Aug 23, 2012

Zvezda 1/100 KV-1 - an experiment gone wrong


This KV-1 is from Zvezda's Art of Tactic range, one of the most cheap and most available ranges here. What's gone wrong with it is the paint and black wash: I'll never use black wash again that's sure. 


First problem was the too thick coat of the Revell enamel Olive Green: when I tried to thin it it didn't cover any of the area although there was already a layer of basecoat on the thing... Then I thought I solved the problem of the looks with the proper highlights both on the wheels and the hull - followed by this a black wash of water+acrylic... This was the terminal fault for the poor thing. Not only had the wash dried in places it shouldn't have to, not only had it dried in ugly patches but somehow it managed the coat of olive green below it to crumble - is it even possible? 


I tried to solve it with another wash of gun metal but it's still wrong in so many ways. Still has some sort of ragged look and maybe a bit of weathering pigment will help it through...

8 comments:

  1. That looks ok. It sucks when something doesn't quite turn out the way you planned. One of my EotD gentlemen whilst put to one side to dry got spurted in white paint whilst closing the paint pot! grr managed to wash it off and repaint the covered areas but it had to be the area with the most details that got blasted.

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    1. It's fine from a distance... Random splashes of paint are the worst fate of an already painted fig, I know...

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  2. This sucks the more I read Andrew but you're doing better than me as I would have fecked it at a wall by now.....

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    1. Well good to know I'm not the only one; your comment was flagged as spam by the Blogger software I don't know why, fixed now :D

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  3. Actually, the thing looks OK in some of those photos, and not all that unOK overall. I suspect it might be one of those cases that you know is wrong, but it's so close to being right that it's hard to know how to fix it.

    Depending on your standard style, and if it's not livable with as is, I would suggest outline details (best to do this explicitly, rather than with a wash, I think) in black or a very dark green, give it a matt or satin varnish and see what it looks like. Of course, if that's not going to 'go' with your other stuff, then it might have to be the Simple Green treatment.

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    1. Thanks for the advice: I usually finish my models/figs with a combo of matt varnish and black enamel (10:1 and thinned), this works like a black wash as the thinner dissolves first, leaving the black in the deeper areas and adds a very nice surface as can be seen on my other AFVs and, generally, on every fig. Now I wanted to try the acrylic wash - it's not the main problem, but, again, it wrecked the surface of the olive green layers below it.

      I could strip it if I'd feel it gets worse everytime I look at it, but after all - the "big boy" is for gaming, and not an exhibition - I might as well just live with it.

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    2. That sounds like my usual method...

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    3. More practical than original - it works and that's what is important. Thank you again.

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