Gloss varnish question

[kabaakaba]

Whats for you use gloss varnish? 
any time i'm see my bottle of gloss varnish i can't find a place to spill it on.

[sbarnby71]

If you're asking what do people use Gloss Varnish for, then in most cases it protects painted miniatures, especially when they're being used in games as picking them up, dropping them, shoving them around can chip or even wear away your nice paint job.  Another use for me is to apply over a painted mini before I apply a wash to help the wash flow away from flat surfaces like armour.  Some people also use it to make gems and things look more shiny.

[Sky Potato]

Applying decals is much easier over gloss varnish

[LameBeard]

Metallics tend to want a gloss rather than matte finish.

 

Gloss tends to be more hard-wearing. In some cases (including examples above) you want a gloss coat, then some other effect, then a final matte (or satin) coat as a finish.  

[kabaakaba]

43 minutes ago, LameBeard said:

Metallics tend to want a gloss rather than matte finish.

 

Gloss tends to be more hard-wearing. In some cases (including examples above) you want a gloss coat, then some other effect, then a final matte (or satin) coat as a finish.  

Thanks, that's the answer imma looking for. 

[Grotsmasha]

Gemstones and eye lenses are great places to add reflectiveness to with gloss varnish.

[Bryan Blaire]

One thing I’ll say for using gloss varnish for gems or eye lenses - don’t build in a tremendous (or any) shadows and light glints. The gloss will cause the object to shine and shade oddly against pre painted shadows and light glints, so you may have a bright spot in the area where you painted the shadows, or darkness reflected across where you painted up a light glint due to the room lighting reflecting off the gloss.

 

If you are using gloss varnish on gems and eye lenses, it often better (at least it looks better and reacts to the surroundings better) to do a darker defining area around the rim, and then let the gloss do the rest.

Edited May 14 by Bryan Blaire

[gideon stargreave]

Do you water it down? It’s so thick

[Bryan Blaire]

52 minutes ago, gideon stargreave said:

Do you water it down? It’s so thick

I will if necessary, about 1:1 with a thinner/colorless medium, but it depends on what I’m doing. Different brands have different thicknesses and can be impacted differently by evaporation.

 

I use varnishes from non-GW sources - AK Interactive, Monument Hobbies/ProAcryl, and Vallejo are all good, but I know folks like some other brands too (I personally prefer AK and MH/ProAcryl’s offerings). I pitched all my GW mediums and varnishes except the Contrast Medium.

[gideon stargreave]

23 hours ago, Bryan Blaire said:

I will if necessary, about 1:1 with a thinner/colorless medium, but it depends on what I’m doing. Different brands have different thicknesses and can be impacted differently by evaporation.

 

I use varnishes from non-GW sources - AK Interactive, Monument Hobbies/ProAcryl, and Vallejo are all good, but I know folks like some other brands too (I personally prefer AK and MH/ProAcryl’s offerings). I pitched all my GW mediums and varnishes except the Contrast Medium.

thanks for the advice!

[Sky Potato]

Varnishes being labelled as “Airbrush varnish” can be brush painted with no thinning and work very well.

[Xenith]

On 5/14/2025 at 12:46 PM, gideon stargreave said:

Do you water it down? It’s so thick

 

I thinned my 'ardcoat gw gloss by maybe 25-33% water, though I think it had thickened. It was drying streaky and I just added drops of water until it flowed more and left a smooth surface. 

[Aarik]

Another thing to add is that gloss varnish is good for applying washes into recesses, known as pin washing.  The glossed surface is smoother (matte varnish is rougher), so the wash doesn't stick to the flat surfaces as much and flows better into the recesses.  The smoothness of the glossed surface is also why it works better for applying transfers over, as it helps prevent air from getting trapped under the transfer.  My normal workflow is airbrush base coats, gloss varnish, transfers and pin wash, gloss varnish again, matte varnish.

[Bryan Blaire]

Aarik, do you brush on the matte varnish? I have alternated between doing that or going back over the metals with a satin varnish after matting everything and I’m not sure which I prefer.

[LameBeard]

Also @Aarik, what are you using for the pin wash? I did gloss before my pin wash on some of my heresy world eaters but I’m not convinced it was worth the extra effort. 
 

And for anyone new to the thread, check what kind of gloss varnish you have. Adding water to some will just create a horrid mess, it has to be the right kind of thinner.

[Aarik]

On 5/16/2025 at 12:23 PM, Bryan Blaire said:

Aarik, do you brush on the matte varnish? I have alternated between doing that or going back over the metals with a satin varnish after matting everything and I’m not sure which I prefer.

 

I use an airbrush for varnish like 99% of the time.  Every once in a while I'll want to apply a transfer late in the process, so then I'll sometimes use a brush to put gloss varnish down before the transfer, but I still end up using an airbrush for gloss and matte varnish over that.  But if I have my workflow organized well enough, I save metals for after the matte varnish step so they don't get toned down -- or at least save the final highlights for after the matte so the metals pop a bit more.  I've also very recently started experimenting with putting some gloss varnish in the contrasts/washes that I use to shade metals, since I've found that they matte it down anyway without any added gloss, so that also might work to reinvigorate them after a matte varnish.  I've also recently tried a new, less common matte varnish that I'm loving: "VMS #AX05-M Varnish HD."  It gives a very nice matte texture without dulling down the colors as much (compared to the AK ultra matte that I was previously using and liked well enough), and I think also doesn't dull down metallics as much either.

 

On 5/16/2025 at 1:42 PM, LameBeard said:

Also @Aarik, what are you using for the pin wash? I did gloss before my pin wash on some of my heresy world eaters but I’m not convinced it was worth the extra effort. 
 

And for anyone new to the thread, check what kind of gloss varnish you have. Adding water to some will just create a horrid mess, it has to be the right kind of thinner.

 

I use oils and enamels for pin washing.  There's Tamiya panel liner, which is nice because it comes pre-thinned, that I think is enamel-based.  Or I'll just thin down some oil paint myself if I want a different color.  I can't sing the praises of panel lining enough IMO.  Very quick way to get some definition and grittiness on the model, especially for heresy where there's less of an emphasis on edge highlighting.  What about it were you not happy with?  If it's the use of gloss specifically beforehand, I've found that the wash stays in the recesses better and doesn't spread out and stain as much compared to not using gloss.  But if you're slapping it all over and wiping it off, then it won't matter as much other than just reducing how much it will stain the underlying color after you remove it.  And I've been using AK gloss varnish with no issues.  I thiiiiiink as long as it's acrylic-based, then you can thin with whatever you'd normally use, but the AK stuff is fine 90% of the time out the bottle.  But if you use a Tamiya one, you probably need their specific thinner.

[LameBeard]

I guess I was hoping for the lovely effect where the wash runs along the recess, the panel line, and doesn’t overflow at all - it still seemed quite prone to staining the general area even with the gloss. I’ve often been tempted by the Tamiya panel liner but then I got scared by the health warning, because most of my painting gets done in my son’s bedroom.

 

I was using Humbrol gloss varnish with their thinner through an airbrush. And I tried both citadel washes and my water-based oil paint for the wash. It looks like I’ll have to go full oil or full enamel, but not ideal for a kid’s bedroom. Maybe I can paint outside in the summer holidays.

 

 

[phandaal]

On 5/13/2025 at 3:28 AM, kabaakaba said:

Whats for you use gloss varnish? 
any time i'm see my bottle of gloss varnish i can't find a place to spill it on.

 

I use gloss and then matte varnish. Feels like the colors end up coming through a little better that way and the matte goes on smoother. Both paint-on after one too many spray can mishaps over the years. If I cannot get to it with a brush, chances are that part of the mini will never be handled anyway.

 

Also like other people said, gloss is great as a smooth surface for decals.