Flocking Terrain - PVA Sealant Vs Spray Varnish
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- Preorder my terrain book here -
The final flocking experiment of flocking February! In this one, we compare watered down PVA to spray clear matt varnish for sealing for wargaming terrain.
FB Support Group - / theterraintutorsterrai...
Join TTT on Facebook - / theterraintutor
Support TTT on Patreon - / theterraintutor
Thanks for this! I just 3d printed some terrain, painted, and flocked it for the first time to spice up my group's monthly axis and allies battles. I have to say, it turned out way nicer than I expected. I didn't even know I could use watered down pva but since I have a can of varnish I'm going that route.
Just finished my boards and been swithering over the last few days on whether to add varnish or not. This has decided it for me so thanks again Mel for coming to the rescue again!
Best reason I can see to use spray varnish or a laquer would be to protect the PVA used to flock from reactivating when doing weather washes etc if using water waterbased acrylics like vallejo.
Very helpful! You’ve helped me make a decision on sealing. So thanks!
Thanks for this experiment and testing Mel. Very informative.
437cosimo glad it helps mate
Tks Mel. I just found this video and it’s helped me out with a problem I’m having with using alcohol as members of my family are allergic to alcohol. I was hoping to find a skip step for sealing the flock on my train and gaming board for Warhammer 40k
A good final field test. It never occurred to me to attack my work like that. My oldest boards done this way are 5 years old now and no sign of whiting under normal gaming condition. The thicker the flock layer the more it apply the varnish. If I were going to use washes as well I would seal with gloss vanish. The apply the washes then a final coat of matt varnish. Again thanks for the mention.
James Evans I'd only attack test pieces like that, the rest I just hope with blind faith mate lol
Hay it looks like a great way to relieve the tension. ;-)
It might be worthwhile to attack it again in about a week's time to see how much it whitens then. I suspect then varnish may have been still curing at the time. All up I am greatly impressed with the amount of knowledge exchange between your channel here and you Facebook page.
Nice final test mate
***** cheers bud
Helpful as always. Thanks for this.
angelicinspirations No worries mate
another interesting result there, i tend to give most of my terrain bits a fine dusting of varnish after i have finished them, but never once thought that the varnish is sealing the flocks. :)
Terrain Direct We learn something new every day mate
I love the dry velvety appearance of moss flocking. Does the sealants take away that dry velvety effect?
I prefer the varnish as it can go on the terrain as well as the flock and doesn't have that sheen that pva can leave
Martin McNeil Know what you mean mate
Dear Mel do you know how the retro Games Workshop gaming tables / boards were made? What type of flock and color were used? Was it even saw dust flock? My dream is to make a retro board with modular hills and trees just like in the old White Dwarves. I have collected enough retro GW palm trees and other bits. Do you know if the original flock is still being sold in model railroad stores. I tried to make it myself the way you have taught the world. But I don’t know what color to use to get it right. I only have some pictures to go by but they are old and because of the lighting the color differs and I can’t really rely on those. I hope and pray that you have made those boards years ago or at least remember what color and flock was used in those days. I hope you read this and can help me. Thanks in advance.
Hi! I’m working on 4 hills and a lake for Warhammer old world, only 10mm thick so I can transport them easily.
I’m planning on using Army painter field grass and matte varnish.
In your experience is that a durable combination? I’m hoping to shove these hills in and out of a backpack (or maybe my armies carrying case if they fit)
PVA + PVA 4 me :) easiest to acquire and easiest to work with!
Balakul Crobat No complaint here! :-D
Thank u sir I will try that then :)
Sgt Oddballz Glad it helped mate :-)
Great tutorial mate. I am having issues with my terrain drying and I think it's due to the temperate. It has been no higher than 10 degrees. Would that affect drying time? Even after 3-4 days its still damp and the flocking isn't sticking. Also, where can I purchase your book? Thanks!
yeah, that's going to effect drying times mate, it needs to be warmer. Typically PVA dries in 24hrs. You can preorder the book here - terrain-essentials.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
If I put filler on polystyrene and paint it will the varnish melt my board or with the filler and PVA I mixed up put a boundary up so I can seal it.
Spray varnish won't affect foam after it's be painted mate
I do have a question for u relating to basing for figures and terrain after seeing this vid. It is if using metal bases like washers or what not how would u apply flock and what not as pva seems to pop off. Thx for the vid I found it helpful :)
Sgt Oddballz I'd go for filler as a ground coat (that will stick) and then pva flock on top of that mate, hope it helps :-)
I want to try the varnish since I've never seen it done before and it looks like a good avenue to venture down. I'm still trying to find a recipe for the pva to water ratio to do on my very first terrain pieces, if anyone has that ratio and feels like sharing, it would be a big help. Thank you in advance.
i don't now if this has been mentioned but...
I've never used water PVA to seal, only varnish so i have nothing really to compare it against, but i know that with my varnished stuff its pretty much waterproof after it dries i.e. spilling a glass of water across the table when I'm playing at home won't ruin it, you can just dab it up with a towel. i suspect however the PVA would not be as forgiving towards spills as wouldn't the liquid just dissolve it again?
now i know i shouldn't be putting water glasses on the game table in the first place, but hey, rolling to deep strike Farsight onto the table before the dread knights over run my fire warriors really drives up a thirst.
also i mentioned on another video how crazy i get about making blasts look random and natural...recently I've taken to 3d modeling a building or ground out in blender then running collision simulations to see what they actually would look like after the blast. I'm not saying this is for everyone, but Blender IS a free program...
Brandon Bader Actually, water has to still on dried pva for a reasonable amount of time before it re-wets it mate. Far long than it'd take to clean up the spill mate
Brandon Bader That's taking it to the extreme mate :-)