I got my tin of Humbrol Matt varnish out today to dull down the smokebox and cab roof on 1308. On opening the said tin I found it had separated, the same as my Humbrol Satin varnish had done previously, rendering it as 'dodgy' to use in the airbrush.

I applied it with a brush instead and when it dried it looked somewhat streaky, so not good. Afterwards I applied 3 coats of Johnson's Kleer or Klir as it's called here in France.

Today I thought I'd try experimenting with Klir Matt a la Sleeper.

I have an idea I read somewhere that mat varnish contains talcum powder, or some similar substance. I bought a tin of talc together with a packet of women's stockings for straining paint [honest]! well I did get a strange look from the girl on the checkout I mixed a little of this with the Klir and painted it on to a black Plasticard strip previously coated with Klir, it dried mat. I was concerned that as the mix was so thin in consistency the powder might congregate in clumps. I needed something to make the Klir more gelled, similar to acrylic varnish, I decided to try PVA.

I mixed a little drop of PVA into it and painted another strip on the test card, it also dried mat but there was a slight improvement in cover, however viewed at a certain angle it was fine but viewed straight on it contained whitish elements which to me weren't acceptable.

I then left out the talc and mixed Klir/PVA only, at a ratio of 4 parts Klir to 1 part PVA and applied to the test card, not bad, slightly mat.

I painted this mix onto the cab roof of a Dapol pug I'd finished with 2 coats of Klir.

I then made up a mix of 2 Klir -1 PVA and painted over the roof again, bearing in mind the possibility of an accumalative effect due to the previous coating, the result was more mat and not too bad really.

I took 2 of the photos with the Jewelers Loup and 2 without, see what you think of the results of the tests, if indeed you can tell the difference from a photograph.

4-1 mixture

2-1 mixture

4-1 mixture

2-1 mixture

What do you think? comments and suggestions welcome

cheers for now.