Tutorial: "Magic Wash" Panel line wash

Here's my take on the acrylic panel line wash mix called "Magic Wash" Not sure how many Gunpla or large scale figure modeller know of this technique but it is a technique mainly used by miniature figure painters.

The "Magic Wash" mix only works with acrylics or water-based inks since the wash in involve water and Pledge Future Floor Shine or Pledge Wipe and Shine, depending on your country.
Making "Magic Wash" is simple. 4 parts water is mixed with 1-2 parts Future. This is the stock. You can pre-mix this in large quantities and store it. You can then mix one part of paint or ink to 4-5 parts of the "Magic Wash" stock to create your panel line wash. Alternatively, you can just mix 4:2:1 or water:Future:paint whenever you need some wash.


To apply, simply paint the wash on the panel line with a fine brush. Any excess can easily be wiped right off. Below is a video of the "Magic Wash" being applied.

So what makes adding a bit of Future Floor Shine perform differently from just thinning down paint? First, adding Future adds more acrylic to the mix. This means even though the ratios show the paint is heavily thinned, there is still more acrylic than there is thinner on the mix. Second, once applied, the heavy pigments of paint are sucked to the bottom of panel lines while the clear Future goes to the top. This means even if you go outside the panel line, its easy to "push" the wash back to the panel line using the brush. Third, Future has auto-levelling abilities. One problem faced by acrylic washes, or very thinned washes in general, is pooling at the lowest points of the panel line. Adding future solves this since Future will ensure the paint is distributed evenly along the panel line, as long as its not applied too heavily that gravity can grab a hold of it.

So there you go. Panel line washing using "Magic Wash".