Thryth Posted July 4, 2007 Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 Hello, I had stayed-away from sealing my miniature since getting back in the hobby after I used a brush-on sealer on a Wyrd contest entry last year and not liking the results. I have started using Dullcote recently. Generally, I like what it does to the miniature, but I think that it flattened some of the gray areas on my Mechanical Mayham entry. I spent a great deal of time painting a section of the miniatures in different shades of gray, but looking at the miniature after two coats of Dullcote it looks like the same shade (the other areas look okay). Anyone else ever notice this? Is it just my imagination? Does anyone else notice any differences after sealing their miniatures? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wren Posted July 4, 2007 Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 I've heard people comment before that Dullcote damps down some of the contrast. I think some people even use that as a sort of feature to smooth out the final look, but if you paint more subtly it's probably less of a feature if you lose some layers. I've mostly switched to using Reaper Master Series brush-on sealer, which I don't recall people mentioning that about. (If you do use try this one, it's semi-gloss straight out of the bottle, add 30-50% water for matte.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Caroland Posted July 4, 2007 Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 I've always used Testers Dullcoat myself and have been fairly satisfied with it. Can't say that I've had it lessen the effects for me so much, but then again, I never was great at blending. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coneman Posted July 4, 2007 Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 I was told to seal with a matt spray first, then use the dullcote to take the shine off, the reasoning being that dullcoate is a mineral base product and will easily strip away your very fine layers of acrylic while brushing it on. I have never achieved a totally flat finish after sealing. I have some heresey hounds here that have had 3 coats of brush on dullcoate and they still have a shine to them. GGRRRR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gi6ers Posted July 4, 2007 Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 I have some heresey hounds here that have had 3 coats of brush on dullcoate and they still have a shine to them. GGRRRR You can get a totally matt finish but you need to shake the can like a loon for a few minutes. I really like the stuff and it can smooth out the odd dodgy layer... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vytis Posted July 4, 2007 Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 I use Dullcote all the time. Only problem I've had is that it smells rancid. On occasion I have seen it lessen a contrast, but never too much I can't fix it or don't like how it looks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastman Posted July 4, 2007 Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 I was told to seal with a matt spray first, then use the dullcote to take the shine off, the reasoning being that dullcoate is a mineral base product and will easily strip away your very fine layers of acrylic while brushing it on. I have never achieved a totally flat finish after sealing. I have some heresey hounds here that have had 3 coats of brush on dullcoate and they still have a shine to them. GGRRRR The bottled liquid DullCote is intended for airbrush use, not regular brush. Thick layers of DullCote will be glossy. An airbrush (with liquid DullCote thinned with lacquer thinner) or light coats of canned DullCote will go fully matte. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coneman Posted July 5, 2007 Report Share Posted July 5, 2007 You can get a totally matt finish but you need to shake the can like a loon for a few minutes. I have shaken the bottle until my arm hurts, but no difference. An airbrush (with liquid DullCote thinned with lacquer thinner) or light coats of canned DullCote will go fully matte I have been thinking of thinning it and putting it through my air brush, Ill get some more thinnners and give it ago. I have found it very hard to get my hands on the spray can stuff, there are not a lot of modeling shops in Adelaide and the few that are close by dont carry it. Oh yeh, how much should I thin it for the airbrush 50/50 ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orkydave Posted July 5, 2007 Report Share Posted July 5, 2007 I have found dullcoat givea a dead matt finish (from a spray can) to the extent that if I gloss varnish things like gems before spraying even they will be dead matt and need re glossing. I have found it can either totally kill some levels of highlihjts but makes others pop a bit more. Fore some strange and unknown reason I do also think dullcoat can help the blending to appear more seamless too. I have had a bad experience with dullcoat where the spray made the purple paint leech into the flesh areas. This was on an extensive bit of freehand on a tank too! If it is ok with Nathan, I had started a thread about this leeching over on CMON and here is the hyperlink to it. http://www.coolminiornot.com/forums/viewthread.php?tid=21104 If this is considered bad forum manners then please feel free to delete it Nathan, but hope it helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Caroland Posted July 5, 2007 Report Share Posted July 5, 2007 Wha' .... but ... why ... would anyone go anywhere else? Grrr. No problem, links are more than welcome. I figure if I'm well enough that I can run a miniature business and allow, even encourage folks to pimp other companies stuff here, I can be comfortable with most things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supervike Posted July 5, 2007 Report Share Posted July 5, 2007 Do you care if I pimp my illegal animal porn here then? I plan on having t-shirts!! ahem....anyhow, back on topic.... The spray dullcote does seem to 'pull my colors' together, but I always thought that was just me.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thryth Posted July 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2007 Thanks to everyone for the comments. @Wren The RMS is the sealer that I was avoiding naming in my original post. The miniature in question is my TT2 entry - http://wyrd-games.net/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=816 . I thought that the blending seemed smooth before I sealed it. Maybe it was my imagination. @Coneman Thanks for the information. @Vytis Not that I have sealed that many miniatures with it, but the grey on that particular miniature was the first time that I saw it completely eliminate my work. I had to re-highlight the area after. @orkydave I have noticed the "...can help the blending to appear more seamless..." thing to, but thought that it was my imagination (it seems very subtle to me). I will have to try to seal my miniatures before photographing them . (Only problem with that is that I am usually working on them up until the submission deadline ) @orkydave Maybe there is something to the effect depending upon color then? Your problem with the purple paint, ans what I noticed specifically with the grey? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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