To varnish copper plates or not to varnish?

[Jrlaiho]

Coppering done on Vanguards HMS Indefatigable, half way at least. Still one side to go. After figuring out how to do it (which was about half of the work) it took a bit less than 30 hours to finish one side. Trimming stern, bow and especially waterline plates is what takes time. Used Amati copper plates which can be laid in stripes of 7 plates. It helps a lot, speeding up the work and resulting in nice lines. Rows are slighty overlapping the one below to avoid gaps. When deciding how to lay the plates I pretty soon gave up to idea of a "historically correct" coppering. My coppering is a compromise of limited skills/limited experience, the properties of the material used (plates not as flexible as copper tape) and a need to get something that looks well made/aesthetically pleasing. It's actually quite fun to copper once you figure out how to do it in a way that pleases you. The CA glue is a problem though. It took some time to figure out why I had asthma symptoms and a strange feeling in the evening! After using a quality protective mask no such problems. Of course, wearing that mask for hours is not very comfortable.

 

Then to the point. These fresh copper plates are very shiny. First I thought it looked awful, but I am starting to like. I even now consider leaving it as such and let the time do its job. One tempting alternative is a matt varnish to take off most of the shine and reflection. I sprayed a sheet of Amati copper plates with Maston matt varnish (or lacquer I guess to be precise) and it looks quite nice. It removes the reflection. It is a cheap product so I have some trust issues using Maston. I am interested in hearing what products you have used? (those who have used a matt varnish on copper plates) Anything special to consider when applying it? Any special technique? Tips or tricks? When you apply something on a coppered hull of this size, you simply do not want to mess things up.

 

Below a few pictures. Sorry for the poor quality. Was to lazy to use my quality camera and instead went for the phone camera. 

 

Work in progress. Recommendation to use a protective mask when using CA is not a joke. 

 

Getting used to the shiny copper but the reflection is "disturbing" the details in strong light. 

 

 

Varnished copper experiment. Difficult to photograph, especially with a rather poor phone camera, but it gives an idea of the result. The strong reflection seen on the untreated plates to the left is gone on the sprayed plates to the right. 

[Blue Ensign]

Good looking copper job, and  a great looking hull.👍

 I don't tend to varnish copper plating on my builds, I prefer the 'old penny' look, but it's all down to personal choice.

 

B.E.

[RossR]

I don’t have experience with it, but I think Renaissance Wax might be worth looking into.  

Edited 8 hours ago by RossR

[GrandpaPhil]

I used my standard sealer, a basic acrylic sealant for my last two coppered hulls.

 

It works beautifully and both hulls have aged well and developed a patina.

[WestPort]

Very nice copper job.  Like you I had similar concerns regarding the shine created when I coppered my Pegasus.  I did spray it with Alclad II Flat lacquer but did not like the result on the entire ship.  It definitely dulled the shine but, at least on my ship, it really made the individual copper plates stand out.  I ended up removing it and, like Blue Ensign, have simply left mine to "weather" as is.  After 4 years it has taken on a rather nice tarnished look, definitely still a copper finish but a much more subdued shine.

 

In the end it is up to personal preference.  Given the quality of your work I am sure that whatever you choose will end up looking great.

John

[paul ron]

any pictures to see older uncoated vs coated in aged models? 

 

 

[Clark]

24 minutes ago, GrandpaPhil said:

I used my standard sealer, a basic acrylic sealant for my last two coppered hulls.

 

It works beautifully and both hulls have aged well and developed a patina.

Patina sounds good. But by copper patina I mean a green colouring. Can you post a few pictures so that we can see this? Does the patina intensify over time? Which sealer do you use?
Clark 

[Clark]

1 minute ago, paul ron said:

any pictures to see older uncoated vs coated in aged models? 

 

 

I'd like that too

Clark

[Jrlaiho]

3 hours ago, Blue Ensign said:

Good looking copper job, and  a great looking hull.👍

 I don't tend to varnish copper plating on my builds, I prefer the 'old penny' look, but it's all down to personal choice.

 

B.E.

I'd prefer the 'old penny' look too, so that is one good reason to leave it as such. 

[Jrlaiho]

1 hour ago, WestPort said:

Very nice copper job.  Like you I had similar concerns regarding the shine created when I coppered my Pegasus.  I did spray it with Alclad II Flat lacquer but did not like the result on the entire ship.  It definitely dulled the shine but, at least on my ship, it really made the individual copper plates stand out.  I ended up removing it and, like Blue Ensign, have simply left mine to "weather" as is.  After 4 years it has taken on a rather nice tarnished look, definitely still a copper finish but a much more subdued shine.

 

In the end it is up to personal preference.  Given the quality of your work I am sure that whatever you choose will end up looking great.

John

Thanks! That is what I am a bit afraid of. Putting on something I then want to remove  Do you have a picture of Pegasus look like after 4 years?

[GrandpaPhil]

I’ll post a current picture of my Prince de Neufchatel in the near future.  I built it six years ago.