...and how to use them wisely | Duncan Rhodes 

I’ve had Munitorum frost on me, especially here in Texas when it’s really hot. But I’ve found that just applying a layer of Lahmian Medium afterwards totally fixes it and brings the finish back to normal like magic. Don’t despair if your varnish frosts on you, it can usually be fixed!

Another varnishing top tip is that they can make panel lining super easy. A gloss varnish creates a very smooth surface that most washes just wick right off, causing them to run right into the recesses. It gets even better if you kick it up a notch and create an oil wash. A bit more advanced of a technique, but it makes lining all the panels on a space marine downright trivial to do. A great technique if you want to get a bunch of models shaded in very little time. The smooth surface that a gloss varnish creates is also ideal for applying decals. And a matte or satin varnish will do a lovely job to seal the decal in place while protecting it from the elements.

Duncan coming in with the top tips and the gossip 😁👌

Omg thank you Duncan! This is THE video all of us gamers need

Generally I like a satin finish to my models but I found using gloss to go over "wet" areas on a model can make a really striking look. Putting gloss on the Great Unclean one's guts, eyes, lips, tongue and sores looked wonderfully gross! 🙂

My own varnish journey led me from using rattle cans, to painting by hand and finally to do it with an airbrush. Never looked back once I tried the old magic air shooting machine!

The spraying technique is really helpful for me who's really nervous about using sprays in general, seeing it done rather than being told what's on the can. Won't be so nervous to undercoat future models.

I sometimes use gloss varnish to pick out shiny parts such as canopies, gems etc. Really makes a difference when the rest of the model is flat matte.

You make everything look so simple!!

Again thank you man, your channel is so useful, If I need something I’ll always find an answer on your channel, the amount of knowledge you have and you share with us is just a goldmine and I really appreciate that.

Everybody gangster until spraying finished model with leadbelcher. Great video, motivates me to use it for my board game minis.

See you mentioned accidentally using primer as a varnish, but in my experience the primer is the single best top coat for keeping the paint underneath protected. Literally top tier

Yes!! Ever since I saw someone asking for a varnish tutorial on one of your videos, I was really hoping we'd get it. Thank you so much.

Quite literally was shaking a can of desert spray as you went over the tip of make sure its the right can. Thanks for saving the model 😂

Amazing video lads. This has to be the most definitive and accessible video in the topic

I always keep a varnish only brush for brush on varnishes and mediums, if you use a brush that has been used for paint, the varnish can reactivate it and pick up pigment even if you think your brush is clean leaving a slightly murky result.

After a few bad experiences with rattle cans I switched to my airbrush for varnishing. Primarily used the AK Ultra Matte and Pledge Revive It for a gloss coat, but recently I've been using the newer Air varnishes from the Army Painter and have been liking them a lot.

This is a brilliant tip ! ❤️🤘🏻 Once had to rescue about 1000 points of failed varnished Necrons just after I had completed them. A video like this would have saved me so much despair and time back then

This is a great video. I live in Virginia where it’s either a humid 92F or freezing cold so spraying varnish is a terrifying prospect. I started brushing on Liquitex varnishes from big bottles and I save quite a bit over a pricey rattle can that haze my minis. I have never tried thinning them with water or medium! Cool!

Thank you so much, literally the only useful video for finishing miniatures

With normal sized mini's I've never really bothered with varnishing, I generally handle them by the base. Recently I painted up a few larger metal mini's where this is a lot harder, so thought I'd better varnish them. I used Halfords spray matt lacquer, and it worked great

I loved listening to you. I’m super glad what you and Peachy have done since leaving GW. No offense to GW, but the two of you have really been seeming about helping the hobby and getting people to paint, and have a love of the hobby (in addition to Louise, too!,) which is all fantastic. I’ve backed the first wave of Two Thin Coats (and wave 2,) but have yet to use it due to my schedule, but am looking forward to trying it wave 1 out within the next month (and wave 2 when it arrives.) I just want to thank you for all you you have done for the hobby!

Great video and full of so many useful tips,thanks!!

Very helpful video, thanks Duncan. Not sure whether it's helpful for people or not but in my own experience Stormshield is a rare brush-on matt varnish which is pretty bulletproof once cured (resists fingernails), it's just quite gloopy so needs to be thinned with a tiny amount of water like a damp brush. The only problem is that it clouds a bit when dry if it is applied too thickly and you REALLY need to be aware of your water's mineral content. I was varnishing in an area with very hard water and so much limescale got in my varnish that it ended up going a bit cloudy on my minis, so best to use distilled or bottled spring water. The other thing I've found is that AK Ultra Matte is good on its own but don't try to apply it over gloss using a brush - takes hours as it doesn't cover evenly and has a real propensity to cloud in recesses. You really need an airbrush to use it properly.

Thanks team, great tutorial!

Fantastic video! Thanks for this guys. Can’t wait to try these tricks on my iron warriors!

Great video! Love the secret recipe at the end.

Thanks for yhis video Duncan and team. I've had a lot of my questions answered in this video. Once again many thanks

That AK and Contrast medium mix is exactly what I’ve been looking for! Looks fantastic

Awesome video Duncan thankyou!! A topic that is pretty grey in the community and now we know it all!! Il be using your mix for sure!

Good instructional and even better stories:)

I've quickly learned the importance of varnishing metal models, as they tend to be the worse for wear and tear during gaming. I've also learned the dangers of spray varnish and humidity. :P A tip if you do get a bad look from a varnish is to go back over it with varnish. I've had one fog up on me, but going over it a second time with a glossier one did help fix it up.

Always warm up your spray cans. Putting them in some warm water or on the radiator for a couple of minutes helps a bunch.

This video was very helpful, thank you! 🙏

I didn't know about turning the can upside down. Thanks for the knowledge!

Oh Duncan! that story about the can of primer :D absolutely tragic. I'd have probably shed tears over the lost hours haha.

I literally ordered some Varnish 20 minutes before you posted this video. Thanks.

Thanks for this been looking to vanish my minis and this video was reeally helpfull!

Thank you very much for this. Really invaluable information, you answered every question I had and more. Brilliant!!

Thank You. Grat advices!

Airbrush: you control the nozzle (dried old parts from previous use), you control the thickness, you control the force and there are no wind and weather to worry about

I literally drenched one of my old minis with ak ultra Matt Varnish and still came out great. Love that stuff. I use it with Vallejo satin varnish. Ardcoat only on “wet” or really shiny surfaces.😊👍🏽

Grabbing the right can tip👍🏻 I knew I couldn’t be the only one to blast my newly painted minis with white primer instead of varnish…🤦🏻 DOH! Double check your can! Contrast medium with AK ultra mat…Duncan you are a genius! Very nice results, I’ll mix a batch up. 👍🏻

Awesome!!

Thank you for such an excellent vid

The gloss varnish at 1:40 makes the legionnaire look like he's wearing latex and all oiled up. He's the kinky legionnaire!

Great video. Most matt varnishes are gloss varnishes with added chalk. The chalk can precipitate out of a matt varnish leaving the model looking milky. This can often be saved by adding a very thin layer of gloss varnish, as it absorbs the chalky precipitate. The resulting varnish is clear and slightly satin. Also, don't use painted varnishes over inked lettering.

Thank you . Your advice to mixing the mat and gloss with a bit of water or that is amazing idea and I find it’s a great seal that does not to effect the paint job . Great video very noob friendly. Thanks again. Using the citadel stuff .

Great video and nice examples!

Thank you for covering this topic. I've had some success and some fails. I end up not varnishing at all nowadays.

Vallejo premium satin varnish applied with the air brush is god tier varnish 👌🏻

Such a great tutorial. I have decided to brush on vanishes (rather than use sprays) and so good to learn about using a varnish over a varnish. Should I stick to matt and gloss or invest in satin, too? Thank you, again. I'm new to the hobby and am grateful!

I'm honestly amazed to hear you've ever made a mistake Duncan! Thank you so much for this video though, its given me the confidence to start varnishing my models again to protect them Also your facial expressions for the demos were gold 😂

I've used a generic matt varnish from a general/hardware store and it has always worked flawlessly. It really helps to let it set in warm water for a while before using it. I spray a rather generous coat at close range and while it does look quite soaked or drenched it has always dried smooth and evenly. No frosting or splotches. I've been spraying in my bathroom since the weather is usually too harsh here. The only negative is the amount of cleaning after it even with my "spray box" backdrop and a shower curtain covering a lot of the room

Thanks for this was going to get a matt spray varnish across the board but after watching, I've decided to get Gloss and Matt paint on varnish to apply to different areas as is suitable.

I have been using minwax polycrylic waterbase from Lowe's. I thin with water and a few drops of flow inmpover through the airbrush. Fantastic results and per ounce/ ml, its cheap and has been working fantastic.

omg, gonna mix my AK ultra matte and contrast medium now. Thank you Duncan!

Very helpful, thanks for sharing 👍👍

Thank you for this, Duncan. Varnishes kind of scare me (not literally but you know what I mean) but this has actually made me excited to give them another go!

So happy about this video, I’m always being told to varnish my models (they always have chipped or worn off patches of paint) and I never do because Iv only ever used varnishes a couple of times and they have ruined my models so iv never wanted to use them again.

Remember asking you on Facebook to do this video on almost day 1 of the academy. Thank you very much for doing it!

Great video, as always. Do you have any ideas or suggestions on trying to achieve a wet muddy base using gloss?

I generally use artists' matt varnish* brushed on or through the airbrush (mostly the latter these days) then use hobby varnishes brushed on if there are parts I want to be satin or gloss. *Current brand of choice - Golden, thinned down with water (about 2 parts varnish: 1 part water).

Great video, and one that I can refer to other people since I'm asked the same question of my models consistently. One variation on the theme that works really well for me personally, is that I start off with Vallejo Premium Airbrush Gloss Varnish to give my nearly finished models a nice even, but very tough, undercoat of varnish. Then I apply my oil wash, since it tends to distribute much more evenly over a gloss varnish than pure acrylic paint. After that dries, I do my highlighting and OSL effects if any are needed. Then, I go back in with Vallejo Premium Airbrush Matt Varnish to tone down the shiny effect. After that, I lightly, with very thin coats, hand brush 'Ard Coat over anything that I really want to stand out like Glass, Optics, Sensors, the brim of an Imperial Guard Commissars hat... etc.

Varnish can be a "Ctrl S" after finishing a delicate bit or a "quicksave" before doing a difficult bit as you can remove a mess up with water without removing the already varnished bit. This is especially good for eyes, hand painted decals, etc. A good example is varnishing one color of a checkerboard before doing the second color.

Great video

this was a fantastic video. thank you

very informative, thank you sir

Awesome video….thanks 👍

Thanks for this, Duncan. I've been in the hobby a very long time and been totally afraid/unsure of how to use varnishes , this tutorial has really helped me.

By far the best varnish video I've seen and mirrors what I've discovered trying various varnishes myself. Especially the tips of a bit of a satin sheen makes color pop, doesn't ruin metallics or dull down or make a paint job look worse like going full matte can. Also shaking a can for a full 4 minutes. I generally shake 3-4 and makes sure the can is at normal room temp and haven't ever had testors, Ap or GW varnish frost on me yet (knock on wood). I also prefer brush on varnish (specifically Vallejo acrylic satin), but depending on the paints/inks etc... you're using that isn't always an option. Would have been nice if you'd also done tips for fixing tacky varnish and frosting though. Never tried AK Interactive though, I'll have to try your formula.

Gloss varnish is a great way to prep before doing recess shading with washes, especially if you're using oils. Gloss varnish basically levels the surface out by filling in all the surface microtexture (matte varnishes create this kind of microtexture on purpose to diffuse light), so the wash will tend to move more towards the recesses, giving you less surface staining. For the final finish though, matte all the way IMO. I'm not a fan of gloss anything on anything non-metallic. It can make the painted on highlights and shadows harder to see, and it often kills the illusion of scale, especially at smaller scales like 28-32mm.

I am a huge fan of Ultra Matt varnishes. Most of my minis have a matt finish.

So I’m new to this hobby. Yesterday evening, I was aghast to find some of the models that I had brushed primed with Vallejo white primer, the paint would just scrape off with my fingernail very easily… This was in contrast to the ones that I had spray, canned primed, with army, paint primer. These models seem to be far more robust, and you have to really work at scraping off the paint. The spray can primer clearly is far more effective. However, there are some models that I’ve painted with the brush and primer that I’m really quite happy with the results. And now I’m slightly panicked, as to how I can in affect seal them and protect them. So now I’m on to carefully pick a varnish that is not too glossy, something more akin to a matte finish, but doesn’t completely kill the metallics...

My magic recipe for most if not all my miniatures is one drop of satin varnish to three drops of ultra matt.

Great video with plenty of usefull tips. Though, I wish you had touched on frosting/clouding effect that sometimes happens and how to avoid it.

Very helpful thank you

Excellent video. I haven't used a lot of varnish on my miniatures. What would look well on Grey Knights power weapons? I'm also not sure what would look well on my Nighhaunt that have many ghostly wisp parts interlocked with cloth. What would you do in the case of Nighhaunt?

Just wanna throw out a product rec I don’t see often: Mr Super Clear Matte. It’s a Japanese product that has never frosted on me, and has the ideal matte-ness. anyway awedome video Duncan, really excited to try Ultra Matte + Contrast medium to see how that looks!

I actually use regular floor polish with a brush and then apply a matte spray coat over it once it's dry to remove the glossy shine. Probably overkill but I've never had problems with my paint after that. :D

The way I seal my metal minis to protect them from chipping: I clean, prime and then basecoat and maybe highlight all the prts of the figure except for the metallic parts. Then I gloss varnish with yacht varnish, but i guess any gloss varnish would do. Then I do all the panel lining, washes, blacklining etc. then ultra Matt varnish and eventually i do all the metallic parts and the remaining highlights.

I like to add a drop of gloss varnish onto jewelery, it adds a nice realistic effect

I used the GW spray varnish once, never again. Made my ad mech dragoon look really cloudy and ruined hours of work even with precautionary steps like a good 5 minute shake and leaving the can in warm water for 10 minutes. Luckily I left it under a desk lamp for a bit and the heat took the edge off it, then just repainted the main armour panels.

Coming in just as im finishing my first csm squad. I want to use them but a month of painting is something I want to protect.

Many thxs, I’m just a beginner so this was extremely helpful, thankyou❤️

Great video as always Duncan - my go-to choices for spray matt varnish are Testers Dullcote and Windsor & Newton professional matt varnish. Surprised it wasn't mentioned but my golden rule / top tip - never spray above 60% humidity - that's where there is an ever increasing chance of frosting occurring from matt sprays. Great tip on shaking the can for 4 minutes (I always do 5 minutes minimum). That actually is a long time - make sure you time yourself and don't be tempted to skip / cut-coners on this vital step. On colder days, you can also improve your results but GENTLY warming the can in a like warm pot of water for 5 minutes or so or use the old trusty stick it under your armpit for a few minutes :-) Also on colder days, try also keeping your models inside until the moment you want to spray, take them outside to spray and bring them back in to dry - the increased surface temperature and drying temperature really helps with the finish too.

Great video, Duncan! What would you recommend as an alternative to Testor's Dullcote? Thanks.

Nice preview of an upcoming video with that spartan tank.

I jus finished painting my first miniature which was a space marine primaris inflitrator. Last step vanishing so this vid really helped me out thanks

I used testors dull coat for a good long while, used gloss brush on for a bit of effects, and now use AK ultra matte through an airbrush for gaming pieces ( just bring up the metalics after)

I always apply by hand. I am ussing Galleria Matte Varnished and I used it on about 3 armies so far.

For Spray varnishes I went off Munitorum due to how finicky it was for good conditions, though that may have been the old Purity Seal. I despise army painter for frosting on a Minbari Fleet, had to redo the entire lot. Best I've found is spray for painting/canvas made in Australia called Nuart Matt Spray. Had some turn on a drier in a room where I had some models drying (so was super humid), a little bit of ghosting on the base. Second coat, gone, and never had a model chip with it.

I've been intimidated on using brush on varnish. Thanks for this instructional video! Also I'm greatly looking forward to getting the kickstarter paint set!

Vallejo metal varnish is great for metallics too, worth trying

Great tips here, love your videos. What I would like to know is your Two Thin Coats paint line going to be made available in the US? I didn’t get to back the KS and would love to pick up the line.

Brushing gloss varnish over gems & lenses (on an otherwise matte / satin model) is also a good way to make them pop even more, I've found

So I need to look into spray varnish when using army painter speed paints. I had a model that I was using a Vallejo matt vanish I was painting on, and the paint reactivated. Not much, so maybe I was applying wrong - but was looking for some tips on spray varnish, thanks!

I varnish with an airbrush… Love it !

7:06 having tray/box with label of primer/varnish is going help categorize can that will be used in the future

Do you have many tips on using an airbrush with the varnish? I've turned up the pressure and added a few drops of thinner in the past. Also being thorough with cleaning was high on my list too.