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Hi. I'm working on some figures, and am using Citadel Gehenna's gold. It looks good. The problem I am having is this: I have been using some acrylic gloss floor wax to give my minis wear protection, topped off with some Testor's Dullcoat brushed on. For non-metallic areas this works well.

I tried the gloss clearcoat on top of the Gehenna's Gold, and it makes it super shiny, too much so. So I tried the Testors Dullcoat on top, and it totally killed the metallic sheen. So what I am asking is is there some sort of product you all would recommend to replace the Testors Dullcoat and knock back the gloss a bit to about the original level? Or if there is another glossy clear coat option that might work better, let me know that as well, please.

Thank you.

Try a satin varnish rather than a matt? Vallejo 62.063 is the one I use. It's not bad, maybe slightly too Matt if I'm being picky.

You can also retouch the metallic bits with the metallic highlight color, either drybrush or redo the final edge layer highlight. Just adding back a little of the luster brings the overall metallic look back most of the time

Apply a thin coat of lamian medium.

Feel free to call me crazy but I've found contrast paint apothecary white to really work well for some reason in muting metals.

Part of your problem could be that you're using a floor varnish. That's possiblely TOO glossy. A miniature orientated gloss varnish might give you a less intense finish that doesnt overclock the metal finish. As far as i know there's not a matte varnish that wont completely kill metallics. As Crispy suggested, maybe try a satin varnish see what results that gives you.

 Leopold Helveine wrote:
Feel free to call me crazy but I've found contrast paint apothecary white to really work well for some reason in muting metals.

You might well be crazy. But that sounds interesting enough for me to try as I'm curious as to the results.

I just wouldnt varnish your metallics tbh. If youre spraying on and cant avoid areas then spray varnish first and paint the metallics after.

metallic paint is pretty tough usually? I dont think it needs protecting that much.

 Kalamadea wrote:
You can also retouch the metallic bits with the metallic highlight color, either drybrush or redo the final edge layer highlight. Just adding back a little of the luster brings the overall metallic look back most of the time

This is somewhat like what I do.

I tend to use matte varnish on metals and when I feel like they look too dulled I touch some highlights where I want them with a gloss varnish again.