Colour of the spars on a fishing schooner

[GSege]

Hi all! I am currently building the Smuggler from Bluejacket. The progress is really slow, but I have come to realize the beauty of the journey rather than just wanting to reach the goal.

 

Anyway, I am now working on finishing the different spars. They are partly painted and partly varnished. It is the clear varnish that I am a bit unhappy with, it simply doesn´t look right. The dovels used for the spars just look to much bright and "model-ish" with just neutral, clear coats of varnish. What do you suggest, some sort of staining first or trying to give the clear varnish a bit of colour?

 

I would appreciate your comments!

 

Best regards,
Gunnar
 

[markjay]

It's your preference, I like a medium oak stain myself. 

[Roger Pellett]

Varnishes are available in different levels of gloss: high gloss, semi-gloss, satin, matte

If the varnish that you used is too glossy try rubbing the finish down with OOOO steel wool. Rotten stone abrasive mixed with linseed oil also works well. Remember, looking at your model at a distance of 1ft is equivalent to looking at the real thing at the inverse of the scale in feet.  1:48. Scale Is equivalent to looking at the real thing from a distance of 48ft.  At 48 feet a varnished spar would not appear to have a high gloss finish.

 

Roger