Ye Olde Inn

Hey all, just curious. What do you use for sealing your painted minis somthey can be durable enough for table play?

Ive read to use a gloss coat then spray a matte varnish over that. Does anyone do this, and if so, what brands do you use?

Does anyone hand brush on varnishes?

Anyone have experience with testors dullcote for the matte finish?

Any other advice you think valuable would be greatly appreciated as well.

Thanks,
- Rusty

I don't.

I don't know what crappy paints people are using or how much they bash their models together if they feel they need to varnish their plastic models. I think it may be a holdover from the metal miniature days since the paint doesn't stick so well and the weight of the model itself can be enough to chip paint off if they bump. I don't even varnish my older metal models and they still don't get much visible damage at all.

I do and I don't, it all depends on what I plan on doing with my mini's and what paint I am using.

If I use the old enamel type paint, I don't varnish my mini's.
If I use acrylic paint I do varnish my mini's. I probably don't need to varnish them with the acrylic paint but I do anyways. I just figured with kids using the mini's, it gives them an added protection from there grubby fingers.

I have used two brands of varnishes on my mini's, Kyrlon Matte Varnish and Vallejo Matte and Gloss Varnish. Both work well in my mind. The Krylon is spray on, and the Vallejo I normal brush on in certain areas.

Hope this helps...a little.

cornixt wrote:I don't know what crappy paints people are using or how much they bash their models together if they feel they need to varnish their plastic models.

Don't judge! I have found the HeroQuest models, in particular, to be very prone to paint chipping, sometimes during the very painting process. And I use nothing but GW and Vallejon Paints, with a few Army Painter washes thrown in.

Since these models should be seeing lots of gaming use, I have decided to varnish them all -- and I am not even a huge fan of varnishing either. I have used Valljo Matte Varnish and painted it on with a brush (due to the HQ models' relatively small size and open poses, this doesn't take too long). That being said, I have recently made some promising experiences with Army Painter spray varnish -- although I am still too afraid of ending up with a frosted over look to try this on a regular basis.

I've got good results with scale models using Humbrol acrylic varnish matt, don't see why it wouldn't work just as well on minis.

Thanks all. I have some vallejo varnish i can brush on but havent tried it. I heard the gold standard for painting metal minis is a coat of gloss followed by matte varnish. I am fearful of the frosting though. Kraut, when you brush it on, do you thin the vallejo varnish?

No. I don't let it pool on the miniature, though, and I usually work from a palette and/or a piece of newspaper to get rid of excess varnish on the brush. Also be aware of the fact that the varnish will end up taking a toll on the brush, so you had best not use your most expensive brush for the task

Cool I just had the same question because I am close to the finish line with my models.

I was also wondering if I should only use the matt varnish on the nonshiny parts and gloss varnish for the shiny parts like swords, gold etc? Is that how people would do it or does the matt varnish still looks good on the shiny bits?

Still on the fence if I should varnish at all, because I like the look they have now.

I have only ever really had bad results from varnishing.
Now I find that’s it’s better just to touch up the few models that do lose some paint, rather than varnishing hundreds of models and being depressed about most of them.

Pancho wrote:I have only ever really had bad results from varnishing.
Now I find that’s it’s better just to touch up the few models that do lose some paint, rather than varnishing hundreds of models and being depressed about most of them.

Thanks Pancho! Thats what I needed to hear. I just leave em.