Removing the shine on Kinto Favorite dinos

[ITdactyl]

Hi

'Wondering if you could give me recommendations on how to remove the shiny finish on the Favorite figures.

Do you simply paint clear matte on it?  Can it be done with cleaning agents?

All tips, tricks and recommendations are greatly appreciated.

[tyrantqueen]

I haven't tried it, but I imagine you could use a matte varnish. I like Winsor and Newton's Galeria matte varnish. It does need shaking before use, though, otherwise it becomes glossy.

Can it be done with cleaning agents?

I doubt it...but I wouldn't really try since it's not worth the effort and you could end up damaging the plastic if you're not careful with your choice of cleaner.

[ITdactyl]

Thanks for the "warning" about the matte varnish.  I'll try that.

[Lithographica]

Hi Itdactyl;

Here's a method I find well for taking the gloss off dinosaur figures. Firstly, I paint with a coat or two of brush-on artist's matte varnish (I use water base polymer matte varnish by Matisse). As Tyrant queen correctly points out, these matte varnishes are basically just a gloss varnish with a matting agent suspended in solution... what this means in practice is that you have to stir the varnish well and often during use for best results. I find such varnishes are often somewhat "gluggy" so I thin them by dipping the brush frequently in water. You don't want to apply the varnish so thickly that it starts "filling in" the surface detail of skin wrinkles and scale patterns etc.

To be honest, I have found that brush-on varnishes of this kind do take off most of the gloss, but they tend not to give 100% satisfactory results. Some shininess remains, perhaps because of the necessary dilution of the varnish with water and perhaps because of the "smoothed out" nature of applying varnish with a brush. You can correct this by using a spray on matte varnish for the final coat (note that an aerosol or airbrushed varnish will ALWAYS give a better matte finish than a brushed-on one, because a spay varnish has a microscopically "rough" texture that scatters the incoming light). Testors "dullcote" (available from any model and hobby shop) gives really excellent results. Just be sure to NEVER use a spray-on varnish during a wet or humid day (as the spray will hit water droplets in the air and give a cloudy finish). But if spraying on a nice dry, warm day you should be fine. They also warn you to spray a test piece first to make sure the spray varnish does not react with the plastic. This is why I like to give a coat of brush-on varnish first - that way I know the spray varnish will be contacting with the brush-on varnish (which I know it doesn't react with) instead of the plastic surface of the model itself (whose chemical composition will vary from piece to piece and maker to maker).

Well I hope this is useful to you!  Do a Google images search for "testors dullcote" and you should find plenty of examples of people using it to take the gloss off model and toy figures.   

Cheers, John.

[ITdactyl]

Thanks for the detailed reply.  Agreed, my hobby is a slave to the weather.  We had heavy rains earlier, now it's extremely hot and humid.

I'll test your recommendations on a few shiny chinasaurs until I get the right technique.