How Many of you Gloss-Coat Your Stormtroopers?

[ScottWasburn 58]

Stormtrooper armor looks pretty shiny. How many of you put on a clear gloss coat after you are done painting?

[54NCH32 1,613]

I gloss varnished my first lot of stormtroopers back when I painted my Imperial Assault core set, and never did again, really didn't like the look.

My advice would be to maybe try it out on a test / spare mini and see if you like it.

[Proff3RTR 28]

Satin varnish the armour, and then Matt varnish the gloves  and weapons.

[Alpha17 2,853]

Satin works better than gloss for Stormies, and only then if you want them Death Star inspection level of shine.  When we see them deployed dirt side, they're usually a lot less shiny.  The old maxim that "no combat read unit ever survived an inspection, and no inspection ready unit ever survived combat" comes to mind here. 

[Proff3RTR 28]

2 hours ago, Alpha17 said:

Satin works better than gloss for Stormies, and only then if you want them Death Star inspection level of shine.  When we see them deployed dirt side, they're usually a lot less shiny.  The old maxim that "no combat read unit ever survived an inspection, and no inspection ready unit ever survived combat" comes to mind here. 

Of course I was referring to Depot/Death Star guard detachment Stormies. Real vet units just Gloss varnish (for hardness protection), then Matt varnish (remember, shine will give you away in the field, need to dull down that armour!), then get some dirt on them boots.

And my unit never passed an inspection😁.

[Alan Noir 426]

It came out ok on a scout trooper (diluted with glaze medium), but not great on death troopers for me. 

[Red Castle 3,875]

Only time I used Gloss varnish for Legion yet is for the Royal Guard helmets. Other than that, I use mat varnish, including on my Death Troopers.

[cleardave 741]

After sealing models with Testors Dullcote, I use GW's Ardcoat to paint on a gloss varnish to the Stormtrooper arbor to give it that shiny "original movies" look that they seem to have. Even on Endor, the Stormies kept their white armour crisp and gleaming, so I'm going that way.

Ditto the Scout Troopers on the bikes.  Note, I only gloss the actual armour, not their body suit, guns, etc.

I also, like @Red Castle said, paint gloss on the Royal Guard helmets.  You can also spot gloss Vader's helmet and chest armour, the Death Trooper armour (leave the gaps and the pouches, etc in matte), and I guess when I get to it soon, the inside of the mouth of my Dewback.

[bobafett1228 106]

I just use a gloss clearcoat over my stormies because it's easy and I'm somewhat lazy.

(I think the clearcoat I'm talking about is polyurethane?)

Edited December 4, 2019 by bobafett1228

[manoftomorrow010 1,119]

I used it on my Death Troopers, since their armor was borderline reflective in Rogue One.

[flightmaster101 1,568]

On 11/29/2019 at 5:51 AM, ScottWasburn said:

Stormtrooper armor looks pretty shiny. How many of you put on a clear gloss coat after you are done painting?

I do, but mostly becasue i use Testors 1260 dull coat to seal my models so they dont chip.  I use Citadels brush on gloss (ardcoat i think), and then I'm careful to only gloss the plastic bits.  Same for Vader, Bikers, Clones, Royal Guards, etc.

[rafparis 9]

7 hours ago, flightmaster101 said:

I do, but mostly becasue i use Testors 1260 dull coat to seal my models so they dont chip.  I use Citadels brush on gloss (ardcoat i think), and then I'm careful to only gloss the plastic bits.  Same for Vader, Bikers, Clones, Royal Guards, etc.

Do you have any photos?

[flightmaster101 1,568]

On 12/4/2019 at 10:39 PM, rafparis said:

Do you have any photos?

Let me get my imgr set up and post some this weekend.

[Zrob314 833]

On 12/4/2019 at 11:39 PM, rafparis said:

Do you have any photos?

I use the same method, look in Permit Painting.  I also vary it depending on what kind of weathering I'm doing.  I have some white armor at inspection level and some that are covered in dirt and grime.  

[flightmaster101 1,568]

On 12/4/2019 at 10:39 PM, rafparis said:

Do you have any photos?

Edited December 8, 2019 by flightmaster101

[srMontresor 165]

I water the gloss varnish down with about 50% water and it looks quite good.

[flightmaster101 1,568]

13 hours ago, srMontresor said:

I water the gloss varnish down with about 50% water and it looks quite good.

Same.  Pure gloss (at least ardcoat) is too think and gets clumpy when you brush it on.

[BigBadAndy 640]

Yeah, the challenge is generally that gloss varnish is thick and will often make it look like the armor has a clear varnish over top of it rather than that the armor itself is shiny.  I have found my best results are by brushing multiple layers of a very thinned gloss or satin where I want it.  This lets me control the thickness and placement rather than clear coating the whole thing with a gloss.  
 

You can see this in my Imperial guard helmets and Much more subtly on some stormies 

[srMontresor 165]

They are great. The shine on the Imperial Guard helmets is perfect.

[Proff3RTR 28]

On 11/30/2019 at 1:46 PM, Red Castle said:

Only time I used Gloss varnish for Legion yet is for the Royal Guard helmets. Other than that, I use mat varnish, including on my Death Troopers.

I have used Gloss on Vader, for his Helmet, shoulder armour (parts you can see and his boots, along with his groin armour, works a treat.

[SFC Snuffy 809]

Now I'm going to have a nightmare about Vader's shiny codpiece... 😨

[John79 47]

I had one storm trooper come out a bit satin and it gave the illusion of plastic armor.  I think it was because I used artist's titanium white to get my base coat white to perform better.  It was an experiment and at the end of that evening's painting fever it turned out as envisioned.  I used stark white to paint in the light reflections and a light grey blue for shadows.  I only wish I could have jotted down some notes for repeat with the others, but I was too engrossed with the shading to stop.

[Dwing 2,309]

I have painted two units White and prestige looking, for those I used gloss varnish on the top of the helmet and shoulderpads. It gives it enough of an effect to look shiny without it becomming to glossy looking. 

[Bohemian73 161]

matt finish and 'ardcoat' as needed for armor. I did that with multiple miniatures, but I am way behind in painting...

[Gunny Highway 25]

Everyone:

I wasn't going to gloss coat the stormies but the more I thought of it, I think it reflects the Empire's arrogance towards the rebellion. We don't care if we shine and are white! We are superior and can take you scum on in any environment and will stand out to show our superiority! So I've decided to do this on most of the Empire's rank and file...🤖

Respectfully,

Gunny 🎲🎲