Washes With Linseed Oil?

Gerry · 11-01-2008

Has anyone here used LINSEED OIL for washing a tank? I have a 1:35 scale tank painted in olive drab and would like to wash it using Linseed Oil. Should it be mixed with thinner? and in what proportion if any? Does it produce better results? And lastly, what oil color would be best used in washing tank such as a chieftain Mark V or an M48 Patton tank ? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

**rjwood_uk** · 11-01-2008

never heard of that before!!!

as far as i knew linsead oil was used for deep fat frying and rubbing into your cricket bat!

let us know how it turns out. what are the desired effects?

Richard

Gerry · 11-01-2008

Well I've actually tried it on a 1:35 Tiger 1. I mixed about 1 part linseed oil and 3 parts paint thinner to the oil wash. It looked good after. The only drawback I have learned here is that it takes several days (3) to completely dry. And the finish looked wet. So what I did was to apply a coat of Testor's flat clear and the glossy surfaced was altered. I really dont know if this method works. Hope someone here has tried it. Here are pictures of the Tiger 1 which I washed with ivory black and raw umber oils using Linseed Oil mixed with paint thinner. It belongs to Jeff, my good friend:

kevingambrell · 11-01-2008

I Gerry
I could imagine using linseed oil based paint or oil paints as a weathering effect but not sure about pure linseed thinned or not.
I use linseed as a mix on a rubber along with beeswax as I paint the traction engines, works great for removing dust and muck from rubbing down.
A lot of artists oil paints were linseed based paints dont know if they still are. Great chieftan by the way.

Cheers kevin

**wonwinglo** · 11-01-2008

Pure artists linseed oil,as opposed to ordinary boiled linseed oil is the answer,you need to thin it with either oil of spike lavender,or one of the new proprietry zest type thinners,as linseed oil is slow drying you may benefit from adding a small amount of alkyd drier which will certainly expedite the drying time,all of these excellent products can be obtained or ordered from art suppliers.
As regards the colours to mix into it,use either raw umber for darker washes,or yellow ocre for lighter finishes,experimentation as always is the eventual answer.

Gerry · 13-01-2008

Hi Kevin and Barry,

Thanks for sharing your experiences and your personal knowledges of using Linseed oil. At least I know now it can be used and wont hurt the finish on my model. Im going to try yellow Ocre on my olive drab painted 1:35 M106 self-propelled howitzer using a Yellow Ocre oil wash, Barry as I havent tried this oil color before. Thanks for the compliment Kevin.