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Finishing models


Theduke08

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I feel your pain! I have tried all sorts of stuff and when I thought I would have a winning formula with an airbrush and Vallejo's airbrush varnish I thought I had it solves... WRONG! I have tried it on 2 models and it ended it frosting/clouding slightly much to my dispair!

BUT, I tried a new pair of vanishes on a recent mini and bingo! The formula is Klear/Pledge floor polish. Couple of Thin coats evenly sprayed, leave for 24 hours. This stuff is really hard wearing. Then I used Winsor and Newton Galleria Matt Varnish the same way. Thin, even coats and leave to dry. Result was a really nice hard wearing matte finish!

The reason that i want to seal mine is that I use an airbrush quite frequently and the paint is much thinner than if applied via a brush.  This is just to prevent the hard edges and points from having the paint worn off.  I only do this on my tabletop minis.  

Just curious, why do you seal your guys. I have models that have not been touched in almost a decade and they seem to look the same as when I painted them. 

 

Well that might exactly be the reason - if you don't touch your models, they should be fine :D but if you play with them regularly, uncoated models will lose a lot of their fine highlights rather quickly. I have a can of old GW spray that I use, I never really had any problems, but I also spray very light coats only, and only when the conditions are good (not too humid, not too cold)

I have no luck with spray-on matte varnishes on dark models. . .   you have to hold the can closer to the model than with spray paints.  Otherwise you get a "frost" look on your models.  I actually like the way the "frost" in some instances.  Army Painter spray-on matte finish really brightens up my yellow Lamenters, but for deep colors it's not desirable. 

 

To avoid the finicky spacing the spray on matte varnishes require, I tend to use the brush-on Testors dull coat lacquer.   It works great, and eliminates the distancing tragedies.  I apply the brush-on lacquer liberally, and lose very little detail (though you will lose some).  It's not acrylic, but it's friendly to acrylics: it doesn't cause them to run or peel.  But it also means you should probably use a different brush to apply it, and you have to keep some paint thinner around for clean up. 

Im using 2 coats of vallejo gloss... then im applying 2 coats of dull coat to get rid of the gloss...  Was quite pleased with the result after numerous failed attempts at matte finishes on models... so happy that I bought 2 more cans of dull coat.  And with the gloss I typically mix it about 2:1 with distilled water.  Should go on very wet.

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