Reverse Wash Technique

Many Zeon MS designs incorporate some form of Zeonic insignia on the collar, chest, or wrist area. The kits usually have these embossed on the plastic, with matching stickers to give them the contrasting color they need. These insignia are a major pain to paint if you're doing it the traditional way (i.e. hand painting, masking), but luckily there is an alternative method to do justice to these excellent details. It's called the Reverse Wash technique. I'm not sure who invented it, but it works wonders for raised details in need of a contrasting color. Here's what you'll need:

1. Insignia color (Acrylic).
2. Base part color (Enamel)
3. Enamel thinner or lighter fluid
4. Cotton swabs




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For this example, I'm doing an SD Sinanju. My insignia color will be Acrylic gold, while my base color will be Enamel black.

First, paint the parts that have the insignia in your insignia color. You don't have to paint the entire part, but make sure the insignia gets good coverage.

Let the paint cure thoroughly, then apply a clear gloss layer to protect it. Once that is dry, paint the whole part in the base Enamel color - in this example, I'm using black.

Let this layer dry. Take a cotton swab and dampen it with enamel thinner or lighter fluid. Roll the tip of the swab onto a paper towel to remove excess thinner. Very gently rub off the enamel paint on the raised details to reveal the underlying color. Be careful not to rub too hard or you risk pulling up the insignia color as well.

With steady hands and some luck, you can achieve nice looking emblems that would rival the work of expert hand painters.

This technique can also be used to get some nice looking eyes, or to give internal frame details a two-tone effect.

Until next time, keep building plamo!