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Friday, January 6, 2012

Love and hate - often closely connected

Yesterday, after I wrote my second post here, I returned to my work station to finish my Panzer III (I showed it in my first post). I wanted to try matt varnish on it, so it would be protected from sticky fingers and other things which rub off paint. A friend of mine also used it on his tanks and was satisfied. So I was optimistic and started to apply the varnish. It looked a bit wet even after drying, so I waited a little more. But the wet effect stayed. Now I'm disappointed, because the tank looks darker than before and the dirt I painted lost it's nice dusty look. It's not really a big deal, but if you paint such nice models and they are just the way you wanted them - and than something changes, it can daunt you. In my case it did. 
Before
After

Compared to a similar tank. Note the shiny, wet looking dirt and the slighty darker grey on the left tank.


So, I decided not to varnish my tanks. Only the decals will get some, so they loose their gloss. My poor Panzer will get some new dirt but not more


But that wasn't all I did. I also finished some markers for Disposables Heroes. Just small stones on a one €-cent coin, painted and varnished. Not much, but necessary for a game and they look good on the table.



Last but not least my trees, or, to be specific, their bases:

I was told to make the bases brighter then I normally do and so i did. I like the result (thanks again Björn!). But that lead me to another decision: I have to pimp my table. 
I built it three years ago and I made a mistake, because I painted it very dark by using a black primer and a dark brown as base colour. I liked it in the beginning and so painted all my scenery bases in the same scheme. Today, I regret my decision, but I was too lazy to change all my stuff. However, I will tackle that in the following months, as I am very optimistic at the moment. I will of course show that project to you!



























































































































































6 comments:

  1. Too bad the varnish did ruin the dust effect on your tank. What kind of varnish did you use on it?

    Maybe drybrushing the dirt again can soothe you trouble a bit?

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  2. I used Vallejo matt varnish, which caused no problems on my miniatures.
    Yes, I will put some new dirt on it and then leave it just the way it is.

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  3. Any special reason for you not to use spray varnish?

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  4. I read many different things (good and bad) about spray varnish, so I decided to use brush varnish. No more reasons.

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  5. Unfortunately I made the same experience with a couple of different vernish paints and sprays. Often the tone gets darker when varnished.

    My own Pz. III got so dark it looks like anthracite although I used a suitable colour to paint it.
    On my next German tank I will just try to add a tiny drop of white to the Panzergrey paint...

    Cheers
    Monty

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  6. You have to keep in mind that colours should always be brighter on the tabletop. My tanks are much too bright for "real" panzers. I'll show them soon and also tell which colours I used.

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