Vallejo Model Color 500 ml Matt Acrylic Varnish

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Safety: Mecha Color is not flammable, and does not contain solvents. Please see also certified safety information of the product on the Safety sheet. I've had great results using matte coats on my minis. It's usually user error if it gets "frosty" . I don't know what you mean by using it as a wash, it's a spray can. But I accidentally sprayed my Skyshield Landing pad with high gloss enamel paint. I thought I was utterly screwed, but three coats of properly applied matte spray, followed by another when I was done painting and you wouldn't know there had ever been any gloss paint near it. The matte finish on both is a bit superior to the standard PU varnish, as in it's slightly more matte, but also slightly more expensive than the standard PU varnish. Both are suitable for airbrush or brush use, and all vallejo varnishes I've used have been the same 'paint like' consistency. Now I have used the products mentioned above with my airbrush and they achieve very good results. My current varnish to thinner ratio is 5:1. I’m working at ~22 PSI and coating the figure so that the varnish goes on wet, so a little closer than the distance I would normally spray at.

There are exceptions to the rule but this is the rule I follow and have, as I said never had a problem. Now most of us want our models to look the best we can make them. A gloss coated miniature looks out of place on the table and pales next to one with a more matt finish. So if you want to protect your miniatures and have them matt you need to use both products.

I've heard mostly Satin for doing the washes. Now that I think about it a bit more, it seems most of the remarks on applying varnish to facilitate the flow of washes was using a Satin Wash. I've been following Buypainted's tutorials on youtube for the most part, on the Dark Vengeances set(my first 40K minis) and first models since I was a kid. He does satin.... wash.... final highlights, then satin again. I was leaning towards the gloss because I'd read it somewhere, and the fact that my first 5 miniatures frosted pretty bad using my airbrush. I had to use a gloss coat to rescue them from the Simple Green(I'd already started 2 over). Edit edit - Another interpretation of what you mean is to paint over the gloss varnish by hand to add more detailing. Yes and no, see the comment above about the spray not getting into all the crvices. You can mitigate that somewhat by very careful spraying, but ultimately you're spraying a clear liquid and estimating ceverage is hard. So that leaves vallejo PU varnishes. They do a standard polyurethane, which is fine, or their 'premium' line. Lately, they've also introduced the mecha varnish. I'm 99% convinced the latter two are the same stuff, or at least very, very similar. The main difference is the paint line they're attached to - premium is marketed at airbrushed RC cars, mecha line at airbrushed gundam etc. Mecha varnish is available in a 17ml size, while the smallest premium bottle is 60ml IIRC. I usually do 2 coats of varnish to seal the paintjob, and noticed that I can’t really get this stuff to come out of my AB properly with lower psi settings (15-20psi), it just won’t. Also, when it clogs, it seems to dry at the needles tip and suddenly spews varnish chunks when trying to clean it. I would be extremely careful using that spray bottle. It could come out clumpy or spotty. In fact I wouldnt try it at all, but that's me.

Hello guys, I am new to the forum, nice to meet this active community. My apologies for any possible mistake, my english are bad :/ If you are spending many hours painting miniatures then protecting your paint work is part of the painting process. Plastic miniatures hold up well to repeat handling but metal and resin miniatures can often scratch or chip. To counter this unwanted damage many of us coat our figures in a protective layer of varnish. Oh and the sprayer bottle.. I doubt that it would work. The nozzle will get clogged very easily I fear. For a final layer, you usually want a matt finish; though sometimes a satin finish is more suitable for tyranids or the like. This is purely personal preference, and some people even prefer a gloss finish (weirdos!) Hey Psy, I wrote anther edit as you must have been typing. I've never heard anyone recommending that you paint your mini gloss before completion. Fair enough if it works for them, but I'm frankly HORRIFIED at the concept. Gloss paint is super smooth, it doesn't take drybrushing AT ALL, it screws with your opacities, and if you paint with thinned paint it encourages your layers to slide into the crevices as you describe (I use a consistency approaching milk to achieve a smooth finish when painting with a brush).So far I have been pretty happy with the Vallejo one, though after the success of Galeria’s other products I will give theirs a go when my current supply has run out.

FWIW, I wouldn't put lacquer varnish through an airbrush. You can, but you definitely need good ventilation and an organic filter face mask, and you're not going to be popular with anyone else sharing the same space! So acrylic is definitely better under that circumstance! It's just modern water-based PU does it better yet... The other very popular option is rattle can based, Testors Dullcote. Goes on extremely matte, and dries very tough, being a lacquer. Also stinks like the devil! THEN you have what the varnish is made of. For modelling there are basically three types; acrylic, polyurethane (PU), and lacquer. In price, acrylic is cheapest, lacquer is most expensive. In terms of protection, acrylic is the worst, PU is very good, and lacquer is slightly better. In terms of toxicity, acrylic and PU aren't, and lacquer can be a bit toxic (it certainly smells!) I still have 100 of mls of acrylic varnish but I've relegated it to craft project status, simply because considering the amount of effort and expensive paint (and the price of the models themselves!) that goes into these things, the cost of the varnish is piddling. But like, that's my opinion and I can afford to do so; YMMV.

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So at this point I’m open to suggestions, is it me that I’m using this stuff incorrectly? This doesn’t really happen with my Vallejo resin varnish when going through the airbrush, they seem to go much smoother without much thinning.