Sealant?

Anybody have some recommendations for a good sealant? I've always bullet coated using testors gloss and matt, but am looking to try something different. Anyone used the army painter stuff?

The army painter stuff is good, better than purity seal IMHO. Thats said when they said a LIGHT coat, they mean it.

their recipe makes for a very good very durable sealant. but as roland states, do NOT spray this stuff on like testors or GW or P3 brand sealant. if you do, it will frost and all those other nasty things we hate seeing sealant do. literally feather it by real fast, 1, MAYBE 2 passes per side of the model. youtube for jawaballs' video on the army painter products, and he shows exactly how sparingly to spray the sealant on, and you see the results instantly with the matte varnish. it looks like an instant dry/set spray when it goes on, but itll still be wet and sticky for a few minutes, which is why people tend to overspray with the stuff.

Testor's dullote is still the all time greatest! Why do you wanna switch?

i could understand switching when both bottles cost about the same, and ones a 150ml can, and the other's a 400ml can that uses only a 1/4 the amount of spraying for the same results. personally, i'm sold on army painter matte varnish, and i've used all the other brands. its better overall and lasts so much longer. the only thing testors has on these guys is you dont have to shake up their cans as much if you left the can sitting in storage. but thats it.

far as i know, army painter hasnt released a gloss spray yet, or at least darren's never got it in. since they figure you'll buy quickshade, that itself does a gloss effect when dried. so they only sell a dullcoat spray to counter that.

The gloss look from the AP Quickshade (like my termie captain is right now) works for some mini's (Nids for sure, I can see it working for Daemons too). The anti-shine gets rid of all of it. My system probably isn't the most effective, but it works for stage by stage

Spray the base color.
Add flat colors to mini
throw down some ard coat wherever decals go
after the decals have set, a layer of ard coat over them.
brush on quick shade
when dry, stray with anti-shine.

I'm going to try replacing the ard coat with microsol/micro set. After dipping my first few mini, I think the brush on is better, as there is less pooling and you don't have worry about breakage (shaking metal mini's by the base is not a good thing.)

And if I want to add highlights later, I can.

I dunno, I just thought there might be some better options out there. I've always been doing the same as Robyn, and for over 10 years too.

I'll watch the jawa vid, but, anything that has a chance of wrecking paintjobs makes me nervous.

well its like any other good paint; if you put too much on, it'll make it look like shit. Less is more. So long as your not the type to spray spray spray some more, and when everything's shiny in the house, check if the model looks okay, you'll be fine.

i bought a 400ml can back in the winter, and i still have more than 3/4 of the can yet, and i've used it quite a bit. but as is the case with all paints and sprays that are acrylic waterbased such as everything darren sells, shake that can good before spraying. you cant just pick it up and use it, its gotta be shaken up first.

but i can tell you you wont get a "bad can" of this stuff like is known to occur with GW clearcoat sprays.

I would not switch from the testor's product. I have never had an inconsistent spary frolm that stuff. I trust it on minis I've put more than 30 hours into and never regretted it.

Even if it works out to being more than double the cost of the next best product I would say conservatively that a single can of Dullcote will get you 50 mini's. I give my mini's two coats of it as well. So for 8 bucks and 50 mini's it's still not more than 20 cents a mini. Max. If you trim that cost down to 10 cents a mini using a less consistent and not quite as good sealant I just don't see the savings as being worth it. Personally anyway.

Stick with the Dullcote Ryan! It'll get you there!