Long Enterprises

The Detailer Ready to Use Washes

Reviewed By  Rick Green, IPMS# 43343

MSRP: $2.99 USD Read Phil Peterson's original review from 2005. This product review of "The Detailer" ready-to-use washes is actually a continuation of a review by Phil Peterson of the "original" Detailer washes apparently intended primarily for automobile subjects. Now there are additional colors including dark gray, green, tan, and white, which have applications to military subjects. Also available is a liquid mask that was not tested by this reviewer. As Phil stated earlier, The Detailer (you have to use "The" in connection with the name just like "The Ohio State University") is water based, meaning that it thins and cleans up with water, although I saw no need to thin it. Phil also advised in the first review of this product that "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." I concur concerning the wet application, but I used different brushes for different applications to an aircraft project. I used an "00" brush to apply the white color to the dials of an instrument panel in 1/72 scale. I could not get a digital camera to capture the image, but the effect was pleasing; I saw a little more luminescence in the dials than I would ordinarily see with hobby paint. I used a broader brush to apply the green color, over interior green, to the stringers of the interior of AML's O47-A. The effect was a semi-gloss that looked like shadows above and below the stringers.

I then tried the dark gray color in the panel lines of an aircraft wing that had been painted medium gray.

After applying with the 00 brush (excuse the appearance of my hand in the accompanying photograph; where's Madge when you need her?), I let the product dry and tried Phil's Q-Tip® removal. For me, this resulted in some of the product pulling out of the panel lines. I tried it again, this time removing the excess with a damp cotton rag wrapped around my finger (my friend Doc suggested a mandril for this purpose, but Wikipedia defined "mandril" as "integrated software produced by Lockheed Martin UK IS&S Ltd (formerly STASYS Ltd) for the analysis of Tactical Data Link", and that didn't seem feasible), with better results. An outstanding application of The Detailer to the panel lines of an aircraft can be witnessed in the photographs of the DC-3 pictured here, done by Lee Ainsworth of IPMS John Glenn, Cleveland.

This type of product may open up the usual debate about the relative merits of home brews, or labor-added, and "off the shelf" products. As an example of this phenomenon, I will personally choose, every time, an Eduard pre-painted seat belt over my efforts to paint white or beige on a bare brass seat belt. All products, whether of the "convenience" type or the type that requires a genius, are legitimate. You may not want to sift through the mountain of reference material that exists on how to brew a wash for your project, preferring to get on to a phase of the project that is more fulfilling for you. In that case, you can use The Detailer and get perfectly good results. I recommend this product. Thanks to Gary at Long Enterprises for the samples of "The Detailer". The sharp automotive applications of The Detailer can be viewed at www.thedetailer.net.

About the Reviewer: Rick Green is a member of the IPMS Fame Cities Chapter, Akron-Canton, Ohio, and a co-founder of the Cleveland-area “Divine Scale Society”, devoted to group builds of 1/72 scale aircraft subjects.

Information, images, and all other items placed electronically on this site are the intellectual property of IPMS/USA ®.