Topic: questions regarding matte finish and flat paints

[Jon Dough]

Hi All,

I finally decided to take the plunge and try my hand at painting some figures. I have a bunch of POF Stormtroopers that I have selected for practice.
I've been getting lots of good tips from different posts in the forum. However, I have some questions about paint finishes.

I've been using Tamiya acrylic paints on a few figures and am happy with the texture of the paints, but am not so crazy about the high gloss finish.
A number of posters have mentioned using a product like Testors dullcote as a sealer and as a means of providing a matte finish.

I also know that Tamiya offers "flat" versions of some of their paint colors. Would I be better off buying a flat paint to begin with or using a dullcote sealer?

My goal is to get a finish similar to that of a store bought figure.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

JD

[hangarbay94]

jD, that's a great question and one I would also like to find out the answer to.

I use an airbrush most of the time with acrylic Games Workshop paints. if I want to create a Matt finish I scrape the thickest part of the paint out of the pot and thin using an acrylic thinner. I only use tap water to clean my brushes.

j

[Clonehead]

Jules is right in that using the thickest part of a flat acrylic paint will provide the flattest result using the paint alone. I use a matt acrylic varnish made by vallejo as a dullcote/sealer with pretty good results

I found tamiya paint hard to work with years ago and swore it off. I cant remember if it didnt want to stick to plastic or mold release residue on the plastic or what. I know now that a primer coat of this matt varnish or dullcote will cure that problem.

[Jon Dough]

Thanks for the replies guys. I think I'm going to have to do a bit of testing on my own to see if I notice a significant enough difference to switch to flat paints or to use a dullcote on top of the acrylic.

Clint - I haven't had any problems with getting the Tamiya paint to stick to the figure although I did go with two coats. It does provide a fairly even appearance with two coats.

I've attached a pic of my "Captain America" POF Stormy.

The blue is two coats of Tamiya acrylic and the reds are a base layer of red enamel Testors with a top layer of red Tamiya acrylic;  I hadn't read all the warnings about NOT using enamels at the time.