AK Interactive Pin Washes Review — Washing in a different way

For our final review of enamels sent to us by AK Interactive, let’s look at a simple, yet strong product. The “Pin Wash”. Now, if you’re used to hobbying, you know what a wash is. A translucent paint typically slopped over a surface, with the intent of it filling the gaps, lines, crevices, and normally leaving your flat surfaces wash free. This helps establish shadows in your work.

Traditionally, washes are acrylic. If you subscribe to the old school GW method of painting, you paint all of your tones, then wash the model, which generally results in you repainting the highlights. While this works, it’s not ideal. My personal workflow is Base Tone - > Mid Tone -> Recessed Shadow - > Highlight, as this gives me more control over my final painted product.

However, oils and enamels allow you more control because of their chemical composition. As I’ve detailed in previous reviews, by using thinner, you can be more precise with the wash, and that same principle applies to AK Interactive’s Pin Washes. The washes come in 3 tones, Black, Dark Umber, and Dark Sepia, and they stay workable for hours, drying to a matte finish. 

I tested all 3 on a few different models, and I really enjoyed the working time and finish of each of these. On the mech, you can see how well this wash works with metallics, doing a great job of filling in areas like the rivets and connection points, along with the gun. On our Hellboy mini, I layered the Dark Umber heavily on the model, let it sit for 10 minutes, and after cleaning up with some thinner, the result is pretty much set. Same with the display, I layered on all of the washes, with sepia towards the base, and black in the metallic area itself, and they ended up looking like what I want.

The only issue I have with this product is that while it’s great, it doesn’t do anything I can’t already get out of an oil wash, which is my preferred wash for anything display level, especially weathering.. But this is a personal preference, not really reflecting on the product. 

However, I think this is a worthy purchase. If you don’t want to go through the effort of making a wash, this is pretty effortless, and while I only have these 3 colors, AK has a deep catalog of other enamel washes, but these 3 do a solid job of covering the basics. Check them out, and figure out if you want to use them.