Varnish or not

yesterday I visited a private railway were 8/9 people were having a steam up over a cup of coffee the subject came up to varnish models or not the straw poll was railway and stationary boy yes traction boys no the debate after was if you varnish add to paint or after railway with paint stationary after what does a great poll give us

Eh?? Please translate into English!

Russell

The part should be if you decide to varnish do you add varnish to paint or use varnish after painting has been done the railway people add to paint the stationary engine people after painting please read in conjunction with first post as requested so it over to you

I'm guessing this is for a specific type of paint? With acrylics one can add glossing or matting substrates to the colour or even mix transluscent glazes to get a brighter shine-through from below. For other paints it strikes me that adding varnish to paint is the same as using gloss paint whereas varnishing over paint gives one the option of rubbing back the varnish and recoating and UV protects without having to repeat the colour below.

I nce meta gentleman who had repainted his morris 1000i estate with woolies houshold gloss.. several coats progressively thinned and then several coats of varnish on top. Every few years he rubbed down on the UV affected varnish and recoated but the paint below was never affected

Hi Scrumpy,
I agree with Russell. I had difficulty in understanding your post. It would be much easier to understand if it was broken down into shorter sentences rather than one very long one.

Les.

I'm sorry for the confusion I seem to have caused we will try again with a few bits add . Yesterday I spent some time with some 8/9 friends at a private railway for a steam up .

During a tea break the topic was varnish or not for models

The railway boys yes to varnish the traction boys no with the stationary boys yes this was assuming you used Craftmaster enamel paint

The conversation then was due you add varnish to paint or varnish after.

The railway people add to paint , the stationary people after .

several models in use had been painted with varnish added and paint work was superb several people quoted that Chris Vine had done something similar so over to you

I would say that it all depends on the conditions and use the model will be put and on the type of paint being suitable for the job, proper paint will protect and beautify without varnish.

But do whatever floats your boat unless it is illegal, immoral or fattening.

I can probably turn a blind eye to all three, perhaps all at once .

It is almost pointless to add varnish to paint. If it were a good thing to do whether for effect, colour or strength then the paint manufacturers would have produced a paint with it added in a more scientific manner.

Post painting varnishing has as stated above some options for cutting back if damaged. This is often carried out with 'old master' oil on canvas paintings.

Edited By Bazyle on 10/01/2017 00:15:03

When I was involved with brush painting vehicles, at the time it was common practice to gently abrade the final coat and add a coat of varnish to protect it and retain a shine. However the varnish often didnt adhere properly to the paint and flaked off over time helped by UV from sunshine. To prevent this flaking in later times varnish was added to the paint for the final coat.

However because modern paints are so good especially the oil resistant polyurathane varieties, this practice isnt really needed but as its a tradtional way of finishing some folk still like to use varnish because of personal choice and properly done it looks very nice!