Taking the shine off it…
I have long respected those artisans, modellers, artists who master not only the application of paint to reflect dirt, but who master sheen too, to create a model that just sings with colour. Texture, shadow and wear and tear implied by just paint and lacquer… In the past I’ve practiced this myself - both before and after the dirt. I’ve polished Hornby steam locomotive pain finishes before and ’ve applied gloss lacquer sparingly over a weathered 7/8ths model. The intention is the sheen reflects the experience of viewing the model in reality. Sheen varies in the prototpe due to degradation of paint yes, but also accumulation (and removal, if shoes or hands polish a surface) of dirt. The atmosphere can also have a subduing effect when we look at real things from a hundred metres or so… So sheen is important. One thing I’ve noticed in N though, is how layout lighting can bounce off the surface and bleach out a portion of the model or appear unrealistically shiny. In some cases, I kn...
