Long Enterprises

The Detailer Ready to Use Washes

Reviewed By  Phil Peterson, IPMS# 8739

MSRP: $2.99 USD Read Rick Green's updated review from 2007. I have tried to do washes using both acrylic and enamel paint with little success. The acrylic goes on well but when I clean it up, it tends to pull the color right back out of where I want it. The Detailer is a ready to use wash that cleans up with water. It comes in several colors and can be used by all modelers. Among the colors offered are black, brown, rust, red, green and yellow. My sample was forwarded by John, and suffered some damage while in transit. The Post Office in Colorado rewrapped the box but somewhere before that two of the bottles went missing. John contacted Gary at Long Enterprises and he sent replacements free of charge. Pretty good customer service in my book.

You apply the liquid with a damp brush and it basically just flows where you want it. Let it dry and then go back over the area with a wet Q-tip and the color stays in the recessed areas but comes off cleanly everywhere else.

Here are a few more photos to show the difference. On the Stug III, the front hatch on the right is how it looked before and the hatch on the left shows the detail after using the black.

The MiG shows the Detailer applied to the wingtip and wiped off in the aileron.

The product can also be used to tint windows. Here I dipped the donor piece (think it is an old B-25 tail gun window) and placed it on a paper towel to dry. The excess drained off and I ended up with a decent looking piece. Some of the other colors are perfect for this process. You can use the green on helicopter windows, the yellow for turn signals or modern canopies and the red for tail lights.

I tried the brown wash for weathering underneath the Puma and it seems to work well. I will have to try it on some of my small scale figures. I also used the rust color on the mufflers which were prepainted in rust enamel. I like the way it added to the color. It should also work well on tank tracks. Overall I liked the product. I can finally get a wash that looks good with very little trouble and for only $2.99 a bottle. I recommend this product. Thanks to Gary at Long Enterprises for the samples of "The Detailer". Check out their website at www.thedetailer.net.

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