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Hi everyone
after more then one year (with several months'long pauses) i finally completed my Imperial Knight
now it's time to put him inside the box :| but before i need to use a varnish to both
a) remove some "shinies" caused by decal and
b) avoid dust or bruises to ruin what at the moment is my best work ever (also the biggest one )

in the past i used the spray from GW but it was a little more "shiny"; not really tragic for a 25mm marine but i fear is too much for a 180mm knight :|
someone adviced me the matt varnish from vallejo, to be used with brushes, but my friend told me never used on model so big so he can't be sure it's the ideal product

did someone know if it's fine? or if i should use a different product, maybe a spray one?

ty for your advices!

problem whit brush varnish is you will never get an even coat and it is easy for it to pool up.

try gws munitorum. it aint as bad as a dedicated matt that relay dulls down the paint and more or less changes how the paint look, nor has it any gloss in it.
but do remember that any metallic paint you have used will look bad after using a matt or satin varnish.

I've been using Vallejo matt varnish for years and I'm very happy with it. The size of the model doesn't change the result, just (unsurprisingly) how long you it takes to brush on the stuff.

Pooling can be an issue, but Vallejo's varnish is pretty user friendly. You can layer it on pretty thick, even with multiple layers, without it fogging over. If you apply one or two thin coats as you should, there shouldn't be absolutely no problems. Where you may want to pay special attention is grids and small holes where a pooling varnish might form a skin and clog up the hole. This is easily avoided by not applying too much varnish in the first place or using a dry brush to get excess varnish out again.

Things you want to keep in mind:

Clear plastic will get dulled and foggy. If you don't want that, don't use this varnish on it.

Effect paint like Blood for the Blood God that are supposed to finish shiny should not have any varnish applied to it. For instance, Blood for the Blood God turns pink if you do that, and you don't want to ruin your paint job.

If you left the dropper bottle stand around for any amount of time, be sure to give it a good shake before using it. Before first usage, you want to shake it for a couple of minutes. You never know how long it lay in a store or warehouse.

I don't use decals myself, so I have no idea if there are any issues with them. I don't imagine there would be, but I have no experience to share at all.

Personally I prefer to apply Vallejo varnish as is. According to a friend you can water it down, but I'm not sure you should. That should result in weaker protection, I imagine, so I don't do it.

AK Interactive Ultra Matte. It makes Testor's Dullcote look satin by comparison. It makes Vallejo's matte varnish look downright glossy.

It's easy to apply by brush, and doesn't pool up and cause an uneven finish. Two thin coats is all you need. It's the best matte varnish I've ever used and I can't praise it enough.

Note that acrylic varnishes provide virtually no protection, so don't count on anything brush-on as a means of protecting the model.

i use Humbrol rattle can enamel matt. its excellent and reasonably priced. the only complaints ive heard about it are from scale model ultra nerds who complain its not matt enough for tanks.

I use munitorum varnish from gw. It worked fine

Pebeo also makes a matte varnish that works well. It's intended for paintings, not miniatures, but if you water it down 1 to 1 it goes on easily and I've never had pooling/greying.

I've also used Vajello Matte Varnish and I find it froths up when brushing it on, which is slightly annoying but manageable. But it does give a much more robust coating and works well over Vajello Gloss.

I avoid spray varnishes these days because it's so inconsistent and temperature/humidity dependent, you never know when you're going to get frosting. I've never had any serious issues with any brush-on varnish that was carefully applied.

I would use Testors Model Master Lusterless Lacquer Coat. Comes in a spray can.

Probably the BEST matt finish out there. I use it exclusively. If I want to matt something down that is gloss like a decal transparent edge I use GWs Lahmian Medium and it works very well in that application as a matting coat.

I've used a variety of spray and brush varnishes over the years from GW to Vallejo to Hardware store brands.

The Testor's Lusterless is simply the best. Results are perfect. It is also insensitive to humidity. I should know it swings between winter time extremely low humidity to summer hell humidity here. The testors works just fine summer or winter.

For brush on matte varnish, you can't go wrong with AK Interactive's Ultra-Matte Varnish. That stuff is great and it really takes the shine out of the paint, unlike Lahmian Medium which leaves a satin finish.

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
i use Humbrol rattle can enamel matt. its excellent and reasonably priced. the only complaints ive heard about it are from scale model ultra nerds who complain its not matt enough for tanks.

I use this too, ands its great stuff. Pretty cheap for can in comparison to the GW stuff.

We've just released a new range of washes in two different varieties, Heavy and Soft.

Heavy is great for really pulling out detail and giving nice deep shades as well as really getting into recesses. Our Soft versions are less pigmented and are great for dulling down highlights to bring them in line with the rest of the model without losing the detail.

As well as that, we also supply in our usual sizes and we're already working on an updated version that increases the matte levels even further.

I've had too many bad experiences with canned spray varnish. I pretty much use vallejo satin and matte varnish only now. Sure it's not quite as tough but at least it isnt toxic to breathe in and I can use it indoors, brush it on, dilute it and glaze it over armor plates etc. It's good enough for my needs and unless i'm scraping or dropping models its good enough.

Yeah I've switched away from Testors Dullcote to Vallejo matte varnish applied with airbrush. Had a couple models frost on me, plus that stuff is like $5 for a teeny tiny can. When it works, it works well, though.

The Vallejo stuff has worked very well so far for me.

I've had some recent issues with varnish so I thought it best to share what I learned:

- I used some brush on Humbrol Matt Cote for the first time in about two years. I switched to brush on after issues with frosting and normally get decent results from this, but this time round it dried gloss. I discovered that it needs a really, really, really thorough stir before use to dry matt - when you think you've stirred and shaken it enough, keep going for another 5 minutes. Even so, it can pool up and leave a few glossy areas.

- I fixed the gloss left by the brush on Matt Cote by applying a spray on coat of Humbrol Matt Varnish. This seemed to do the trick, but I have had issues with frosting before, presumably due to humidity.

I've still not found a perfect solution - in your situation I'd attempt a very thin brush on coat first, as this drying glossy is easier to fix than the frosting you can get from sprays. I'd personally suggest trying some of the varnish recommended by the other posters rather than Humbrol.

 Geifer wrote:
Effect paint like Blood for the Blood God that are supposed to finish shiny should not have any varnish applied to it. For instance, Blood for the Blood God turns pink if you do that, and you don't want to ruin your paint job.

Thanks for mentioning this - I use this sort of thing heavily on certain armies, so you may have saved me from a frustrating afternoon!

You can still varnish, just do the glossy stuff like blood and the citadel gem colors after.

 GMSchofield wrote:

 Geifer wrote:
Effect paint like Blood for the Blood God that are supposed to finish shiny should not have any varnish applied to it. For instance, Blood for the Blood God turns pink if you do that, and you don't want to ruin your paint job.

Thanks for mentioning this - I use this sort of thing heavily on certain armies, so you may have saved me from a frustrating afternoon!

No problem. I got lucky there myself. Normally I don't give such stuff much thought, but my mad science gene demanded I do some tests on a palette when I bought Blood for the Blood God.

Quasistellar wrote:
You can still varnish, just do the glossy stuff like blood and the citadel gem colors after.

Yep, that's what I do. Regular reds as a basis, then a coat of varnish. Afterwards Blood for the Blood God to complete the effect.