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I painted some space Marines very well but they look a bit shiny, would a varnish dull them out? Can you use varnish on models that have been based?

Lastly is there a way to shade a model so it is a tad darker? A dark varnish or something?

Matte varnish will remove shine. To darken an area, you could use a black or brown wash, but this won't work on white areas. Really you need to paint the colours how you need them rather than relying on a wash

Matte varnish to remove shine, the only way to darken or shade colors as far as I have found is to use an ink wash through an airbrush, you can do some cool shade effects that way.

I always varnish before applying grass/flocking to my bases. I suppose you can still varnish after it's applied, but I never tried it myself.
As for darkening your mini, as Horst said you can use a very thin wash/ink, like a filter. But it requires a lot of control to not go overboard, and I'm not sure you'll be able to find something that works on all the colors you've put down. Also it will probably lower the overall contrast, so the mini might look a lot more bland.

Sorry, quick question, why would it matter if you varnish when its based?


Thanks.

It doesn't matter if your base is just painted, but varnish will ruin the effect of things like flock or modelling foliage, and water effect, so varnish once the model is totally finished, then apply basing effects.

You're looking at matte varnish used for sealing artworks.
Look for Krylon Matte Finish at your local store/amazon. Been using it for 10+ years. Haven't found a better matte varnish spray in the market.

As for toning down the model, I personally prefer watered down paint rather than a ink wash as it tends to generate a more matte finish and you really can be liberal on it's application.

I have used Cherry Oil-Based WoodStain to lacquer models.

Models would be nicely inked with every little detail outlined, and be fully coated in a shell that protected the paint coat, all the colors would be darkened a bit with the warm colors like reds and yellows would increase in vibrancy and the cooler colors like blues and greens loose their intensity, and would have a shiny coat.
Shiny coat could be removed with a matte varnish.

If interested in Wood Staining the miniatures TEST IT FIRST ! ! ! ! ! ! Because when the Stain goes on, it will not comeoff.

Or, you can try a coat of Oil-Based inking or transparent wash shading. Mineral spirit or solvent with raw-umber or burnt-umber to darken the model. Again TEST IT FIRST!

Hmmm yeh the models are already based... Maybe I could put some tape on the bases to protect the “foliage”?

Also.
General rule to keep in mind:

Oil-based paint goes on top of the Water-based paint well. (example: Canvas Gesso for oil painting)
Water-based paint on top of Oil-based paint, depending on thickness, solvent or driver ratios, could and most likely will flake off.

If the Space Marines are already varnished (shiny, I assume varnished) then that is a Oil-Based coat.
Any washing, shading, or linking that is applied on top of varnish should be done in Oil-based paint, or if done in acrylic must be sealed again with, in your case, matte varnish.

I am not an expect in the miniature field, far from it. But do have some experience in Oil painting.
Hope that is relevant info for ya

Most of us use acrylic based varnishes, which don't create any issue when painting over.

usmcmidn wrote:
Hmmm yeh the models are already based... Maybe I could put some tape on the bases to protect the “foliage”?

Yeah just put something over them.

Don’t bother. As long as you use light coats of varnish, your basing will be fine. The only caveat is water effects, it will dull those.

 Todosi wrote:
Don’t bother. As long as you use light coats of varnish, your basing will be fine. The only caveat is water effects, it will dull those.

Which can be solved by another layer of 'Ardcoat on top to regain the gloss.

So there’s no varnish or spray that will darken a model?

usmcmidn wrote:
So there’s no varnish or spray that will darken a model?

No. Varnish is to give a uniform finish, not change the colours in any way.

Now if I did do the air brush with the inks, would it look uniform and nice? Ive never airbrushed with inks before.

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:

usmcmidn wrote:
So there’s no varnish or spray that will darken a model?

No. Varnish is to give a uniform finish, not change the colours in any way.

That's certainly the intention of varnish, although some varnishes can darken or alter the colours slightly, due to the varnish itself not being perfectly clear. And even a good matte varnish can give the appearance of darkening the colours slightly as a side-effect of removing the slight sheen from the paint or washes used on the model.