Varnish ??

Hi

Kont dilettant tal Scale Modelling xi snin ilu imma minhabba impenji ta' xoghol kont tlaqt il-hobby ghal kollox. Pero dan l-ahhar ergajt bdejt ninteressa ruhi ghalkemm limitat. Nixtieq nistaqsi mistoqsija dwar il-varnish li jinghata mudell meta jkun lest miz-zebgha. Kont smajt li jintuza floor polish u fuq magazines barranin jissema hafna certu prodott 'Future'. Pruvajt infittxu hawn Malta imma ghal xejn. Tistghu jekk joghgbkom tghiduli xi sostitut ta dan? Jew inkella intom x'tuzaw?

Grazzi mill-qalb u prosit tas-sit. Kien hemm bzonnha!!

Philip

First of all welcome to the site....

I shall answer in English for the benefit of the foreign members of the forum. If you have any further queery I will be glad to answer off board...contact me by email...

Varnishes are mostly divided into matt/ satin or gloss.

Of all three you can find enamel/lacquer based or acrylic (water based).

Future is a product used to polish floors. It is available as Johnsons Klear but as you said it is not available in Malta. You can buy it prepacked for spraying from online shops (like Greatmodels.com)
It is a GLOSS varnish.
Other good gloss varnishes include testor's Glosscote (enamel) and Tamiya (x-22) and vallejo (both acrylic)
Vallejo produce a good satin varnish too.
Matt's are more complicated. Not all are DEAD matt...meaning not all will make a gloss surface completely matt...
Vallejo has an acrylic matt....
Testor's and modelmaster both produce a good 'dullcote' but beware it might slightly change the colour of the model over time to a slightly yellowish hue(after years!?).
Lastly Revell produces one of the favourite matt varnishes amongst SSM members I believe. I also like humbrol matt varnish. Both are lacquer based....

I am assuming you will spray the varnish on...

Hope this helps....

Dottore

Dottore

Thanks for your excellent detailed reply about varnishes.

Cheers

Philip

Future or Klear is not availible in malta. i JUST ordered 2 from ebay. iv never used them before. hurry because they changed the polishes formula to a non-clear formula..

Beleive it or not the last bottle of Johnsons Klear I bought was from my local supermarket at Attard, they had some half a dozen on the shelf and I grabed one. I've never seen them again in this shop or anywhere else in Malta since. I find Klear great as a base for decals and also as a spray over after. It is ideal as a satin fanish and the more coats you apply the glosier it becomes.

Dip clear canopies in Klear and make it sparkle! Brian uses this method with excellent results...

Dottore

People use Klear as a decal setter too! to risky though...

Dottore wrote:
Lastly Revell produces one of the favourite matt varnishes amongst SSM members I believe.

Why is it favourited? the finish?
i might try it out. is it produced in small tins too?