"Don't try this at home..."
Immortal words from Mr Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame, whose One Day Builds on Youtube also contain a wealth of useful information! I was watching a clip of him assembling a Cylon Raider miniature once upon a time where he used what equated to a massive mess of oil smeared over it that he then buffed with a cloth to shade the recesses and stain the hull in such a way that it looked finished within a fraction of the time it'd take to pin wash the details by hand. "Why can't I try that?" I wondered, and at long last the opportunity presented itself.
This was a commission for a client that wanted a repaint of a 'stock' YT-1300 freighter for their X-Wing Miniatures games. I had a heck of a lot of fun with it, and I'm pretty pleased with the end result. The objective was for it to fit the style of Fantasy Flight Games' own pre-painted miniatures as closely as possible so that it'd fit with the rest of his stuff while still looking unique. An interesting challenge, and one I'd love an excuse to try again.
I've heard the technique called a lot of different names, but 'oil grime' seems to be the most common? It's similar to a wash, except it's a thick, gunky oil paint that you slather the whole miniature in before buffing most of it off. It stains the surface, but does most of its magic in the recesses and cracks, similarly to a wash. Here's what it looks like before you buff it off: http://i.imgur.com/QmtuTUz.jpg It's scary stuff!
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savageshark
That's some cool repainting work there. Did you use a wash on the cracks for the hull?