Opinions on varnishing gaming models

[late kindle]

I often watch Marco Frisonis videos. He's generally against varnishing your models, because it kills some of the look of the paint job. It's also always really annoying to handle with models that have metal paint on them, since mat varnish will kill the shine, so you kinda have to give the model two different varnishes, but that's a different story.

Generally I paint with lots of inks and contrast paints. Paints that are easily scratched off when handling a model during a game. Lately also using oil paints.

I play warmachine, and it's often really stressful during the last 20 minutes of the game. Models easily get knocked over or bumped by other models in the heat of battle.

So I kinda feel like I need to varnish the models to protect them. What are your opinions on this?

[eager otter]

You should gloss varnish before using oils so then you can easily wipe off mistakes, flows to cracks better, its just an easier surface to work on than paint. If your worried about matt varnish on your metal parts just re-varnish them with a gloss varnish by brush after spraying the whole model matt. I tend to go with matt varnish for the whole model and just be done with it. Varnished models can also be extremely hard to strip if you ever plan to repaint or are buying 2nd hand ask if they were varnished if you want to strip them. The other issue with varnish is whites can be stained yellow if you use a cheap varnish that's not clear.

[late kindle]

Thx for the input. So generally you you just varnish always? 🙂 the brush on gloss varnish og metal method is also what I've been doing a couple of times.

I only use quality stuff like AK ultra matte and Vallejo mecha varnishes

[austere stirrup]

I varnish all of my models that are handled during gaming. For me, it goes mat varnish for everything except metals, metals get a glossy varnish (or vallejo metal varnish since I have that, though I'm not sure it is anything special - not enough brands tested here 😉 ). Vince Venturella paints metallics after varnishing the rest mat. (I mean except things that are naturally reflexive.) Your mileage may vary?

[dusk sierra]

Frisoni dosnt play with his, so thats why he dosnt varnish his models

[late kindle]

That also makes great sense and it's actually something like that I'm trying to get into my work flow. The problem arises when you start to use oil washes and try to finish the mini with oil paint. This means that I'll have an oil layer on top. What do I do then?

I mean, I can't really varnish the mini BEFORE doing metals, if I'll be doing oil washes and oil paints as the last step AFTER metal paint have been put on

[austere stirrup]

I would varnish with glow varnish (after full curing of the paint).

[simple matrix]

If I paint a model for display purposes only I usually don't bother with varnish, but I varnish every single miniature I plan on playing with

Also, metal models tend to chip easier than plastics, so I usually varnish anything made from metal even if it's just for display

[late kindle]

do you mean gloss varnish?

[austere stirrup]

yes - what did I... oh. Thanks for catching it. 😅

[glass quest]

I use oil paints a lot from scratch without acrylic paints. Although I don't play the game, I varnish all of my minis. One problem of oil paints is that the sheen of dried film varies depends on the pigments; precisely the pigments-oil ratio. So, varnishing serves two purpose for oil paint job. 1. protect the paint job, 2. provide the consistent sheen on the surface.

Unlike the most, I use brush for the varnish. You can also control the sheen of the varnish by mixing gloss (or satin) varnish with the matt varnish, if you intend to provide different level of sheen. (e.g. satin look on watery surface, matt for the face of the mini, etc.)

[grave leaf]

I always varnish my models. In my opinion varnish sometimes even helps with the paintjob, especially when you are using paints from many different brands. Varnish just brings model together. In my opinion some shades can be overly glossy so matte varnish is a nice option.
For models with lot's of metallic paint I generally use satin varnish (somewhere in between gloss and matte) and I really like the look.
In my opinion varnish is a must for wargaming models. I think it does not lower the quality of models painted with shades and inks, tho it can slightly dull minis with really creamy blends as it obscures some contrast. I probably wouldn't varnish a display miniature that I would spend hours painting, but wargaming models need that extra protection. The maby slightly better look is just not worth constant risk of ripping of the paint.

[pulsar plaza]

always varnish gaming models.

I also would varnish display models (a lot of display painters do, even multiple times during a painting project). I would say, if you're not at Marco's level where you have thought through your paint scheme into such detail that you've taken into account using multiple different finishes in the finished end project, don't worry.

As for metals. I actually sometimes paint them twice. I base coat them, then varnish and then finish the paint job on top of the varnish. If some of the top layer gets rubbed off, there's at least some dull paint underneath.

[late kindle]

really good advice here people. Thx a lot!