color, i used different shades of very dark grey. Black and white were used to get some tone variation.
3)The blackbird is not really black. It is in fact a very dark grey. Here you see a comparison between the grey painted rudder and the bare plastic part. Don´t worry: once you apply a gloss coat, it will turn darker.
4) To get more perspective, i painted some panels in a lighter grey shade.
5) Once the panels were painted, everything is sealed under a heavy coat of Future floor polisher.
6) With a 2-0 pointed brush, i applied the white wash. I used artist´s oils dissolved in turpentine.
7) Excess was removed with cotton swabs with some turpentine. Than, a coat of mat varnish is applied to seal everything.
8) Don´t trust decals over black or very dark colors: silvering is common. I masked the walk lines and painted them red.
9) The underside markings were also masked and painted. The wells were painted with Tamiya Titanium acrylic colors.
10) The panel lines were highlighted in white. If you think it´s overdone, apply a coat of the base color dissolved on 90% X20A thinner.
