Vallejo Varnish help Please

[Pete Mac]

Can anyone help Please,

I am about to gloss varnish the cockpit interior sides and assemblies using Vallejo acrylic varnish over Vellejo cockpit green. The colour came up perfectly using a flat brush without a single brush mark. However, on testing the varnish on a hidden cockpit bulkhead it dried to an unnacceptable finish with brush marks. Can this varnish only be applied by airbrush (which I hav'nt got) I can't get hold of klear any more as an alternative.

By the wayI should mention that the varnish is in prep. for a wash weathered finish on a Tamiya 1.32 Spitfire so I wold rather not make horlicks of it. Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks. Pete.

 

[BarryW]

I airbrush Vallejo varnishes except when I try to 'gloss' a small area after a matt coat to represent a shiny surface. I can imagine brush strokes being a problem with larger areas though. The big question really is does it matter if you will be laying down a matt coat on top after weathering? - test it perhaps.

Incidentally - when I do a wash over cockpit green inside I apply an oil wash straight over the Vallejo colour after having left the green to cure for 24 hours. Have you considered oil washes over acrylic?

I use Flory water based washes over (Vallejo) glossed external finishes.

 

[Vaughan]

Hi Pete

You can get the new version of klear from most supermarkets i.e Asda, Tesco and Sainsburys. It's called Pledge multi-surface wax and cost about £4. It work just like the old stuff and the only difference is that it's a milky colour and has a perfume smell. It can be brushed or sprayed and comes out with a high gloss finish. Hope this helps.Vaughan

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[Pete Mac]

Thanks Barry,

That has told me all I want to know. I take it that the matt coat over the wash will shrink back as per the matt colour and leave no brush marks ? I thought the whole purpose of the gloss was to help the thin oil wash to run into the corners and crevices etc. Thanks again. Many helpful people on this forum ! Pete

 

[BarryW]

Pete - if you wet the area with white spirit/thinners before the oil wash, doing it in sections, that helps run the wash into the corners. Doing it that way you might not even need to matt coat after, as the inside of the aircraft does not take any handling and wont need the protection. Experiment on scrap might be the best way before trying it on the plane. As for the matt coat over varnish, I am fairly sure it will not leave brush marks but I have not done that with Vallejo only an airbrush - again worth experimenting on scrap. Let me know how you get on.