Romano-British for Dux Britanniarum

I prime the shields white and then paint the rear with Flat Brown (VMC 70. 984).  This is then covered with a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone Ink.  The detail of the wooden boards is moulded into the shields, and the ink brings this out nicely (although I suspect very few people outside the XLBS will be actually be looking at the backs of the shields!).

The front of the shield is painted in White (VMC 70.951) and the boss and shield rim in Gunmetal Grey (70.863).

Once the paint is dry I apply the shield transfers from Little Big Men Studios (LBMS) according to the manufacturer’s instructions.  I then did a quick highlight on the metal parts with Silver (VMC 70.997) before supergluing the shields on to the models.  These were then left to dry for 24 hours.

Once the transfer was dry, I brushed on a coat of Vallejo Polyurethane Gloss Varnish.  Once this was dry, I brushed on a second coat of Matt Acylic Varnish.  I suspect this will strike many laborious  and as probably not giving the best possible level of protection, but: i) I’ve never had any luck with spray-on varnish, always getting repeated frosting, so am reluctant to apply it to completed figures; and ii) use of oil based varnishes and the associated smell of white spirit in the house would most likely result in a rapid breakdown of domestic harmony!

Incidentally, I’m not entirely sure if the shields of the period had metal rims.  The only source I could find was somewhat ambiguous, mentioning metal bosses with leather stretched over boards and pinned in place.  It didn’t mention metal rims, but neither did it rule them out.  The detail on the model showed something that could be a metal rim, but which could equally be where the aforementioned leather has been pinned in place.  In any event, I decided to go with metal rims because I liked the look of them and it avoids the need to find a perfect match between the paint on the rim and the colour of the transfer.  I promised myself when starting this project that I would not get hung up on the historical accuracy of details such as this!