A good discovery

I've just matted down the T-26 and for this I used Winsor and Newton acrylic matt varnish from their Galeria range. Now I've been using distilled water to thin the stuff and getting mixed results such as it drying patchy or getting 'spiders legs' when I sometimes get too close to the model or just a general dissatisfaction with spraying water-based stuff in general.
Anyway I decided to to thin it with IPA (Isopropyl alcohol-the 70% stuff) this time to see what happens, fully expecting the IPA to turn the varnish into jelly (which can happen with some acrylics) BUT it mixed very well and after testing on a scrap model the varnish dried evenly and most important of all very matt.
After all the issues I've had with matt varnish frosting over the past year I'm glad to say I seem to have finally cured the problem.
I did try the gloss varnish from the same range and although it dried VERY shiny it was'nt touch dry for some time so for now I'll stick with Tamiya X-22.
The ONLY downside to the Galeria varnish is that it is'nt very durable and does'nt take handling very well but that's a price I'll pay for a decent matt finish plus latex gloves help a lot when handling a model anyway.

Reworking a halftrack part 2

I'm calling this done after throwing various weathering products at it. Better than the first time around?

At least I now have something else for the 580 Modellers table at Telford :)

Reworking a halftrack

Acutely aware that I've got bugger all new to put on show at Telford I remembered this model I did a couple of years ago, Dragons' Sd.Kfz 251/21D. Looking at the model it's not THAT bad but it needs some tweaking SO I've decided to add more weathering to jazz it up a bit. Anyway here's a couple of 'before' pics;

I'll post some pics when it's done.

More T-26

Well I've had a very productive weekend masking and painting the T-26 and here's where it is so far;

I'm VERY pleased to have been able to get to this stage AND not rip off the antenna around the turret when removing the masking. With a bit of luck I may get this finished for Scale Model World in Telford next month but we'll see as I'm not rushing it.

Meanwhile back to the T-26...

I've masked off the areas ready for the Nationalist markings on this model and as white is on the turret top I'll spray it on the turret and hull sides for the red and yellow stripes as it will act as an undercoat.

Hobbyboss only supply decals for the hull sides and it will be virtually impossible to match the colours on them with the turret so I may as well paint these at the same time.
I'll be using Humbrol acrylic white number 34 as it's FAR easier to spray than Tamiya XF-2 white, I usually have a LOT of hassle getting the stuff through the airbrush yet other Tamiya colours are fine to use. Odd!

Edit; I used Mr Hobby Aqueous white instead as the Humbrol was very poor covering. Funny really as it did the job on my Ju87B in winter camo...f*****g acrylic paint....you have to be some sort of alchemist to make them work (a drop of flow improver here, two drops of retardent there, eye of newt and wing of bat etc etc etc)

British Hussar update

Painting figures like this can be a challenge, mainly due to the fine uniform details and this one is no exception. I looked at various tutorials about painting gold wthout actually using gold paint but they went straight over my head so I've decided to use gold oil paint.
I was'nt sure how to go about it but after a request for help to reknowned figure painter Dave Youngquist on the Michigan Toy Soldier Youtube channel he very kindly emailed me some hints and tips so here it is so far;

I'm actually quite pleased with the results so far :o)

Euromilitaire inspiration.

I've never been to the show but the standard of work on display and published in magazines over the years and more recently the web has always inspired me. I've always had a love for figure painting as it was one of the first things I did when starting this modelling lark MANY years ago and although I'm nowhere near the standard of what's out there it's an aspect of modelling I do enjoy.
So this leads me to a 90mm British Hussar figure I painted years ago and last year deciding to strip the paint off and redo it (see my earlier blog post about it here), only to get as far as painting the Dolman and Pelisse in blue and watching the Vallejo paint dry with a glossy sheen. This absolutely kills a model figure so after trying to matt down the blue and repainting it still did'nt work so in frustration I put the figure away. Later last year I bought some Lifecolour paint which for me was awful stuff (I know some modeller swear by the stuff, I just swore AT it) so that was that until I saw the Euromilitaire pics last month and had the inspiration to paint a figure.
I bought the Andrea Blue Paint Set last week, got the Hussar figure out of it's hiding place and FINALLY I have a nice and matt blue uniform;

Obviously this is the basic uniform as I've got a LOT of gold braiding to paint but I'm pleased the Andrea stuff has worked AND it's nice to paint with too, so much so I've ordered a couple of more colours to try.
Funnily enough I'm contemplating going back to enamel paint for figures now that Humbrol have brought production back the UK as these were the paints I used long before acrylics took over. The only reason I stopped using them was that the quality had deteriorated and it was like painting with treacle, this was due to the fact Humbrol had switched production to China a few years ago having closed the old Hull factory to cut costs.
I do paint aircraft and tanks in acrylic (usually Tamiya or Mr Hobby) but for the life of me I cannot paint a face with the stuff and have the utmost respect for those that can so I prefer to paint faces in oils, using acrylic for the uniforms and detail. However now that Humbrol paint is back I have a few of the new tins to try as for me blending the paint for shadows and highlights was FAR easier with enamel due to the longer drying time plus I used to use Sepia oil colour for deep shadows and it just does'nt work with acrylic (an oil and water thing see).

T-26 with paint on

After undercoating with Games Workshop Chaos Black I used Tamiya XF-26 Deep Green for a base colour and lightened it with XF-60 Dark Yellow. It's probably NOTHING like Russian 4BO green but I'm happy with it, all I have to do now is mask off the white, yellow and red bits for the Spanish Civil War markings.