Acrylic varnish

[Guest]

Would it be ok to use an acrylic varnish over the top of airbrushed enamels?

I have been weathering some of my locos,results im really happy with,left to dry overnight before re-fitting the bodies to chassis and i noticed some of the paint is slightly wearing off where i have handled them , i wouldnt of expected this with enamels , i have weathered all my wagons with acrylics and then airbrushed acrylic varnish over them to stop the paint wearing off when handled. Thats why i used enamels on the locos thinking it would be mre hard wearing and not need a varnish.

Any help/ tips greatly appreaciated.

[Guest]

Forget the above , i should have known ,water and oil dont mix. Have ordered some matt enamel varnish ,will mix with thinners and airbrush on.

[burgundy]

My experience is that acrylic varnish is OK on top of enamel paint, but not enamel varnish on top of acrylic paint.

On a previous occasion the solvent in enamel varnish reacted with transfer film, which spoiled my whole day, which I documented in "More of the tail of a Terrier" (sorry, for some reason the search facility is not finding that thread or I would have provided a link). 

Best wishes 

Eric 

[tractor_37260]

4 hours ago, matto3868 said:

Forget the above , i should have known ,water and oil dont mix. Have ordered some matt enamel varnish ,will mix with thinners and airbrush on.

Suggest you don't use thinners especially the quick drying variety with enamel varnishes, either use special varnish thinners or good quality white spirit, which is cheaper.  Either will flash off more slowly and allow a smooth overall coating to form ,avoid spraying any varnish in damp/high humidity conditions.

HTH