WARPIGS

Non toxic Powders and Washes

Reviewed By  Ed Kinney, IPMS# 2989

MSRP: Powders: $6.50 each, Washes: $7.00 each Web Site: www.modelerswarehouse.com While wandering aimlessly in the vendor's room during the recent IPMS/USA Nationals in Virginia Beach, I ran across fellow IPMSer Jeff Herne at a vendors table surrounded with a plethora of products I had never heard of previously. He proceeded to explain to me exactly what these products are and how they are to be used. In short, (and this totally blew me away ) these powders are basically dirt…that's right DIRT ! Now "why, you might ask, in the hell would I pay good money for dirt?" Well I am glad you asked that question. A short explanation is that if you separate the dirt into 20 shades taken directly from nature, grind them until they reach 50 microns in size, vacuum out the impurities, sterilize the powders, dry them to a perfect state and package them into individual screw top containers with "see through" lids, then I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors. For me, I will leave the scut work to "WarPigs". For informational purposes, I have been a long time user of pastel chalks for weathering purposes, but after having used these products, I will agree that they are vastly superior to the chalks. The main reason I feel this way is shown in the images, particularly with the use of a grey wash and pastels on a Sea Blue aircraft. The grey pastels, after having been spread and blended, tend to virtually disappear after having been over sprayed with Dullcote to "fix" them permanently. This is not the case with WarPigs. Further these colors can easily be blended for varying shading effects. They are applied (at least in my case) with an angled paintbrush lightly, then blended with facial tissue wiped in the direction of flight, then over sprayed clear flat for permanence. I apologize for getting the "cart ahead of the horse" here. The WarPigs washes are acrylic water based washes and are applied first much in the same manner as other "sludge" washes. After drying ( approximately 10 minutes), the excess is removed with a slightly damp paper towel being wiped in, once again, the direction of flight, then enhanced with dusting the pigments as desired. Images…The washes and powders are shown as used on the aircraft. The F-16 shows that not much care is needed in applying the wash. After a 10 minute wait, the excess is removed with a 2" square piece of paper towel, lightly moistened (on the inside of my lip), and wiped in the direction of flight. The F-16 "Tiger" tail shows the panel lines after removal. The Hellcat shows a light grey wash followed by a dusting of grey and brown pigments. The Zero, Tamiyas' latest release, has been washed with a combination of black, brown and grey War Pigs acrylic. Exhaust stains are applied and blended with a cotton swab.

The washes are available in 3 basic colors and can be mixed (as can the powders) to dust about any desired shade or hue. The MSRP on the washes is $ 7.00 each or all 3 for $ 18.00. They come in 2 ox bottles and are premixed for application directly out of the bottle. The WarPig powders come in 20 ml. containers and in 20 colors, at MSRP of $ 6.50 each, with savings available for multiple orders. Visit their website at www.modelerswarehouse.com . As of this writing, the website states that the WarPigs powders are being offered in smaller containers (5 grams), which will last the average modeler quite a while, at a cost of $ 2.50 each, and the line of washes, which is changing their name to "Hogwash", will be expanded to include mineral spirits based items. In conclusion, I've been quite pleased with these products and the end results, as the images show, speak for themselves. Many thanks to Jeff Herne for the review samples. Most highly recommended.

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