W&N Galleria Matt Varnish drying Satin/Gloss, UPDATE 23rd May

[Johnny Boy]

A good evening to one and all, needed some Matt Varnish as my last bottle had died and thought I'd go with the above. I've just finished some character figures for the Baron's War and I've been using Scale 75 so everything a nice Matt finish. Made sure the bottle was shaken really well and the first couple of figures were Matt with a slight sheen but as I progressed they dried damn nearly gloss. Not at all happy with this so any suggestions for an alternative? AK interactive Ultra Matt has a habit of leaving white cloudy residue in creases etc, Vallejo and GW stormshield have a habit of drying with a sheen so as I say what's the collective opinion?

[Captain Blood]

I keep my W&N Galeria bottles upside down and just use the thicker stuff that gathers in the lid. Usually dries very flat matt. Occasionally, when it gets old, you can risk getting tiny white bits in it, but you can usually pick these off after they’re dry and can touch up or revarnish if needed. But at least I’ve never had the dreaded white bloom with Galeria.

[FierceKitty]

I had a problem recently with an unwelcome gloss result after spraying on artist's fixative; closer inspection of the cannister revealed I'd bought the wrong one. A second coat after a trip to the art supplies section sorted it out. I don't mean to imply that you're a careless halfwit, only that I am, but anyone can make a mistake.

[Johnny Boy]

Many thanks for the replies both. As I said, really well shaken Brand new bottle brushed on to Scale 75 which had finished really flat. Hence the confusion, especially as it got worse by the time I got to the 6th figure. I thought it might have flattened more as it dried but 24hrs later it's just the same. I spied on Amazon UK AK interactive also do a Matt Varnish besides the Ultra Matt so perhaps that might work without the white bloom etc.

[Silent Invader]

I’ve had mixed results with the W&N water-based varnish, invariably related - I think - to not mixing it well enough. I decided that shaking was insufficient and so also stirred with a spatula. The white bits that Captain Blood mentions were something that annoyed me as I invariably failed to notice them until after the varnish had dried.

I’ve since moved over to W&N solvent based Matt and have yet to have a bad result. Still mixing with a spatula but no white bits. One downside is it takes longer to fully cure (though it ‘dries to the touch’ quite quickly), so any photos taken say 48 hours after application might still have a slight sheen. It’s not a varnish to slap on the night before a game! And, of course, being solvent based it will release an irritating vapour until cured.

[Blackwolf]

Ammo of Mig Ultramatte is superb,no problems whatsoever 

[Daeothar]

My go-to varnish used to be Testors Dullcote, but that's hard, if not impossible, to get these days. A shame, since that was by far the best (read: mattest) varnish I've ever used. I use cheap matt varnish rattlecans from Action these days, and whilst not as flat as the Testors stuff, it's still pretty matt.

But I needed a brush on matt varnish as well. And for that I've been using W&N Galleria for a couple of years now. And because I do take advice every now and then, I've been storing the pot upside down since I bought it. Like mentioned before; I tend to use the varnish that remains in the lid after unscrewing it (when I brush varnish, it's rarely entire miniatures; usually areas I glossed, before for decal application) and that has always done the trick for me.

No flecks  so far, but now I'm getting a bit paranoid about this...

[dampfpanzerwagon]

I've had this issue and found that adding Galleria Matt Medium to the varnish or even 'varnishing' with 100% Matt medium gave better results.

I have also experimented with adding Tamiya Matt to the Galleria and although this works OK, if you leave it too long you get small white crystals or pieces in the mix, so OK in small amounts and mixed regularly, but it does not keep well.

I hope that this helps.

Tony

[SteveBurt]

I found shaking not to be enough; ended up satin. Store upside down and stir really well, then it dries flat Matt.

[Johnny Boy]

Many thanks one and all, brand new bottle, stirred, shaken and severely agitated but still no joy with the Galleria   On the bright side the AK interactive Matt Varnish came through this morning so I'll try it out tomorrow and over the weekend. I'll keep you posted.

[Johnny Boy]

Had the AK interactive arrive which is very thick and dried a bit satin straight out of the bottle but thinned seemed to work quite well.
Mig Ammo Ultra Matte varnish is thin in the bottle and went on nicely with no white flecks in the recesses etc so I think I'm going to go with that for now.
These are just my observations but I hope others of you out there find this thread useful. Thanks again to all JB