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Having recently joined the airbrush crowd, I'm discovering how much i love blasting paint through it. Saving so so so so much time on my zenithal priming groups of minis. Now that I've got the priming and ink through it, I'm curious about another medium going through - varnish. I own satin and gloss varnish from liquitex. I've used them as brush on, which isn't my favorite. I want to know: 1. Has anyone used this in an airbrush? 2. If yes, how did you thin it? Did you use airbrush thinner or something else? 3. Does it require different means to clean after using? I'm super paranoid about clogging or ruining this new tool of mine. I found out Stynylrez primer wasn't just pour in and go. Made for a fun clean up with my first go at priming. There's a ton of stuff I'm seeing on testors dullcote from the bottle and mixing it with their thinner, but I'm hoping to use what i have if it's possible. I'm not asking what you use as much as I'm seeking specifically "has anyone used liquitex varnish in their airbrush? " And... any pictures of your results?

I'm planning to test some different ways of varnishing Bones, since there is some confusion and some materials seem to dry sticky, or turn sticky after some time. This is going to be a long-term experiment because of the aforementioned change over time. I have a dozen rats and five mummies from the first two Bones Kickstarters which I have painted up in colors known for their shininess (the blacks and reds on the rats) and their matte qualities (the grey bases and the linen color on the mummies). These are super quick paints, just there to test the results. Once they are fully cured I plan to number them under their bases and experiment with different combinations of matte and gloss finish, including at least one unvarnished of each type. I plan to report back after some time has passed.

The goal is to make a miniature's shield look almost like a cracked crystal portal (to a galaxy). My thought to achieve this is to create an illusion of depth with an underpainting, MANY layers of varnish, and even small touches of paint between layers. Being a mini, there won't be too much bulk, but I wondered if anyone had any experience with a project like this and could offer any pointers. Would this idea work?

I seal my miniatures with Liquitex High Gloss Varnish through an airbrush and then do a matte coat. Last year, I put a number of figures away sealed with gloss but did not get around to putting a matte coat on them. Figures were primed with Badger Stynylrez, had several paint brands used on them and washed with an ink/liquitex medium/flow improver/slow dri home made mix. Some of these figures were Reaper Bones, some were not. They were all kept in a display case that, while not airproof, does keep dust out and is not in direct sunlight. The metal, resin and hard plastic figures have cured just fine and are not sticky at all. Even the bases of the bones figures, which are green stuff or plastic are not sticky. Only the bones figures themselves have become tacky. Some are barely sticky, some are so sticky I can press my finger to them and life the figure up without fear of it falling. I don't know when the problem happened, but the figures were sealed at various points last year and some had no issues for at least weeks after being sealed. Other bones painted at the time that were not sealed do not have this issue. The problem seems to be some kind of reaction with the bones material and the liquitex high gloss varnish that happens through the primer/paint. I've only read up on issues with them becoming tacky when aerosols that react with the bones material. I'm concerned if I matte them, the tackyness will just come through again. I had some issues with the same problem with Liquitex High Gloss and bones a few years ago when I started using it. After some change in application/use I eventually got it to work without issue (or at least with no immediate issue.) Has anyone else experienced your bones becoming tacky months after being sealed with no issues beforehand? Any idea why it is happening or if there is something I can do to fix and/or prevent it?

Hey folks! A newcomer to the forums just made a comment that they did not know what Dullcote was, so after explaining what it was and adding a pic of the can, I thought I would add a link to a discussion on sealers.... Imagine my surprise when I searched the pinned resources to find nothing listed! Now a search of this forum gave me many hits to a lot of different threads, but they were all about a problem, or people asking questions or something other. So I decided to start a thread talking about Sealers. Now I use Dullcote Spray Lacquer from Testors, and have been using it for over 30 years. I am not liable to change any time soon... I like the nice flat coat that it always gives me when I use it. It does have it's drawbacks though. It can hide?, remove?, blur?, your subtle high lights. (Not sure what the right word is, but your high lights can disappear. This has only happened to me once, when I was painting my Behir, and I was not a happy camper. Went back and did them again a little stronger, and didn't have the problem again... Spray sealers can 'Frost' if they are sprayed on in areas of high humidity. This will make you tear your hair out, as your wonderful paint job now looks like it has been out in the cold over night.... I have fixed this at last once by re spraying in a non humid environment, but not something I want to experience again.... When I need to put Decals, or water slide transfers as they are sometimes known, I will use Glosscote on the model before doing the decaling. The reason for this is that the Gloss finish is much smoother, making the decal fit to the model better. (there are other things that I do as well, but this isn't about decaling) I have read that some folks will Glosscote, then Dullcote their gaming pieces, as the Glosscote offers better protection, and the Dullcote takes the shine back off... The only difference in the cans is the cap of the Glosscote is clear, while the Dullcote looks frosted, so I have started writting on the cans with a sharpie so that I am sure which is which. I have some 30 year old Polly S Flat Finish brush on sealer, as well as Testors Aztek Clear Matte Airbrush sealer, but I have used neither as of now... I also have a pot of GW 'Ardcote, that I bought not knowing it is nothing more than a clear gloss sealer. I have used this on gems or critter tongues, things I want shiny, but as it gets applied to my minis after Dullcote, I don't know how it would react to paint. I know that our hosts Reaper make a brush on sealer, but I have no experience with it... So chime in folks with your experiences and brands of sealers that you use! George

So all, I just finished something this morning, the combination of middle age and wanting to get things done before people start waking up and make me do other random fun things (like take down the Christmas decorations) and I want to seal it. I normally wait for a day for whatever reason, but I'd like to get this figure finished and move on. Is there a recommended minimum drying time for paint before you throw varnish on it?

I have been using Testors Dullcote on all the bones models I paint as a final varnish following the satin purity seal varnish I have. I have tried looking for more varnish here in the UK and every online shop seems to be out of stock. What makes it worse it seems that our postal service has decided that posting and handling aerosol cans is more dangerous then anything so the cost of postage has go up for couriers. Can anyone recommend an alternative Matt varnish or lacquer that is readily available in the UK? Thanks

I've been encountering some problems in a search for a new varnish. Mostly on leftover sprues that I've painted up just to test varnish. I started painting off and on again last year and eventually decided I had enough of spray sealers and wanted to go brush on/airbrush. I haven't moved on to the airbrush stage yet as I've been having problems actually finding a varnish. I've got two that seem to work well for the gloss coat, Liquitex High Gloss Varnish and Vallejo Gloss Varnish. Occasionally a coat will stay very slightly tacky after it has dried (multiple days). Sometimes (but very rarely) it dries just fine. At first I thought it might be my wash, as I'm following instructions to make Lester Bursley's washes. After some testing I did realize that with too much brushing the ink can reactivate, but doesn't always cause the tacky problem. I give the paint multiple days to dry before sealing. I've tried very thin layers, thick layers, watered down layers, multiple layers etc and all have the same, occasional problem. The gloss coat is just occasionally slightly tacky. Now this isn't super tacky, just to the point that when I press down with a finger it will stick to it for a second or two then fall off (longer when it happens with bones, due to their lightness). Even the ones that don't end up tacky exhibit this, but fall off almost instantly. Also, after they have cured, if I leave a piece touching another piece for a few days they will stick to each other slightly. I never had this problem with sprays. I haven't been able to find any problem like this online. Is this something inherent in the formula of gloss brush ons that sprays don't exhibit? Is it likely to stop if I airbrush it on? Putting a satin/matt coat (also liquitex/vallejo brush on) over the gloss does reduce this stickyness drastically, especially in the ones that are particularly bad. It only completely eliminates it in some of them.

Hello All, This is my first post so please excuse any incorrect use of etiquette here. I hope this hasn't been posted elsewhere. I have searched for varnishing tips and I get conflicting information all over the net. Each person has their own methods and what works for them it seems. I have a pewter mini I purchased through Reaper. (Lucius Panderwagon) It is my first one. I have just about finished painting it and I purchased some varnish to complete it. I have Liquitex Matte Varnish. The liquid inside looks cloudy and when I test paint it on a surface it gives it a light frosting. Should I be using this as a varnish? Does anyone have any better suggestions for this? Just want to say thanks in advance for all the contributions on this forum. All the information has been very helpful in getting my first project going. Lots of fun.

Hello, everyone. I recently finished a miniature I had been working on for a few days. Proud of the paint job, and knowing it was going to be used for tabletop gaming, as is my standard, I applied 2 coats of spray-on Matte Krylon. (Exact product: http://www.amazon.com/Krylon-Matte-Finish-Spray-Artists/dp/B000RMPT0C/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1369944326&sr=8-9&keywords=dullcote) Imagine my surprise when I noticed, "Hey, this thing is kinda shiny....." Now, I have never before used glossy varnish, until a few months ago when I began to paint again, and read about the technique of bullet-coating, where you spray a layer of gloss (because it helps to protect the paint job,) and then do a final spray in matte, to dull-down the gloss. When I tried that before, I could still see the "gloss" underneath, and decided "I'm not doing this again." But....what do you do when you need to dull down the gloss produced by a matte spray? Is there anything I can do to reduce the shininess of the finished miniature, like, spray it again with a different product? Has anyone else experienced this? Krylon varnish is fairly new to me, but if this is going to happen again, I'm not going to use this stuff anymore. I just want a spray that protects, but doesn't change the look of the finished miniature. Thanks, in advance, all, and I am sure you will see some pics popping up from me soon. I have an entire set of Townsfolk I want to get done...just dealing with some camera issues. Cheers!

Hi all, Quick question: I was in Kansas City this weekend and visited a hobby store there, Tabletop Games. Really nice place and they carry the full line of Reaper paints. I got a brush on sealer 09107 because I'm running out of the Vallejo stuff I had. So the question is - is this Reaper sealer a flat, matte finish or does it have a shine to it? Thanks, Mark