Painting WW2 Soviets - the 'dip'

TIP: I have found that a box of cheap 'disposable' latex gloves is very handy for this next step.. avoids much sticky messy cursing later.

The Army Painter 'dip' is now applied to the figures which have been given a basic coat of colours (last blog post). The first time I used this stuff, I actually 'dipped' the figures.. gripped the base with a pair of old pliers, dipped the figure head first into the tin and flicked and shook it to get the excess off. It probably works for some applications, but I prefer to brush it on now.

Using the 'Strong Tone' dip and an old brush that I keep for the job, a pretty liberal splash of the dip is applied to each figure in turn. I work in batches of around a dozen, allowing the dip to settle and gravity do some work, before going over each figure in turn with a smaller, dry brush (again one I keep specifically for this job) to 'pull' off any nasty pools of dip that are forming. With these figures, I find that the 'apron', the lower front part of the tunic is an area to pay attention to. I'm not overly fastidious about this part of the process.. overall consistency is the key for me here.

At this point the figures have gone from pale and slightly crappy-looking, to shiny and messy looking! But I have faith.. now going to let the dip dry for at least 24 hours before the next stage.