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Ok I am a player except a painter, so for the battlefield's needs I need to varnish my models. The method I use is 2 coats of (vallejo) gloss varnish and then a final coat of (vallejo) matt varnish.

The result is good but when I varnish a good painted model, with a million glazes, I realize that the mid tones (the first tones over and beneath the base colour) are dulled down, almost erased. I see the very shade and the very highlightd part in the end, which is dissapointing for the time I spend to paint it well. I dont have potos of before and after but I think you got that.

I have some showcase models that I need to varnish cause I want to use em in the battlefield. Can anyone help me for what to do, or what varnish to use or something please please??
I think that if there is an answer to this complicated subject, the only forum that this can be responded is this one

Why do you use 2 coats of gloss then the last matte? Try just straight matta. Maybe these off varnishes + light is whats messing with your tones.

Other then that i have no idea.

The typical thing is that gloss tends to accentuate contrast (but it can be lost in the shininess of it) and matte tends to dull down contrast. Matte almost acts like a filter and tends to bring colours together.

The obvious first piece of advice would be to try a satin varnish, as typically your paints will be close to a satin to begin with so a satin varnish should have the least effect on them.

For airbrushing I can recommend Vallejo's Polyurethane Satin (I don't like their acrylic resin satin for airbrushing, but I do like their polyurethane satin).. However I've never tried hairy brush painting it so I can't comment about it there. If you use the polyurethane varnish make sure you shake the hell out of it before you use it, you can see the white stuff in the bottom of the bottle, that's the matting agent that makes it satin instead of gloss, so you need to shake it heaps. I usually just open it up and use a stirring stick (old piece of sprue) to stir it up.

Or else don't use a varnish at all. I personally don't use a varnish unless I need to use one (for weathering, oil paints or decals).

Snoopdeville3 wrote:Why do you use 2 coats of gloss then the last matte? Try just straight matta. Maybe these off varnishes + light is whats messing with your tones.

Other then that i have no idea.

I ve read in most of articles that. The coats of gloss help it stick and ptotect the modwl better and the matt makes the finish not shinny. I will try it only with matt...

AllSeeingSkink wrote:The typical thing is that gloss tends to accentuate contrast (but it can be lost in the shininess of it) and matte tends to dull down contrast. Matte almost acts like a filter and tends to bring colours together.

The obvious first piece of advice would be to try a satin varnish, as typically your paints will be close to a satin to begin with so a satin varnish should have the least effect on them.

For airbrushing I can recommend Vallejo's Polyurethane Satin (I don't like their acrylic resin satin for airbrushing, but I do like their polyurethane satin).. However I've never tried hairy brush painting it so I can't comment about it there. If you use the polyurethane varnish make sure you shake the hell out of it before you use it, you can see the white stuff in the bottom of the bottle, that's the matting agent that makes it satin instead of gloss, so you need to shake it heaps. I usually just open it up and use a stirring stick (old piece of sprue) to stir it up.

Or else don't use a varnish at all. I personally don't use a varnish unless I need to use one (for weathering, oil paints or decals).

For not using varnish it cant be. He acciden in metallic models is very ease despite i am very careful. Alsobi dont hve airbrush, i am a brush guy. So the only possible solution is to use only coats of satin varnish right?

Gloss varnish generally dries much harder than matte. I've always gloss coated then blasted with dullcote. I use spray or airbrush though. Cant say i've noticed the effect you mention.

I usually use a 1 or 2 coats of Satin varnish instead of multiple coats of gloss and matt.

You wont need a lot of varnish unless you are literally throwing them around on the table or storing them loose in a shoe box.

To begin with, thank you all for your answers!

Eggs wrote:Gloss varnish generally dries much harder than matte. I've always gloss coated then blasted with dullcote. I use spray or airbrush though. Cant say i've noticed the effect you mention.

I checked your library to see if I can find my situation, of course I don't know where you used varnish, but I think that lost some tones in your blue goblins. I may be mistaken, just check it.

Desubot wrote:I usually use a 1 or 2 coats of Satin varnish instead of multiple coats of gloss and matt.

You wont need a lot of varnish unless you are literally throwing them around on the table or storing them loose in a shoe box.

In opposition I am very careful and I think you are right 2 coats max. In plastic minis, 1 coat is super enough I suppose..