Landing Gear Wash

AK Interactive Landing Gear Wash – a wash for aircraft landing gear

Landing Gear Wash from AK Interactive is an enamel wash in a 35 ml bottle, developed for aircraft landing gear – legs, struts, hydraulic rams, wheel rims and the walls of wheel wells. This is a modeling chemical product, not a kit – you are buying a bottle of the product, not model parts.

What the wash does and how it differs from the Dust product

The wash is darker and very thin. It creeps by capillary action into corners and grooves, around rivets and under raised details, and brings out detail and shadow – a busy landing gear leg gains visual depth and stops looking flat. Landing Gear Dust, by contrast, is light and dusts the surface over. Put simply: the wash emphasizes relief, the dust coats the surface. The ideal is to use both – first the wash to draw out the detail, then the dust for the final dusting.

Use

• Stir it thoroughly – the pigment settles at the bottom of the bottle.
• Apply it over a cured gloss clear coat above acrylic paint; on a smooth surface the excess wipes off cleanly and without staining.
• Lay the wash into corners and along the edges of details with a fine brush and let it flow and work for a short while.
• Wipe off the excess with a brush or cloth moistened with a suitable thinner (odorless thinner, mineral spirits) – pull in the direction of the shape of the part, the wash should stay only in the recesses.
• Work in layers: build the contrast by repeating rather than with one heavy application.
• Seal the result with a matte (or satin) varnish.

Who it is for

For modelers of aircraft in every scale, from Second World War propeller types to modern jets. It also works well on darker metal surfaces, hydraulics and other busy mechanical assemblies where detail should stand out.

Safety: a solvent-based enamel product. Flammable, so keep it away from sources of ignition. Do not inhale the vapors, work in a well-ventilated area, and protect your skin (gloves) and airways. Keep out of the reach of children.