Manda's (Amachan) Experiments

I really started to get annoyed by the frosting issues and other issues I had with my current varnish. I used to use Vallejo Polyurethane Matt Varnish (27.651). So I bought a different varnish and thought I’d run a test. I have a bottle of Army Painters Anti-Shine as well so let’s test it as well. I got some plastic spoons and prepared the for testing. I used these three different surfaces to test on:

• Vallejo Surface Primer Gloss Black (74.660) marked by a G as the first letter.
• Vallejo Surface Primer Black (74.602) marked by an M as the first letter.
• Vallejo Surface Primer White (74.600) marked by a W as the first letter.

The three varnishes I’m testing are:

• Vallejo Polyurethane Matt Varnish (27.651) marked by a V as the second letter.
• The Army Painter Anti-Shine Matt Varnish (WP1103) marked by an A as the second letter.
• Mig Ultra-Matt Lucky Varnish (A.MIG-2050) marked by an M as the second letter.

The Vallejo varnish is diluted with some Vallejo Airbrush Flow Improver (71.562) because it’s way too goopy and clogs up the airbrush if I don’t, while the Army Painter and the Mig are used undiluted. The Army painter is a bit thick undiluted but goes through the airbrush well. The Mig is already really thin and airbrush ready.

So here are the prepared spoons without any varnish:

I applied the first layer of varnish. The Mig varnish is very thin and flows quickly when applied too much as is shown on the matte Mig varnish spoon (MM).

And now for a second coat, this used to be kind of necessary with the old varnish. Do note that I cover my miniatures with a gloss varnish for protection first so shine removal is essential for me.

I’m very happy with the results of the Mig varnish and think that the Army Painter one kind of comes in the middle.

I now tried the Mig on a miniature to see what it’s like and I thought one coat might be enough to cover the gloss, but looking back at it later I think a second coat would be better.

For more pictures of this mini, please see the entry in my Hasslefree Project.