Taking the sheen off decals

[NiceGuyAdi]

The decals I've been adding to my minis, being inkjet printed and so sealed with gloss varnish, are retaining an irritating sheen after I've applied them and sealed with a bit of Lahmian Medium.

 

I want to knock the shine off, but don't want to use spray matte varnishes over the whole mini. I'm thinking of brushing on something like Vallejo Matt Varnish just to the decals themselves. Would this work? Will it come out messy? Would something else work better (sealing with Vallejo Matt Medium instead of Lahmian Medium, perhaps)?

[Ovidius Incertus]

If you just do the decal in a different finish (e.g. matte), it would likely be very apparent and make it stand out just as much because your paint won't have the same finish.

 

Try glossing the whole miniature, then knocking it back down to matte or satin to even the finish out.

[Major_Gilbear]

If you're only going to varnish spot areas, I would at least do complete panels - just like when you re-spray a car following a repair, this helps to avoid any obvious before-and-after marks in a single smooth area. For your shoulder insignia therefore, I would do the whole pad up the rim or over the rim to the edge of the whole pad.

 

With respect to Lahmian Medium, although it's a matting agent, it's not really a matte sealer.

 

I would use a brush-on matte varnish (perhaps Vallejo as you suggest). If after it's fully dry you still want a more matte finish, you can then try Lahmium Medium over the varnish; the slight "tooth" of the varnish will help keep the Lahmian Medium in position until it dries, giving you a more matte finish overall. For what it's worth, I use Vallejo matte medium (thinned with a touch of clean water) for this sort of "after-varnish-sealing", and I find it be excellent.

 

Finally, I wouldn't discount using rattlecan sprays - Testor's Dullcote has legendary status amongst many modellers for good reason! If you don't want to do the whole model, you can mask around the pad with some clean blu-tack, and use some cling film to cover up the rest of the model. Then, spray just the pad, and remove the blu-tack and cling film afterwards. The blu-tack and cling film won't damage the painted model and make it easy to mask up quickly. If you can get it, Silly Putty is even better than blu-tack, as it's grease-free.

 

:)

[NiceGuyAdi]

Thanks both, the reason I don't want to varnish the whole mini is because I sometimes come back to them months after finishing them to touch up something that's bugging me, but I take the point about needing to do a whole panel. As it is the problem is that the decal has a different finish to the rest of the model so I don't want to solve the problem by repeating it!

 

I'll give the blu-tac and cling film a go. Testors is tricky to find in the U.K. But I do have some Winsor and Newton spray matte varnish. Any views on that?

[Todosi]

Testor's Dullcote will solve the problem.  You can always come back and paint over any sealer.  They don't magically repel paint.

[Major_Gilbear]

Testor's Dullcote will solve the problem.  You can always come back and paint over any sealer.  They don't magically repel paint.

 

This - I was about to post the very same thing! :D

[NiceGuyAdi]

They don't magically repel paint.

 

I was actually a bit worried it would!

[Guiltysparc]

I've used brush on testors dulcote and lahmien medium. Both do the trick, but i find lahmien much easier to work (particularly over larger areas) with and i'm not worried about actually sealing the model.

This pic used medium:

This one with testor's brush on:

[Kisada]

off topic ... Guiltysparc .. your World Eaters look BADASS

[Guiltysparc]

off topic ... Guiltysparc .. your World Eaters look BADASS

 

Thank you!

[Toomanyprojects]

From my railway modelling experience, you can get rid of the carrier film and shininess of transfers by painting the model with a gloss paint or gloss varnish before application, and then toning that down to satin or matte afterwards to seal it

[StraightSilver]

From my railway modelling experience, you can get rid of the carrier film and shininess of transfers by painting the model with a gloss paint or gloss varnish before application, and then toning that down to satin or matte afterwards to seal it

 This.

 

I always paint the area where the decal will sit with gloss varnish first (I use Citadel 'Ard Coat which works perfectly fine). As has been said it's best to paint the whole area / panel.

 

Once dry I apply the decal, using Micro Sol and Micro Set. I also cut away as much of the backing paper as possible to reduce the amount of carrier film.

 

Then apply another coat of gloss varnish.

 

Then apply matte varnish - the best brush on matte varnish I have found is Vallejo model colour.

 

You then shouldn't see any carrier film and the decal will look painted on.

[Stoic Raptor]

That's the key - applying a coat of gloss varnish over the decal too, before applying a matte finish, not only hides the edges of the film but also eliminates "silvering" of the decal.

Properly applied, it should be impossible to discern from a layer of paint.

[Koryn]

I use Micro Sol from Motorscale industries it helps with that painted on look..

 

 

Guiltysparc those world eaters look awesome