The Necromantic Road to NAF (Now with NAF summary report)

[axiom]

Nice conversions. Really loving the 1st ed feel and the artwork is great. Can I suggest you make a chainsaw player before you finish as that really reminds me of 1st ed.

A chainsaw player? I fancy doing one of those - perhaps after the tournament

I had a real push at the end of last week and the weekend and am now confident I'll be done in time. I'll be posting some detailed pics over the next few days, but here's where the team is currently:



Still to do:
- 2 zombies need another gloss coat
- entire team needs matt varnish
- display base needs static grass
- coach, 1 wight and 2 zombies need static grass
- 1 wight and 2 zombies need numbers
- dwarf casualty needs painting

I've got 3 free evenings to get this lot finished so it should be achievable, especially as most of the jobs are fairly quick and easy. Phew!

[Don__Vito]

Looks rubbish, I'd save yourself the pain of looking at it and just give it to me?



Absolutely spot on, brilliant job and really enjoyed watching it come together man!

[axiom]

Looks rubbish, I'd save yourself the pain of looking at it and just give it to me?



Absolutely spot on, brilliant job and really enjoyed watching it come together man!

Good to hear it - it's been a pretty enjoyable ride, and all the feedback has really helped (especially my tortuous drawn out painting stage!). I think by and large I'm happy with the end result, although Wight 2 has always been a tricky model and I must confess I'm not 100% sold on the conversion, so he may be revisited. And of course, I need another Flesh Golem too

[Darkson]

\it might just be a subtle paint job, the photo, or a combo of the 2, but the wall and tombstone still look unpainted?

[axiom]

\it might just be a subtle paint job, the photo, or a combo of the 2, but the wall and tombstone still look unpainted?

I think it's the over exposure in the photo..or the fact that codex grey is exactly the same colour as GW plastic The walls and tombstones have had a coat of mid grey, black wash, drybrush mid grey, drybrush light grey. Oh, and all the grills, fences, rings etc are metal. I didn't paint the skulls bone (in my mind they're carved details) as it would have taken far too long!

[Darkson]

It's actually my monitor at home - looking at work and I can see the highlights.
New monitor needed methinks.

[axiom]

Disaster has struck! Since the weekend, I have been finishing off the team and varnishing.

All the models received 2 coats of Vallejo gloss brushed on. Fine.

All the models received a coat of Vallejo matt brushed on. Also fine.

Last night I brushed on a final coat of Vallejo matt. DISASTER!

For some reason, the varnish dried slightly chalky AND has clagged in recesses. Some models have fared better than others, but both Wights and 3 zombies have had some details pretty well obscured. I now have just 2 free evenings to rescue the models. A repaint is not an option - any suggestions gratefully received.

[el Superbeasto]

Sorry, no good advice from me. Just a sharing of your pain.

[Wightlord]

A fine coat of spray on varnish may help to change the way the light refracts through the layers - worked for me once before when I had a similar problem.

[Dwarven Allstar]

I used a thin wash of gloss which helped a little. However I found that a lot of the silver went Grey and had to be re done. Sorry not much help really.

[axiom]

I think I have a viable solution; after a bit of trial and error I've discovered that a very watered down black wash removes the cloudiness. Unfortunately it doesn't solve the problem of obscured features with the pooled varnish. This is only really noticable on one zombie's face, and the wights as on all the other models it's pooled on armour joints / cloth creases where its less obvious.

So I think I have a solution that should stand up to scrutiny for the championship, but is nowhere near the standard I was aiming for.

Oh well, I guess these things happen (grumble, grumble).

Thanks for all the suggestions and thoughts

[Magictobe]

Not as bad as the guy who wanted to spray varnish his team and instead he had his black basecoat spray can in his hand.

Not me BTW.

[Norse]

ax, hate to be a wiseass after the fact, but why so many coats of varnish in the first place?? two hand coats of gloss followed by two sprays of dullcote? eeegads man! no wonder all the details are hidden.. my minis get a light dusting of dullcote, end of story.. why on earth do your minis need that much lacquer all over them - do you roll that many skulls and 1s??

[axiom]

ax, hate to be a wiseass after the fact, but why so many coats of varnish in the first place?? two hand coats of gloss followed by two sprays of dullcote? eeegads man! no wonder all the details are hidden.. my minis get a light dusting of dullcote, end of story.. why on earth do your minis need that much lacquer all over them - do you roll that many skulls and 1s??

I've got to say, my standard approach has been to give 2 sprays of matt, but I've been getting fed up with the wear and tear on all the sharp edges/high points etc where the paint chips/wears off. I took some advice on some of the painting forums and the consensus was that 2 coats of gloss followed by 2 coats of matt was the best option (and there are some folks who paint cracking looking models using that technique).

I think in hindsight the 2nd coat of matt probably wasn't required, but I guess you learn these things by mistakes such as this

[Steam Ball]

Any of the layers could had gone white. First or last. Of course, if probability is fixed for all them, the more layers, the bigger the probability of getting a clouded mini.

Just like with sprays you have to check weather conditions and distance, with brush you have to check dilution and avoid going over half dry half wet zones. Some varnishes seem to go worse with thick layers, like if they never cured if too thick.

Some cases of frosting can be solved by applying a new gloss coat. But if the problem is "deep inside" the varnish, no idea. Get a varnish that goes fully transparent, no matter how thick. Also getting a removable varnish could be a good idea, if something goes wrong, remove and try again.

I decided to run an experiment and just put a couple of big drops (Vallejo Matte and Gloss) over a plastic, and I will check how transparent they become. First impression (I always forget about it, but get reminded as soon as I put some in a palette) matte has some impurities and needs lots of stirring (and water) to become fluid and homogeneous. Probably the matting agent formed clumps.

Edit: the results are in. They both crumpled/spread, ending thinner than the original blob. Bubbles are nasty in both. The gloss one has a slight white/blue tint in the centre but otherwise rather transparent, and the matte one ended being translucent white, with nasty particles in some places.

Another quick experiment: undiluted matte but spread thinner gave a whiteish result, weaker but not nice. So I will continue using them thinned down with lots water, making sure there are no bubbles or particles before applying them in very thin layers (and only as last resource, when spraying is not an option).

Next: get other brands/types, specially removable ones, and best if they are near transparent when in the pot, but all acrylic ones I have seen seem to be milky.