acrylic varnish for brush painting?

[lunarhighway]

Hi I'm recently getting back into the hobby, currently brush painting with revell aqua colour, and getting pretty satisfying results. I found the flat paints can be polished to a satin finish that accept decals very well.

However I'm very interested in some advice on some kind of (acrylic) topcoat, gloss, satin or flat, the later two are the most useful right now, that can be brush painted over revell acrylics. (I have an old airbrush but currently no compressor so that's not an option for now).

Alternatively but not preferable something similar in a spraycan would also be of interest.

So any advice on this matter would be much appreciated.

[Bear13583]

I water down Revell's own acyrlic matt varnish and quite like it......

[Giorgio N]

I've used Vallejo clear varnishes and they work well for me with a brush. Just need be aware of a few things:

- they must be shaken very well before use

- they need longer to dry compared to the standard vallejo paints

- their satin varnish is not a semigloss varnish as most are but rather a matt paint with a slight sheen.

[JonP]

Winsor & Newton Galleria varnishes are very good; they can be brush painted or airbrushed. The matt varnish dries very flat.

[kev67]

Alclad gloss varnish is very good with a brush, and sprays very well

[dwh]

The best Matt varnish I have found which can be brushed or airbrushed is DALER-ROWNEY Soluble Varnish Matt (system 3 & cryla).

It really does dry to a matt finish.

[azureglo]

Have a look at this or this: If you're looking for "Future" type pre-decaling brush coat this is your man. I know 'cos I tried them and I have lots of very expensive Future/Klear as well. You can get this stuff from Asda or Sanisburys in the UK for approximately £3.50. Or you can give me huge amounts of money for some of these which seem to workout the same and will set you back £30-40 a bottle on Fleabay (the Alclad is brilliant for spraying BTW but not any better than the Pledge).

A good idea is to buy wide flat sable brushes like these (or better if you can afford them,) and only use them for varnish. I've experimented with flat sprays out of a rattle can and the best is Testors Dullcote but that is very difficult to get hold of. This Humbrol version is very close and is much easier to get hold of. I've used it on my cockpit interiors on my current WIP and will be brushing Pledge pre-decaling. The cockpit gloss coat for washing was the gloss version of the same Humbrol rattle can

Have a look online on this topic as well, Google is your friend here.

[stevehnz]

I've used Reeves Matt Varnish with good results, a bit like Vallejo matt imho in that I don't find either a dead flat matt but a matt with a sheen, again imho, a better finish for small scale stuff, a dead flat matt can be a bit too much of a good thing to my eye.

Steve.

[robvulcan]

Add windsor and newton flow improver to acrylic varnish and it will brush with not streaks, not ripp up against other coats and self level. I use it with revell, humbrol, and other acrylics.

But.

The best brushable varnish I have found is Windsor and Newtons own Acrylic Varnishes, They don't yellow, Add UV protection and are pretty tough, You can brush with great results but if you add some of their Flow improver its even better.

Make sure you use a white bristle Brush with Acrylics too. Wide and flat is best to help get a even coat.

Cheers Rob

[Av8fan]

I see that they ( Windsor and Newtons) have a gloss. I wonder how it would take an oil pin wash?? Replacement for Future/Klear perhaps?

Any thoughts?

Edited January 14, 2015 by Av8fan

[PhantomBigStu]

revell aqua matt and gloss are excellent, humbrols equivalent also seem as good as well