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Made in si
Camouflaged Zero






First I would like to say I mostly use Vallejo products and I am very satisfied with them.

So...I recently bought Vallejo polyurethane satin and matt varnish. The problem is as follows. No matter what I do, matt varnish
always comes out glossy even more than satin varnish. I've tried everything I could think of. Thin coats, heavy coats, diluted, undiluted.
I shooke the bottle like there is no tomorrow. I even made an adapter so I could mix the bottle/paint with an electric drill.
I can mix the paint perfectly each and every time.

But...matt varnish won't give in. Glossy finish every single time.
Is it possible that is a bad bottle, or Am I doing something wrong? Do you guys have any tips maybe?

My questions are to those who use it. How good is it? Is it durable enough. How flat is it ?
It is worth buying again ?

I really appreciate any help you guys can provide.




This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/11/14 17:42:49


 
   
Made in au
Grizzled Space Wolves Great Wolf





I have Vallejo's PU Satin varnish and I quite like it, but you have to really properly mix it.

Look at the bottom of the bottle, it'll be caked in white stuff, that white stuff is what makes it matte.

No amount of shaking will release it for me, I cut off a long piece of sprue and remove the cap and physically stir the varnish, making sure to shift the white stuff at the bottom.

If that still doesn't work, I dunno. I thin mine roughly 50/50, maybe 60/40 thinner to varnish using Vallejo's own airbrush thinner.

I quite like Vallejo's PU varnish (opposed to their PU primer which I hate ) though I have mostly swapped to using Testors Dullcote instead. It comes in a little glass bottle and I thin it with Gunze's Mr Color Self Levelling Lacquer Thinner. The main reason I swapped to the Testors stuff is it dries faster and I don't need to stir the white stuff in, a quick couple of shakes and it's all blended together nicely.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/11/14 17:48:53


 
   
Made in si
Camouflaged Zero






Thanks for the tips.

The bottle looks like is properly mixed. There's no deposit of white stuff at the bottom. It looks perfect...
   
Made in au
Grizzled Space Wolves Great Wolf





Yeah I dunno then. All I can say is avoid thinning too much and apply several light coats with reasonably high pressure from a reasonably long distance (not too much pressure and distance or you'll get a grainy finish though).

But it sounds like you might have already tried that.

I've only used 1 bottle of Vallejo PU satin varnish and it worked fine for me, so I can't say what the likelihood or a faulty bottle is and whether it's worth buying another one. If you do buy another one I'd be tempted to get it from a different source, often a store gets in a whole batch of bad bottles.

EDIT: If you do leave the bottle for a while, do you get a white build up in the bottom? Maybe the bottles didn't come with enough matting agent to begin with. My satin has about 3-4mm of white stuff on the bottom after sitting on the shelf for ages since I haven't used it for months.

Is your satin coming out sufficiently satin and your matte coming out gloss? As in, your matte is actually coming out glossier than the satin, or are they both similarly glossy?

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2016/11/14 18:32:27


 
   
Made in si
Camouflaged Zero






Yeah!
They both dry out with similar sheen, matt a bit glossier.

What I believe is that the matt varnish is labeled wrong. I think is actually gloss varnish.

I took some quick pics of the base painted with matt varnish.



This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 2016/11/15 07:16:09


 
   
Made in si
Foxy Wildborne







Wrong label sounds the most likely.

The old meta is dead and the new meta struggles to be born. Now is the time of munchkins. 
   
Made in si
Camouflaged Zero






Yes, prolly so.
   
 
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