"Varnish Disaster" Topic

All

To keep it brief, I went to go and mass varnish my French infantry battalion today and sadly the varnish decided it would be cloudy, and they now look like they are marching in a blizzard.

Is there any way I can somehow remove the varnish?

Figures are plastic. – At the moment i'm debating either re-priming and starting again, or more likely just chucking them in the bin

Any ideas?

F

paint them over with a solvent based varnish such as Humbrol Mattcote, it will remove the cloudiness.

Mike

Mike

Thanks, got nothing to lose by giving it a try, although the varnish is pretty thick

Lesson learnt spraying outside in the dark!

It's the same can of varnish which I sprayed into my eye last week. I think it's probably time I threw it away!

F

I learned the hard way myself. I no longer varnish if conditions outside are cold or damp. I bring figures in from the garage, let them warm up and varnish in the loft.

yup, moisture and or cold… not good.

But the best bet is a re-spray with solvent based (i.e. same solvent). Probably a fresh can also.

Dualer

It's been raining heavily today. Having said that i've sprayed in the rain before and not had any problems. Maybe I didn't shake it properly

Either way i'll give the Matte Cote a go, cant look any worse!

Dervel – I could use the same substance again?

F

Humidity and temperature are two issues to consider when using spray dull coats – I've had issues with the Army Painter dull coat [not so much Testor's or Modelmaster], but I think that had to do with the age of the product.
If it's too cold to spray outside, or too high a humidity level, then I use a liquid dull coat, which I paint onto the figures – never had any issues with that approach.

All

I took Dervils advice and sprayed one chap with the same stuff again

It seems to have worked, and the cloudiness has reduced a lot.

I'll spray the rest again tomorrow!

F

One of the reasons why I don't varnish. Have never bothered in well over 30 years and none of my figures ahve suffered as a result.

Ferg981,
I'd recommend doing the overspray as soon as possible – my experience has been that the longer you wait the more chance that the cloudiness remains.

I have sprayed successfully on cold and rainy days by spraying and then immediately putting the figures in front of a portable electric heater/fan, and thus have warm dry air blowing over them. I suspect Ligniere is right about spraying as soon as you can. The overspray softens the cloudy layer and I suspect combines with it, so if you let the first layer completely cure you might not be able to fix it.

Good luck,

David

and use a hair drier……not on full heat though. We must not get stoned on our sprays, we must use ventilated spaces, but in Winter, in the North East of England, on the edge of the North York Moors, the garage is not great. I have had much Chaos Black come out glossy!

If the white will not clear…switch to the Retreat from Moscow and add lost more white. Use some PVA glue and chalk dust for frost………

Pretty thick layer might also be the problem…

All

I have re-sprayed and whilst not perfect they have been rescued enough to be used for wargaming (for my Barrosa game as intended!)

F

You can see the finished infantry here –

link

F

Hi ferg, been there, done that – extremely frustrating after all the work one has put into a unit. As others have said, ambient moisture is to blame.

My solution was suggested by a good friend: rub or brush the figures lightly with oil, which will fill the pores in the varnish. Worked well for me, but of course you're then stuck with the figures as they are, since no paint will adhere to them again.

I've heard that a gloss varnish followed by matt varnish fixes things up nicely. There's a good thread and discussion on fixing this problem with some sci-fi figures here:
link

Hmm, the finished result doesn't look all that bad/big a disaster.

Perhaps a thin brownish/blackish glaze might remove those last white bits?

Army painter quick shade?

F

ferg, sorry for the late reply.. yup same stuff…

Basically if it was a solvent based (lacquer) spray like Dullcote or Krylon, the solvent will "re-melt" for lack of a better term the surface. It can help get the cloudiness out. I have done it several times before.

Also, a gloss coat of the same type with a second spray of dull will work as well. And you can hit them again for additional improvement, but go with light coats for the best results.

Also, a light brushing of lacquer thinner over the figures first might help…

Some info from the woodworking world that might help:

link

link

link

Hi

Having tried to soak some bases off of Figures I had bought on line, I fond that they were not detaching I went for total immersion as a solution, which worked.

However on the figures drying I got the dreaded Dull white frosting, initially I thought that this was the varnish washing off as the bottom half of the figure was not as bad as the top. Repeated immersion only made things worse when wet they looked good on drying they go duller and duller.

Having checked these boards I decided to try immersing them in water again to remove the opaque dull sheen then putting them in the oven Gas Mark 4 (190 degrees C). The Test figure came out great I then tried to do them on mass, Having set the 20 or so figures up half of them ell over as I went to put them in the oven. By the time I had them se up again they were already turning Opaque. I decided to do the two excellent painted French Generals, I stood the up right and being Mounted figures gave them 15 mins.

Disaster… The base melted and the figures fell over one the head fell off when I went to pick it up the other had turned one side into flats.

I then temporally based the Figures using superglue as they then need immersing to remove the opaque colour. 15 mins later I popped them in the Oven gas mark 3 (180 degrees C)

This worked, so my answer is

Base the figures so they wont fall down in the over Immerse the figures in water until clear and pop in the oven at Gas Mark 3 (180 Degrees C) for 10 minutes.

All th e figures came out clear again.