All those brightly painted slates were a bit loud. I'm modelling Scotland not Milan. North of the border they like their rooftops restrained and non-showy.
I think it was one of Iain Rice's books that earned it's purchase price by putting me on to talcum powder as an aid to painting. Somehow it seems working the popular gift for grannies into the surface brings colours together whilst giving a nice matt finish. I understand the later (the surface is microscopically bumpy, hence no sheen) but not the former, which I attribute to witchcraft.
Talc likes wet paint to stick so I washed the slates over with Humbrol 69 (Tank grey), dried it with a hairdryer to a tacky state and then worked the powder in with stiff brushes. The result was too white and chalky but another wash of grey sorted this out by tainting the talc.
I've looked at the result under various light sources and think it's one of the best painted roofs I've ever done. Trouble is I might have to go back and treat the other buildings now to bring them up to this standard !
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