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Spray primer and varnish are pretty expensive. Cans of GW, Army Painter or Vallejo primer are between £8 and £10 at the moment. Matt/Gloss varnish is about the same, and when you look at the fine art market, something like Windsor & Newton sprays are around £11/£12 a can.

But these aren't exactly 'specialist' material - primers and varnishes are used in loads of fields outside miniature painting.

So, any tips? Any handy products you've used that are cheaper and just as good? I know (from listening to the ICs talk about Osh primer) that craft store primer is used by many in the US and seems to be a lot cheaper, but I'm not sure there's a UK equivalent.

(It's probably best stating which country your recommendation is for - it's usually difficult to ship spray cans across borders!)

Hardware store primer is cheaper, Vallejo polyurethane primer is cheaper, but without an airbrush you'll be hairy brush painting it which isn't ideal.

On the varnish side, I've mostly swapped to airbrush my varnish. A small bottle goes a long way when you aren't spraying half of it in to the atmosphere like when you use a spray can. You can also buy hardware store varnishes but I haven't found ones I liked.