Wood finish on warhammer miniatures?

I have heard talk of being able to apply wood finish to your plastic and metal models after painting to fill in the shadows of your pieces and do a lot of the work for you? Any tips on application or shades?

I’ve seen woodstain used for an effect called “dipping”. This is a superfast method for getting an army ready for the tabletop and involves, first, spraying all the models white with white primer.

The models are then dipped entirely into a pot of appropriately-coloured woodstain. I saw it done most recently on an Imperial Guard army, using a Teak woodstain that gave a strong, tanned finish to the soldiers’ flesh and uniform. The artist finished off the models by detailing faces and adding some colour to shoulder pads and suchlike, but they were definitely playable as soon as the stain was dry.

Dipping and washes (which are the same basic technique as dipping but applied by brush to a single location or part of a model) are more often done using painter’s ink. However, experts tend to add a small dash of washing-up liquid to the ink to break the surface tension and make it flow more smoothly into gaps and crevices.

The advantage of woodstain is that it doesn’t need the addition of the washing-up liquid. Also, it comes in pots large enough to dip a whole army without running out of the principle colour. Of course, woodstain comes in only so many colours and, for dipping brightly-coloured armies, like Tyranids, one may need to resort to painter’s ink instead.

Oh, the other advantage of woodstain is that it dries waterproof, unlike many inks that remain water soluble even once dry.

I should add that I’ve never used the dipping technique myself, although once I’ve finished my current crop of armies it is on my “to do” list.

Bretonnia painted miniatures (Warhammer Fantasy)