Protecting Weathering / Washes

[Brigand]

A recent trip to see my mum saw me rooting through the loft and finding a box of old models I'd made around fifteen or more years ago. Mainly aircraft, but a few 1/35 tanks and other vehicles in there as well. (Even found the Matchbox or Revell 1/72 Flower Class Corvette, I'd hoped to fix it up but I've nowhere in my current place to keep it) Anyway, I brought a couple of tanks home just to practice some washes on, as I've never tried this method before.

I used my Tamiya acrylics to get some effective washes on and they looked good, however I found once dried I could just rub the paint off where it dried very easily. To counter this I put some clear coat on as I've done with my recent aircraft, however the washes then 'washed off' and lost their distinctness.

So, the question is, what's the best way to protect my models with a varnish / clear coat without wrecking the wash? (The clear coat I have isn't best suited to some kits as its probably more of a varnish meant for wooden models, so this may be why I had the problem I did)

Any tips appreciated gents!

[dr_gn]

For washes you really need dissimilar paints, e.g. if you're putting a wash on an acrylic base, then use an enamel wash, and overcoat with an acrylic varnish.

If you're using similar paint types for everything, then the wash may get dissolved by the varnish, and/or worse still, may attack the base colour.

You also need to spray the varnish to avoid damaging the wash/weathering. I use Humbrol Acrylic Matt spray #49 in a very light coat.

[Brigand]

Thanks for the info Dr_gn, spraying on the clear coat seems to be the best way forward, as brushing it on like I did seemed to cause the majority of the smudging.