SHQ 20mm WW2 British (part 2)

It has taken a little longer than anticipated to finish off the figures - I'm just not getting my painting mojo going - they are now varnished and flocked.  All in all, I am pretty happy with how they have turned out but think I need to have a look at what to do when painting faces.  This is something I have difficultly with as I don't have the fine brush skills (yet) or the patience.  I'll have to search through Youtube for a half decent tutorial that I can get some pointers from. 

Varnishing these figures was a chance for me to test out AK products for the very first time, in this case Gloss (AK1012) and Matt (AK1013) spray varnish rattle cans.  Whilst spraying the figures I was a bit heavy handed with the gloss as I think some of the detail isn't now as clear as it was prior.  This also resulted in needing to make a couple of passes with the matt spray too, potentially further masking detail.  After the Matt coat was dry I felt there was still quite a bit of a sheen, almost like a Satin coat, on the figures which the Matt should have done away with.  After a bit of thought this could be down to 1 of 2 things...

1. Using too much/too heavy a coat of Gloss,
2. Not allowing the Gloss to dry fully - I left it an hour or so before spraying the Matt over the top.

For the moment I will keep an open mind with regard to the AK spray can varnishes.  A lot of people sing the manufacturers praises so there is obviously something in them and I realise the 'issue' may have been of my own making.

To get rid of the Satin sheen I  brushed on a coat of Vallejo Matt varnish (70.520) which has dulled them down nicely and got them to where I think they should be.  Quite a few tufts were added which I picked up from Great Escape Games at 'Attack' in Devizes and I will be picking up more at the next Devizes show.  I used 3 different types of tufts on the bases which I feel adds too the overall effect of the figure. 
 

 

These figures, as mentioned in a previous entry, are going to be used and Engineers.  They will make up 2 Companies for Rapid Fire (8 figs per Coy) and a couple of Engineer Platoons (2 figs) with flame throwers to be attached to assaulting Battalions, or all of the can be used as a larger force for any other set of rules.  I will pick up a couple of figures with mine detectors in the not too distant future which will free up the rifle men to be used in an Infantry force.