Vallejo Polyurethane Varnish

[Orcs]

Whiel I use a lot of Vallejo paints I I have always them quite soft and prone to rubbing off it you touch a miniature while painting . So always varnish a lot, often partway through painting. Using an acrylic varnish

I have found that Vallejo do a water based  polyurethane varnish in Gloss, Matt and Satin, so I am wondering if that will give a harder and more durable finish than normal acrylic varnish.

Two Questions

1 Does anyone else find them soft

2 Has anyone tried their polyurethane varnish?

[paulr]

1. I find Vallejo paints a little 'soft', I don't varnish during painting but don't handle the figures

2. I've recently used Vallejo spray Acrylic Matt Varnish and had some challenges with fogging on labels & flags (addressed by brushing on a different varnish on the effected areas

The newly varnished figures haven't got on the table yet so I'm not sure how durable the varnish is

[jimduncanuk]

I have found that Vallejo do a water based polyurethane varnish in Gloss, Matt and Satin, so I am wondering if that will give a harder and more durable finish than normal acrylic varnish.

2 Has anyone tried their polyurethane varnish?

Water based polyurethane varnishes are less durable than traditional polyurethane varnishes but will be a little bit tougher than just paint alone.

I use both matt and gloss acrylic water based artist varnishes by Winsor & Newton, they are the bees knees unless you want a really tough gloss finish when yacht varnish is the way to go.

Jim

[fred.]

I use the Vallejo Polyurethene varnish - and I quite like it. It gives a decent thick coat, which I find gives decent protection to the figures. The one I have is gloss, so I give a final coat of matt varnish, either by brush or spray.

I've swapped most of my priming and varnish to brush on as I was finding opportunities to spray paint limited by the weather.

[Steve J]

The Vallejo varnishes are water based, so will not yellow with age like the traditional varnishes, but are less durable. As I pick my miniatures up by their bases, this is not a problem for me.

[mmcv]

Do you use paintbrush or airbrush with the bottled stuff? I've a backlog of based minis awaiting varnish. As it's just me handling them by base it's no big deal but have got some of that Vallejo varnish I'm tempted to try in an airbrush, though suspect it might clog.

Can't say I've noticed Vallejo paints being any softer than Army Painter, which is the only other paints I have. Of the two o find Vallejo easier to work with.

[Orcs]

I always use a brush to varnish, its fairly quick. I often varnish miniatures just before i go to bed. Its amazing how many you can get done in 10 minutes.

Varnish can be a faff with an airbrush, Its generally thicket than paint so needs more thinning, and unless you planning on varnishing a hundred or so figures / elements at one go I do't think it would be any quicker, by the time you had thinned the varnish enough and cleaned your airbrush, especially if the vanish was acrylic. 

[John Cook]

Whiel I use a lot of Vallejo paints I I have always them quite soft and prone to rubbing off it you touch a miniature while painting . So always varnish a lot, often partway through painting. Using an acrylic varnish

Do you prime and undercoat your miniatures?  This will help to make the top coat take better but over the years I've used Humbrol oil based matt paints, just about every make of water based acrylics including Vallejo, which is what I've used for a long time and I have yet to find a matt paint that does not rub off, particularly along edges.   I haven't used the Vallejo polyurethane varnish, mainly because I didn't know it existed.  I might give it a go.

My solution is as follows.  First I prepare all metal and resin miniatures by washing them in warm water and washing up liquid and let them dry.  Next I prime them with a diluted PVA solution which provides a better surface for paint to key to. Then an undercoat of matt paint, it doesn't matter what colour.  I prefer white.  Finally, when the figure is painted, I apply a coat of gloss Vallejo acrylic resin varnish, followed by a coat of matt.  I find that applying varnish with a brush is much more effective than sprays.  This seems to give all the protection against handling that they need.

I have also experimented with using a PVA solution as a top coat varnish and it works fine, but produces an eggshell finish.

I have found that time spent on preparation and priming is fundamental to the end result.

[Big Insect]

I use the Vallejo Matt varnish - it works very well.
I even sometimes put a tiny drop of dark brown in it - it acts a bit like an Army Painter wash (but is more subtle).
I find it durable, but then I try not to pick up my figures bay anything bit the bases.

[Orcs]

It is mainly any edges I catch- I use various types of painting stick/ mount.

I do undercoat,  I tried the vallejo primer , but found it 'chalky'. Once I have the base colours on, I varnish with Winsor and Newton acrylic varnish and leave overnight.  If its 10mm i give it two coats of varnish whn fiished. Larger scales they tend to get varnished at the end of any day I havev done any painting on them. So some stuff ends up with several layers of Paint varnish sandwich.

i don't normally get any issues after that, its just a pain if you catch the figure while painting.

[steve_holmes_11]

My formula is:

Prime: Halfords grey auto spray.

Colour scheme: Coat d'armes or Vallejo
  (I like Vallejo's dense colours, but find their regular colours a bit transparent).

Varnish: None, Windsor and Newton Matt or Klear (Minwax I believe in the USA).
  I regard spray varnish as akin to Russian roulette - never tried it, but have heard plenty of cautionary tales.

[John Cook]

I regard spray varnish as akin to Russian roulette - never tried it, but have heard plenty of cautionary tales.

You do have to be careful with all aerosol sprays, varnishes or paints.  The most common issues are fogging with matt varnishes or a grainy finish with paints.  Humidity is blamed sometimes though the usual problem is 'operator error'.  If you are too far away the aerosol paint will dry before it lands on the surface, causing a grainy finish. 

I had this very problem with some white cellulose auto primer such that I don't use sprays, of any kind, these days.  It was my own fault for not reading the instructions.