Matt Varnish

[JimG]

Any recommendations for a good matt varnish which will go over enamel or acrylic with no problems. I'm just about to start painting the 7mm scale goods shed and I'm looking for a good varnish to cover my brickwork painting and weathering.

Painting is not my first love in modelling and it has taken me a week or two to build up courage to start on the shed. I also found my old paints box from the 80s with a load of circa twenty-five year old Humbrol paint tins in it. I thought they might have been far gone, but I've opened two cans, and after a vigorous stir with a bit of bent wire in the power drill, the paint seems to be fine - maybe slightly thick and could do with a drop of thinner, but I'm tending to dry brush so the thicker paint is not so much of a problem.

Jim.

 

[JimG]

Testors Dullcote. An American matt aerosol varnish, more easily available over here from "Wargames" type model shops than model railway suppliers.
Here's one link - http://www.firestormgames.co.uk/3302 ...but put "Testors Dullcote uk" in Google and other suppliers will come up. May seem a tad expensive but "it does what it says on the tin"...

Jordan,

Thanks, I'll follow that link up.

Jim.

 

[mth]

or even RailMatch do an aerosol matt varnish.
http://www.howesmodels.co.uk/ 01865 848000

 

[JimG]

or even RailMatch do an aerosol matt varnish.
http://www.howesmodels.co.uk/ 01865 848000

I might have a look at their product as well since I might prefer to use an airbrush and they supply the varnish in tinlets.

Jim.

 

[28ten]

Be careful mixing acrylic and enamel, if it were me I would paint with acrylic and do any washes etc with an spirit based paint, and I wouldnt bother varnishing. Do remember you need to be careful with matt paints as you can get a powdery/chalky bloom with the matting agent, my preference is for the Alclad varnishes.
Iirc there is quite a bit of natural wood, inks (black and sepia) thinned 95% with IPA work very well to get the silvery tone of exposed timber, as always experiment on scrap

 

[JimG]

Be careful mixing acrylic and enamel, if it were me I would paint with acrylic and do any washes etc with an spirit based paint, and I wouldnt bother varnishing. Do remember you need to be careful with matt paints as you can get a powdery/chalky bloom with the matting agent, my preference is for the Alclad varnishes.

I've been messing around on the Slater's brick sheets a bit this morning using just the old Humbrol enamels - very thin mixes for mortar which wick along the courses quite well, and dry brushing on the brick faces. So if I'm happy with the results I might forego any varnishing.

Iirc there is quite a bit of natural wood, inks (black and sepia) thinned 95% with IPA work very well to get the silvery tone of exposed timber, as always experiment on scrap

I've just ordered a litre of IPA and some Dylon Shoe Leather dyes (on Steve Cook's recommendation in an S Scale Gazette article - even the editor reads the articles. ) so I should be staining by the end of the week.

Next consideration is the colour of the slates - I'll have a dig around for something suitable. I'm used to Scottish roofs where there could be a wide variety of colours, from blue to green, on one roof - possibly due to nail rot repairs over the years, or just the original slaters using what they had around at the time.

Jim.

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Be careful mixing acrylic and enamel, if it were me I would paint with acrylic and do any washes etc with an spirit based paint,

I agree with this as I have found out to my cost. From my painting experiences I have found out the following (for what it's worth) .
Acrylic paint finish - use cellulose (Testors Dullcote or Army Painter) or enamel or acrylic (Vallejo) matt varnishes
Enamel paint finish - use acrylic or enamel matt varnishes (I found cellulose based varnishes reacts with the enamel finish)
Cellulose (usually car paints) paint finish - use acrylic or cellulose matt varnish

I haven't tried Alclad or Ronseal varnishes yet so cannot comment upon their effects on various paint finishes.

 

[Phill Dyson]

Although I'm a fan of Railmatch aerosols generally, I have found that Railmatch matt varnish tends to dry with a satin sheen ..........I would never use it again

 

[28ten]

Although I'm a fan of Railmatch aerosols generally, I have found that Railmatch matt varnish tends to dry with a satin sheen ..........I would never use it again

I find matt varnish very temperamental, it needs to be mixed very thoroughly, I have had had the same happen with spraying other makes. Varnishing is always the stage at which things seem to go going slightly o/t I have never has any success spraying Future before applying decals, but the Alclad seems to work well