Matt spray varnish

[John D Salt]

I need to buy a can or two of matt spray varnish.

If anyone had any recommendations for personal favourites, or dire warnings of products that are overpriced/streaky/poisonous, I woud be pleased to read them.

All the best,

John.

[Mike Headden]

I’ve used Pendraken’s matt varnish recently but before that I’ve used everything from GW to Halfords car spray and never really had a problem with any of them.

In the decades of using them I’ve only twice had a bit of the spray go cloudy and that was easily fixed with an application of brush-on varnish to the affected area.

My experience is shake well (the can, not yourself), spray from the recommended distance, don’t spray if the air is damp, nor if it is particularly hot or cold and spray somewhere well ventilated … and Robert is your mother’s brother!

No doubt the doomsayers will be along shortly to list the myriad potential problems (that I’ve never encountered) and warn you against spray varnish of any sort. 🙂

There are 100 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who can work from incomplete data

[Geof Downton]

I have nearly always used Winsor and Newton Professional picture varnish, for the simple reason that it is properly matt when properly used, and can be removed without stripping the underlying paint. It seems to be out of stock everywhere at present, so I’m using the brush on variety of the same stuff.

One who puts on his armour should not boast like one who takes it off.
Ahab, King of Israel; 1 Kings 20:11

[irishserb]

Another vote for the Windsor and Newton Professional matte spray.

I did try some Testor’s Dullcoat recently, when I was out of the W&N spray, and it worked fine, but I’ve had problems with it in the past drying to varying degrees of matte and semi-gloss.

[willz]

I never use spray varnish too much to go wrong, I use paint on varnish boring and more time consuming but safer in the long run.

[Mike]

willz wrote:

I never use spray varnish too much to go wrong, I use paint on varnish boring and more time consuming but safer in the long run.

same.

[Mike Headden]

See, I said the doomsayers would be along 😀

There are 100 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who can work from incomplete data

[Mike]

🙂

[irishserb]

OOOOOH, I like it.

Mike, can that be my new forum role?

Doooomsayer!  (with lotsa “o”s)

[Tony S]

And let it be known that I too refuse to use spray sealant anymore.  Not so much because of the clouding (which happened to me once, using GW if memory serves) but because I once grabbed a can of primer instead of sealant.  Results were less than pleasant.

Some might argue that problem is more the user than the product, but once I switched to brush on sealant it has never happened again!

[Sane Max]

I always used Testors but over the last few years I have been very unhappy with the results.

I don’t like most ‘Army Painter’ products, but tried their ‘anti-shine’ and thought it did the job very well.

However over lockdown I have mostly reverted to using paint on Varnish. I won’t say what I use as when I do ‘proper painters’ look at me like I am bonkers. But it does exactly what it says on the tin.

[Guy Farrish]

Shocked! Shocked I tell you!

I was going to suggest Testors but never mind the new formula (was there really one for EU regulations ? People tell me so but I don’t know) I can’t find it in the UK at the moment. I can find lots of ads for it online but when you get there its ‘out of stock’ and has been for some considerable time.

The last lot I bought was from a Magic Supplies shop – they use it as a ‘roughing agent’ to spray on cards for various tricks. Can’t find it there either now.

I’m down to my last can of Testors and have bought an Army painter can, haven’t tried it yet but I feel more confident after your comment – although how you can trust a man who Ronseals his figures is beyond me!

[Sane Max]

Guy Farrish wrote:

although how you can trust a man who Ronseals his figures is beyond me!

See, that’s the sort of knee-jerk Ronsealist comments I have come to expect from the Wargames Community. It works just fine, gives a really good, heavy duty result and is better than any spray I ever tried. I bet YOUR chosen varnish doesn’t prevent Mildew or repel spiders. the only catch is everything goes brown and smells of Creosote.

Just Kidding, I use the Gloss Yacht Varnish then when dry the water based Matt stuff.

[willz]

Mike Headden wrote:

See, I said the doomsayers would be along

Nothing doomsayer😇about not using spray varnish, with brush on varnish you can control the amount of varnish that is applied to each individual model.  Using a brush has better quality control and allows you to be in charge of the varnish not the other way around.  Spray cans are very useful for undercoating figures, buildings, tanks and models but having spent several hours painting a figure I don’t want to have the spray varnish cause problems.  Personally I have never had a problem with brushing on varnish, so I stick to my tried, tested and proven ways.

[Not Connard Sage]

Sane Max wrote:

Guy Farrish wrote:

although how you can trust a man who Ronseals his figures is beyond me!

See, that’s the sort of knee-jerk Ronsealist comments I have come to expect from the Wargames Community. It works just fine, gives a really good, heavy duty result and is better than any spray I ever tried. I bet YOUR chosen varnish doesn’t prevent Mildew or repel spiders. the only catch is everything goes brown and smells of Creosote. Just Kidding, I use the Gloss Yacht Varnish then when dry the water based Matt stuff.

My chosen varnish is fuel proof, it was for r/c planes. Unfortunately it’s not available any more, and Testors seems to have disappeared too.

 

Anybody tried Army Painter?

Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

[WOLFSHANZA]

Another vote for Windsor Newton. used to use dullcoat but started having problems with it. usually do a magic wash then matt spray when it dries.

[McKinstry]

Another vote for Windsor Newton. I’ve used it for the last 5 years and find it does better over a wider range of humidity and is far more cost effective then Dullcote.

The tree of Life is self pruning.

[MartinR]

I used to use Humbrol spray varnish but gave up after a horrific whiteout incident. Many of my figures are done in Ronseal floor varnish which works fine, but Tbh, I haven’t varnished a figure for years now and it doesn’t cause any apparent harm.

It isn’t like  I’m throwing them at a wall or anything.  The only ones I still varnish are soft plastic ones.

"Mistakes in the initial deployment cannot be rectified" - Helmuth von Moltke

[Author]

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