John Brown's Painted Axis and Allies Pieces

Awesome work i hope mu pieces will look half as good as yours :)
Did you use decals?

Very nice work John!  Yellow always seems to clump up for me too.  I usually paint some on a piece of paper first to make sure the clumps are out and even dilute with very little water.  You might have to paint an area several times with small quantities to keep the background color from bleeding through.

I use the smallest I can find or a pin. I’m not very good with pins though but trying :)

@John:

Can you put too much of the protective spray on?

If the sculpt ends up looking like a prehistoric insect encased in a block of amber, I’d say that was an excessive amount of spray.  :-D

What is the difference of using enamel vs acrylic gloss protective coating on acrylic painted pieces?

The difference is a potential loss of your painting work. In a few words to a complex issue: it is better to cover water based colors (Vallejo/Acrylic paints) with water based coatings. It is also no problem, to coat enamel colors with a water based/acrylic coating. It will be dangerous, if you paint/coat on water based colors with (alcohol based) enamels. The solvent of the enamels (alcohol, toluol, turpentine) can “dissolve” the water based color (acrylic paint), that is, the solvent of the enamel/enamel gloss protective could “creep” into the acrylic layer. This may lead to bubbles and similar effects.

On the other hand: working with very thin layers of enamel protective gloss on acrylic paints can work, but that’s a b*tch. I tried this on self made decals printed with water based inks and it worked, but it took me some time to gain promising experience.

Can you put too much of the protective spray on?

See above, you can just put on the wrong protective coating. On the other hand, if you aim to paint well, apply the coatings in thin layers: it is better to coat 3 times in thin layers than 1 time like “a prehistoric insect in a block of amber”. Very importent: let the color you are going to coat not only dry but harden.

@John:

@cyanight:

I use the smallest I can find or a pin. I’m not very good with pins though but trying :)

OK, thanks Cyanight, that helps. I appreciate everyone’s help, because I want to get better. I did use IWillNeverGrowUp’s idea of using the protective coat before the decals and after. I think that helped me quite a bit.

What is the difference of using enamel vs acrylic gloss protective coating on acrylic painted pieces?

Can you put too much of the protective spray on?

Does anybody know?

Glad to have helped some!  :)

I tend to use acrylic varnishes, but I have used enamels as well.  The trick is to make several VERY light passes allowing it to dry completely in between, rather than one or two heavy coats.

As mentioned above, enamel on top of acrylic has the potential to destroy your paintjob, but, thankfully I have yet to have that problem.

My general painting process is as follows;

-Primer (white for bright colors, black for rich, dark colors, grey if I’m unsure.  Any cheap ol’ primer will do generally)
-Allow to dry 24+ hours
-Base colors
-Highlight/Detail colors
-allow to dry 24+ hours
-Gloss varnish (I tend to use Krylon acrylic gloss)
-allow to dry 24+ hours
-Decals if required
-Gloss varnish (very light coat)
-allow to dry 24+ hours
-Matt varnish if you don’t like the gloss look (I use Testors Dullcoat almost exclusively - it seems to work the best to completely take off any shine)
-done!

A few other tips that may help;

-White and Yellow are ALWAYS the worst colors to work with.  Red can be a pain sometimes too.
-Patience is a virtue
-Several THIN coats is better than one thick coat of paint, especially over dark base colors
-Thin your paints - Never use your paints 100% out of the bottle.  Put a little bit on a palette and add about 1/3 to 1/2 as much water (or, even better, use a flow aid (find one at your local art supply store) or a paint “medium” (I tend to use Matte Medium, but there are gloss and semi-gloss as well) as it maintains the paints qualities (pigmentation specifically) better than water.  On pieces this size, it’s not much of an issue though, water works like a charm.  Thinned paints flow easier and look smoother in the long run but you WILL require more than one coat in 90% of the cases and it will take a little longer to dry.

• Use the smallest brush you can find for details and never let the paint get up into the metal part that holds the hairs or it will destroy it

@IWillNeverGrowUp:
Very well explained, I made the same experiences and work in the same manner.

-Gloss varnish (I tend to use Krylon acrylic gloss)
-allow to dry 24+ hours
-Decals if required

Just one amendment:
the reason for applying a glossy varnish prior decaling is, this avoids the “silvering” of decals. Sometimes the transparent part of the decals seems to shine silvery when the decal has dried.

@dedo:

@IWillNeverGrowUp:
Very well explained, I made the same experiences and work in the same manner.

-Gloss varnish (I tend to use Krylon acrylic gloss)
-allow to dry 24+ hours
-Decals if required

Just one amendment:
the reason for applying a glossy varnish prior decaling is, this avoids the “silvering” of decals. Sometimes the transparent part of the decals seems to shine silvery when the decal has dried.

Correct yes.  Of course, it also helps to keep your paint job underneath from running or being marred by the decal solutions (micro-sol and micro-set usually) being used (which is why I started with the gloss varnish first)!

Then again, I avoid decals anyway, heh.

Its also good to finish the piece with clear spray if you are placing decals on top of decals. Otherwise the decal you just placed can unset and move while placing the other decal on top.  I did this with the red dot in center of the star for USA roundels and the German roundels with the cross as well.  I always place decals with a brush because I think it is easier to move the decals as well as being more delicate.  It takes some practice but once you get the hang of it you wont have torn or decals bend and attach to themselves.  Placing those big decals on my carriers would have been very difficult without a brush and probably would have torn or scratched the surface of the decal.