Painting Space Wolves...

[Bat33.1]

I'm currently building up a new SW army and merrily painting and building as I go but I'm wondering about final finish. I've recently switched from using Purity Seal - satin varnish - to Army Painter matt varnish as I prefer a flat finish on my weathered/grimy wolves but I gloss the shoulder pads to add markings and I kind of like the look. Anybody else use a gloss varnish on their wolves? I'm only thinking of the shoulder pads for this not the full armour I can't decide if it's a bit too glam.

 

Although when reading the HH novels it appears that any time a marine is not involved in combat they like nothing better than sitting around polishing their armour - and no thats not a euphemism, ooh err missus :)

[Night Runner]

I prefer a matt finish. Having said that, gloss is more durable than matt varnish, so I tend to give the shoulder pads a gloss finish first, then when dry, I give it a second coat of matt varnish. I do this because the shoulder pads are where I pick up and move around the models so they get the most wear and tear.

[Shieldwall]

I use both.

 

First a coat of gloss varnish for durability, then a coat of matt varnish to dull the shine. For a brand, I got stuck with Marabu spraycans. Get's quite expensive, but works great for me.

[Growler67]

You can also split the difference and so with a Satin sealer. I did this on my Dark Eldar many moons ago and seemed to fit them well. I only used the Gloss on my Harlies. TO me, Space Marines, with the exception of UltraSmurfs, look best in Matte. UM's, well, they are the pretty bois so they can be all "glam" or whatever. If you play your Army of Space Marines, regardless of Chapter, then they are always slogging it out on the battle field and thus would never be "pretty and shiny". That said, I take this opportunity to evoke the standard response - "it's your Army, paint them however you wish them to look." <_<