My ATZ zombies project : 90 zeds Horde completed, 8 survivors completed

[pocoloco]

Do look mighty fine... well as fine as one can look as a zombie

The ladies seem to be bit taller than the gents?

[sundayhero]

Yes, the women are sometimes a bit taller, and especially the fact they are wearing high heels for some of them make them even taller 

It's why I used diferent kinds of basing to make a good overall look.

thanks for the comments 

[Rob_bresnen]

well done. Inpressive stuff. Keep up the good work.

[sundayhero]

Thank you !

Here's some bonus spooky photos (in fact I just missed some daylight pics I wanted to show you   )  :


(the 30th missing zed is on left, 1st pic)

[Rob_bresnen]

fabulous.

[sundayhero]

Thank you !

I'm happy you saw my figs, because now I simply RUINED them with a bad acrylic spray varnish 


I destroyed hours and hours of work, simply because I was too lazy to varnish them by hand, like I almost always do. Now the figures are almost white 

I'm so angry against myself. I wanted to have a smoke for the first time since august 2012 (but hopefuly I resisted).


I don't know what to do. I hesitate between punching my own face, or burn the minis. Until I decide, I'll have a beer.

[Badger Loving Fluffster]

Although I fell bad for anyone ruining figs with varnish, you really have to make sure you have the right stuff

I paint models for clients, so you can imagine what it would be like if I ruined the figs with varnish, but I always use a spray

Make sure you shake vigorously first

Sometimes a second spray can save the effects of the first

Which brand did you use?

[sundayhero]

I was using a regular acrylic spray can from hardware store. I used it before on miniatures with no problem. Maybe the can is too old.

I'll try to save the figures with toothpaste and brush. The varnish made some "dust" on the figs, maybe I can first remove a bit of it, then try some methods to make the figures darker (maybe a dip).

THe only thing I know is that I will not paint them again. No way 


I'm less angry now, I'll try to find solutions.

Thank you for your help.

[sundayhero]

I'm currently trying 4 solutions (using one zed as sample each time) :

brushed mate varnish

brushed gloss varnish

toothpaste + toothbrush

pharmaceutical alcohol (rubbed with a cotton tip).

For now it seems that alcohol is giving good results. I have to wait it to dry. Not as good as before I made sh*t with this varnish spraycan, but "ok" once I'll do the 70 other zombies and the first 30 faulty ones will be together...

I'll keep you informed since it can be usefull for other people.



edit : it seeems that the alcohol solution does not work anymore once it dried.

edit2 : toothpaste works not so great (toothpaste is an abrasive, like car polish,  well known from slot car modelling, for exemple). It cleans only the edges of the mini.

Gloss varnish doesn't work much. Mate varnish works pretty well.

 For now the best result (waiting for complete dry to validate) is 1) rubbing some alcohol on the mini 2) once dry, brush some Arts liquid acrylic mate varnish. Of course I will not have the result you can see on the photos I posted, but it's average OK to put in a 100 zeds horde.

Let's it dry and see if I use this technic on all the minis.

[Ray Rivers]

Yep, when you put on too much varnish the best way I have found is to got back over them with a brush and varnish. Once the varnish liquefies, your job then is to get off as much as possible with the brush. Use soft strokes with the brush so you don't zap the paint.

It's a pain in the arse, but it works.

[sundayhero]

thank you,

It's why I used alcohol : since the spraycan varnish was acrylic-based, alcohol works pretty well to remove it.

My chance is that the varnish is fresh (less than 3 hours), so rubbing some alcohol works " a bit".

Finishing with some acrylic brushed varnish make the trick. The figure obviously lost details (especially thin ink pinstripping and some washes) but the result is decent (once again, I'm trying to convince myself that it still 70zeds or more to paint, so it's not such a big deal).

Here's a pic of the before/after (rubbing alcohol + liquid varnish).






I think then I'll make some fine touches with citadel washes if necessary, but I think I can say that I saved everything I could 

[Rob_bresnen]

that's not too bad. In a way you are lucky it was zombies and not something like Eldar. After all, it doesn't matter too much if they look a bit grubby.

[superflytnt]

Good stuff, mate! Really like the dark, grimy look of the Zeds.

[sundayhero]

Thanks,

that's not too bad. In a way you are lucky it was zombies and not something like Eldar. After all, it doesn't matter too much if they look a bit grubby.

Exactly. And some of the zeds are not that bad too. They lost a bit of details as I said, but that's ok for zombies.

[Hatemonger]

I was going to ask about the bases you used, but the varnishing problem is more important...

If you have a dusty look to the spray (this goes for primer as well as varnish), it can be because of environmental conditions: too hot, too dusty, etc. That sometimes seems to cause the spray to dry before hitting the figure, so you get all the little spray particles landing without spreading out.

With that said, one thing that sometimes works is simply to put more varnish on - sometimes even from the same can! Putting on a proper, even coating seems to level everything out and fix the problem.

Another piece of wisdom (which I know I do not always follow myself, with some past disastrous results) is to always do a test first, for every spray can. Spray one mini, or even a piece of cardboard if nothing else.

Good luck. I hope you can salvage at least some of your work!

- H8