Matte

[mrmstwk]

What does matte do for paints and how do you use them.

[psyberwolfe1]

Matte what? Additive or varnish? Matte is ultimately the condition of not being glossy. Most paints are matte in nature while others are somewhat semi-glossy or satin.

[WizardOne]

What does matte do for paints and how do you use them [??]

A matte finish on the completed item keeps it from looking like a cartoony, shiny toy.

 

Think about how new toys look, whatever color(s) they are they are also glossy and shiny. A matte finish helps your miniature look like it might be real—only very small. Most full-scale things are not glossy.

[Mercius]

Like everyone else has said, matte finish helps keep the mini from being shiny, also sometimes it can help blends that aren't quite seamless appear so when done in more than one coat...although too many coats and the mini could start to appear frosted.

[mrmstwk]

What does matte do for paints and how do you use them [??]

A matte finish on the completed item keeps it from looking like a cartoony, shiny toy.

 

Think about how new toys look, whatever color(s) they are they are also glossy and shiny. A matte finish helps your miniature look like it might be real—only very small. Most full-scale things are not glossy.

thank you so much,

[mrmstwk]

Like everyone else has said, matte finish helps keep the mini from being shiny, also sometimes it can help blends that aren't quite seamless appear so when done in more than one coat...although too many coats and the mini could start to appear frosted.

thank you

[haldir]

Oddly enough I wanna say in German, Matt is the same as Flat, thou oddly I say matte more then flat .

 

Being that I work on Tamiya models, you get like 3 or 4 different languages in the instructions, so you get to see what the other languages are for say red, or black, etc etc.

 

It's really surprising to see how much difference a matte appearance is from a glossy appearance, epically for details. Good example I sprayed a racing steering wheel with a light sky blue color & the buttons on the center of the wheel were a bit hard to pick out. I then sprayed a coat of Tamiya Matte finish & everything "cleared" up so to speak. That & at least for me, it'll help the paint go on better. I guess something about surface tension???

[Madog Barfog]

What does matte do for paints and how do you use them.

 

Matte works at the hardware store and mixes and shakes my housepaint for me. Oh, wait, that's Matt.

 

 

I guess something about surface tension???

 

Surface tension is a property of fluid, what you are experiencing, Haldir, is surface texture. Gloss paints will leave a smooth texture, reflecting light well. It still looks smooth under magnification. Smooth is usually considered an ideal painting surface.

 

Matte or flat paint has tiny plates that leave a rougher texture. This breaks up light and generally looks better in scale, since full sized objects would have to be insanely polished to look as shiny as they do in scale. Clear matte is just paint without pigment and is used as a final coat to make something less shiny if it has been painted with gloss paint or is otherwise shiny from having a very smooth surface.

 

Clear matte can be overused - if too many coats are applied, the plates from the subsequent coats can actually start to fill in the gaps. This means that if you keep painting coats of matte after maximum flatness has been achieved, the model can become glossier, although not necessarily as gloassy as before. The cure, oddly enough, is to paint the model with clear gloss, effectively allowing you to start over with the matte.