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Hiya,
I've been having trouble with using varnish over the GW metallic paints, particularly the old ‘tin bits’. Been painting some Necron a brass/bronze scheme, first I tried the Army Painter anti-shine, which I’m normally quite happy with, but it murdered the metallic, making the steels go grey and the bronzes brown. I also tried Vallejo matt, but it too dulled the finish. GW Spray had a similar, but not so pronounced, effect. The only one I’ve found so far that did not reduce the metallic ‘sparkle’ is ‘Ard coat, which spoils the final paint effect, as I am using it on other parts of the model to get a weathered/chipped lacquer effect.

Does anyone know of a satin or matt varnish that will allow the true paint colour through without altering the reflective properties of the metallic paints?

Its a well known issue with varnishing over metals, and to my knowledge the only solution is to reapply over the top, sorry.

Unfortunately, matte varnish will do that to metallic paint. Either don't use a varnish or use satin. Depending on much is metallic (since they are Necrons, I assume quite a bit) you can always go back and reapply paint where you want afterward.

You could try spraying gloss then a matte over the gloss. OR a satin that is a bit glossier than matte. Usually works for me.

Bugger... . The base coat is tinbits with a gunmetal and a gold sponged over it, so over-painting is not really an option.
Cheers anyway

 Sammoth wrote:
You could try spraying gloss then a matte over the gloss. OR a satin that is a bit glossier than matte. Usually works for me.

I would highly suggest doing this^. The varnish that you should paint directly onto the "Tin Bitz" should be this stuff http://www.liquitex.com/glossmediumvarnish/
Then paint your matte varnish over that. I also suggest this http://www.liquitex.com/Varnish/