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Hey Folks.

I've been painting up some of my corsairs and when done, applying vallejo's spray matte varnish which i really like for evening out the model and getting rid of the shinyness cused by inks and so on.

It does however dull up my metallics, which i can live with, however i was wondering if anyone has every perhaps tried applying localised brush-on gloss varnish to counteract this effect?

Any tips would be great.

FTL

Gloss brushed on won't reshine your metallics. You'll need to reapply a thin layer of the metallics over the top of the varnish. Personally I'd just leave it as I like the effect. I think metallics can be too glittery without a matte effect.

How dull is dull? Just very matte or noticeably frosted? If the finish is just very matte, a semi-gloss brush on varnish like Model Master Acryl Semi-Gloss Clear will work fine. Thin it with a bit of water & flow aid for best results.

If what you're noticing on your model is more akin to frosting or hazing it's because the varnish doesn't like the underlying surface of the paint. The problem is easily avoided by applying a thin coat of matte medium over the paint before varnishing. It gives the model a uniform surface, so there's no risk of surprises when varnishing over certain paints (like metallics and ghost tints). I prefer to airbrush a thin coat over the entire surface, but brushing on a couple of thin coats over specific parts of the model would work fine.

Vallejo has a metallic-speciic varnish which they claim doesn't take away from the raw finish. Not sure if it works of if its just relabeled gloss varnish.

Thank for the tips... i think i will just live with it... i CAN live with it.

FTL

 fasterthanlight wrote:
Thank for the tips... i think i will just live with it... i CAN live with it.

FTL

Sysko quote?

Sounds like it, good choice...

I reapply a gloss after matte varnish all the time and whilst it doesn't gain the same shine back it does work well enough. Generally do a gloss coat, matte coat and then re-do gloss on metallics or other bits I want to be shiny.

 Horst wrote:

 fasterthanlight wrote:
Thank for the tips... i think i will just live with it... i CAN live with it.

FTL

Sysko quote?

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
Gloss brushed on won't reshine your metallics. You'll need to reapply a thin layer of the metallics over the top of the varnish. Personally I'd just leave it as I like the effect. I think metallics can be too glittery without a matte effect.

This. Either repaint the metallics or leave them dull.

I use GW munitorum spray varnish, it's satin/matt doesn't dull the metallics quite as much as pure Matt, it will still dull them though. It's unavoidable, but a necessary evil unless you store your models in a glass cabinet and never touch/use them.

Ignore the horror stories about it also, I've sprayed 2 entire armies with it and no issues/frosting, just follow the instructions and do a little research into using spray varnishes beforehand, and test on asingle model first if in doubt.

I know some people paint everything but the metallics, varnish the mini and then paint the metallics at the end.