Varnishing

A long overdue blog update, yet still a brief one.

I have grown a little frustrated at the "glossyness" of some of my most recent work, despite using a matt final finish varnish (Derivan Mattisse).

I have always used a brush on polyurethane gloss varnish from DIY stores for my first layer of varnish due to its better protection of the paintwork of the model figure. Yet I do hate the gloss effect, and have tried various matt finishes over the top.

I used to use Citadels spray Matt, but this disappeared from the shelves. What was on offer was their "Purity Seal", another spray but this was more a satin effect, with mixed results between sprayings.

I was recommended the Derivan product by a friend, and whilst this seemed to work initially, part way through the tin the matt effect seemed to disappear. And despite two coats of this matt varnish, my warg riders were as shiny as you can see in the pictures :-(

Then I got recommended another brush on varnish, this time from Vallejo (in Barcelona, Spain).
The product is their acrylic matt varnish. Available in two sizes ; 60ml code 26.518 (product bar code: 8429551265188) and a smaller 17ml size code 520 (product bar code; 8429551705202).

The larger size was a bit tricky to get hold of locally (in New Zealand) but the smaller size seems available at good hobby stores.

The product itself take a bit of nerve to use as its a bit like brushing on thinned PVA white glue! But spread evenly it dries transparent, and a further coat, 4 hours hours after the first, works excellently. I am very pleased with the results.

So much so that I subsequently spent an entire weekend re-varnishing my entire collection of painted Lord of the Rings figures.

See product image below:



I have subsequently been flat out painting more figures including ~ 30 Warriors of Rohan on foot, 6 Riders of Rohan, Gulavhar the demon of Arnor, a Mordor troll, giants spiders, bats, Shelob, Spider Queen, Orcs and Uruks, The Nine Ringwraiths on foot and several heroes. And have made the Deeping Wall for the Helms Deep Scenarios, and two scenic gaming boards...phew!

I will try and do some further blog updates with some pictures in the near future.

In the meantime time I have been thrilled to get the new War of the Ring hardback rulebook, and have enjoyed several games with this system.

I am very pleased with the game and its contrast to the skirmish game, which it compliments well, without superseding.