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Hello Dakka,
I am about to start painting my first 40k army. I have painted an O&G army several years ago, but this time I want to use quick shade dip. I have a question about the order of operations: should I highlight and apply transfers before or after dipping (and drying)?

Thank you

for highlights its your choice. for transfers you definitely want to put them on after the quickshade has dried but before you matte varnish.

I have been using Quickshade strong tone for about 2 years and have tried many combinations/techniques and I would suggest the following:

Prime--->base coat---->highlights----->details----->gloss varnish decal areas---->decals----->touch-ups----->quickshade----->paint lenses, gems, eyes--->matte or satin varnish

There are some other things that I have run into which you may find helpful

- before using Quickshade, buy some mineral spirits (aka white spirits) - Mona Lisa brand is awesome, cheap and you can get it from artist or craft stores. You can use it to thin Quickshade (as advised by the manufacturer). It can also be used to make oil washes as well as blend and fade streaks made with acrylic or oil paint.

- paint Quickshade on with an old synthetic brush rather than dipping. You will have more control of it where it goes and how much. You can also apply right there at your desk rather than dipping and splattering it everywhere when you go to shake off the extra from dipping. When you paint, don't work directly from the can. Take a plastic spoon and transfer a small amount into something like the cap off a Gatoraid bottle. Add a drop or two of the mineral spirit to thin it out a bit. Wipe any goop off the lid and inside edge of the can to get a good seal. If you don't get a good seal, the solvent inside evaporates and you end up with brown jello.

- paint from the top down as if you made it too thin, it will drip down. Make sure you get all of the area where you are working as it gets sticky fast and will show brush strokes if you have to go back in.

- work on maybe 5 units at a time, and while the Quickshade is still fresh, take cotton swab and wet it with the mineral spirit. Roll the wet swab over areas where you want to recover your highlight as well as any pools.

- Quickshade leaves a gloss coat which is perfect to apply decals if you want to skip the gloss varnish as mentioned above . However, you may want to go over the decal again with another brushed coat of quickshade to weather it a bit, seal it on, and give it the extra protection. If you do the decals before quickshade, make sure that there are no wrinkles as Quickshade will flow into them and make the decal look like ass.

- matte varnish looks good on colors like blue, green, red. Satin looks good on black, grey, white, and any color on vehicles.

Its a good product....a bit expensive but there are alternatives for less such as Minwax varnish (antique walnut I believe is what people use). I was surprised that a lot of people have a low opinion of the dipping technique and consider it "cheating" but its a tool and it is not idiot proof. I have moved onto other techniques but I still go back to the shade sometimes. I probably would have given up when I first started if I did not try dipping (and later painting it on) as my first attempts were horrible.