KV-1s and better decals!

I finally finished off some KV-1s's that I've had painted for a while. They were just never varnished or had decals applied. I was always afraid to wreck them with my shitty decal applying techniques. So, they sat in the glass case, unable to be used because I was afraid to finish them.

Well my Stuka's turned out so well, that I decided to finally finish them off.

I just refined my process. First I decided I would varnish the tanks before I applied the decals. I was always running into issues with the paint coming off when I applied brush on Gloss varnish or Decal solvent. I also stopped using the gloss varnish because after I sprayed the matt varnish on, they would still look shiny in that one spot I applied the decal.

So, after I give them one coat of varnish spray, I apply the brush on gloss varnish. this is suppose to flatten the surface so you don't get the "silvering" which is cased by an uneven surface.

Then I applied the decals and used a good coat of decal solvent. And then once they dry I go over them again with the solvent. This softens the decal and apparently causes the decal to form to the surface. Then I dab them with a Q-tip to flatten them a bit more. To make sure all the air is out from underneath.

Then I'm done and I can give them a final coat of varnish or 2. Its really helped that I've found a varnish (even matt ones) that isn't shinny after it dries. That really was driving me crazy in the past.

Well it seem to have worked very well, as I hope you can tell by the pictures. still a few rough parts, but those should go away as I get better at my new process.