when to varnish

[Guest]

Hi all,

just airbrushed my first model, was pleasently supried how well it came out after thinking airbrushing was a black art for many years.Do i now spray with vallego varnish or do i weather with wash then varnish, please advise.

Regards

Tony

[John]

Varnish then wash, the varnish will protect the paint so you can wipe off excess wash without the paint coming off, then you can put on another coat of varnish once everything is finished to seal it

[Guest]

I always do a gloss varnish over the finished paint then put on the decals and another coat of gloss varnish before weathering. Two reasons, one is it protects the main paint from handling and the other is that washes, filters and general weathering seem to go better over a gloss finish. Once weathered then matt it down, if needed, with a few dusting coats of matt or satin varnish, whichever finish you prefer

[Guest]

It depends on the type of wash you want to use. A general all over wash that you want to tone down an area as well as enhance shadows is far better being applied to a matt finish. If however you just want to apply a wash to recessed detail and remove the excess then you will be better applying it to a gloss surface as the excess can be removed far more easily.

You might find this interesting:

http://www.scale-models.co.uk/tutorials/11245-simple-basic-wash-tutortial.html#post81220

[stona]

I follow the same routine as Graham. I would be careful applying a clay based wash like Promodeller over a matte finish. You may find the excess very difficult to remove leaving you with a very weathered look which might not have been your intention. As an aircraft modeller I don't want things TOO dirty!

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

That's exactly the difference I was trying to make Steve. Some subjects such as an old steam coaster may need an all over weathering and toning down of colour, which is where you would use a wash over a matt surface, where as sometimes as with an aircraft you may only want to enhance the recessed panel lines. In this case a wash over a gloss surface is the best way.

If you are putting a wash over a matt surface you accept that you are not intending removing any of the wash afterwards consequently the wash should be built up slowly and selectively.

The coaster in the pictures have had three different colour washes applied, none of which were removed in any way afterwards, which was quite deliberate. The funnel is a mixed semi gloss and the brown is matt.

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[Guest]

On the other hand of course applying a wash over a matt finish on a subject such as the Revell U-Boat would have made it far to dark and so in this case I gave it a coat of future, applied the wash, wiped off the excess then finished off with a matt clear coat.

It all depends on what you are after as a final finish but the two methods of applying a wash should be understood as quite different and both have thier uses in the relevent circumstances.

In this case a wash was even used to enhance raised detail:

http://www.scale-models.co.uk/under-construction/2410-revell-1-72nd-type-vii-u-boat.html

Have a look at post number 15

[stona]

Just got back online and saw your pictures Richard. Very nice they are too. I absolutely agree that how you apply a wash is very model dependent. It's probably more important than what type of wash you use. As a cautionary tale I once applied a sludge wash over what turned out to be an uncured coat of Klear. Result? I couldn't remove the wash leaving me a very dirty airplane which was a shame as the real one was shot down five weeks after it was built. Oh well!

Cheers

Steve