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(Udate jan 13th This tank has officially been saved and is now available to view in the diorama 'Lost in France') Hmmmm. Brimming with confidence after my 1st build and diorama for many years, I immediately set about tackling Tamiya's 1/35th Churchill MkVII tank. All was going well. I had the turret, hull, wheels etc all assembled and then airbrushed base coats, oversprayed with dark green. Then I applied the decals. That's when things started going wrong. I used micro set solution. This left a satin sheen on the otherwise pristine finish. No matter, I thought. This will not show after a coat of matt varnish and all the weathering. Only, the matt varnish dried gloss. Now I know that in reality British AFVs painted dark green have tended to have a satin or even gloss finish (I'm thinking of the Saladin and Saracen in particular) so maybe I am being a bit picky, but I just HATE a gloss finish on models. And no amount of cleaning and soaking would get the blooming varnish off! So it looked as though the model was a 'binner'. Being a binner, and with nothing to lose, I wondered if I could scrape the varnish and paint off. A labourious and fiddly task. I did a test scrape, which worked, but to scrape a whole model? I have to confess something now... I am an old-school modeller, having been a school child when I last made models and as such, I still use enamel paints. Soaking an enamel-painted model in thinners doesn't do the plastic any good! So I decided not to bother. I thought some more, and figured that rather than bin it, I could use the Churchill as a piece of diorama scenery.... blow it up and tip it into a water-filled ditch. I could submerge a whole side of the tank in water, and only have to worry about 'fixing' the exposed surface. I could cover the whole thing in dried mud and hide a lot of it with bankside vegetation. So, today, I set about the task and attacked the model with 'dark earth weathering powder' applied in several washes of varying dilution and also applied 'dry' to wet surfaces. This has covered a lot of the 'glossy' patches, but not all. There are areas such as the side skirting and turret sides which still shine horribly (well, at least to my eye they do) More weathering powder will cover this up, I have no doubt, but I will end up with a tank ENTIRELY covered in mud. Still, it's better than nothing. Anyway, I am now wondering what I can do to 'fix' the 'dried mud'. Weathering powder comes off when handled too much, or rubbed with a brush and I'm not sure I want to risk another coat of the so-called matt varnish! Can anyone suggest the best thing to do now, and also what was my mistake in the first place? Using enamels, I've never bothered varnishing my models before. I just used to wet brush and dry brush them once the enamel was properly dry. Was I actually mistaken to varnish this model at all? Pics to follow shortly. Thanks, in anticipation, Badder.