"Does Magic Wash deteriorate with age?" Topic

I've been out of the painting game for fifteen years now, for a lot of reasons -- kids, life, a developing need for bifocals -- and I'm making an effort to pick it back up again.

My paints -- Vallejo, Reaper, GW -- have weathered the years surprisingly well, with the chief casualties being the metallics and pretty much my entire and extensive stock of Cel-Vinyl Cartoon Colors. I'm going to be spending the next few weeks figuring out what I need to replace entirely, and seeing where the gaps in my color coverage now lie.

While working on a few things -- more doodling than painting -- I broke out a bottle of Magic Wash that I made back in 2003 or thereabouts: Future floor polish/water/ink mixture that I remembered as being perfect for washes because of the way that it settles into the deep areas while leaving the higher ones intact.

Unfortunately, it now seems to be taking the paint of off my minis. The primer coat remains intact, but the layers of acrylic paint just dissolve away. I'm going to pick up a new bottle of the polish, which now goes under another name, but I was wondering if anyone else had a similar experience. I did notice that the bottle of the pure polish that I had has gone yellowish, so I'm going to dispose of that entirely.

And while I'm on the subject, does anyone make empty bottles similar to the old Ral Partha paint bottles? Those were perfect for storing pre-made washes.

Thanks, everyone!

I usually put a gloss varnish on my figures before using "magic wash". It seems to promote pooling in crevices and not just staining of the paint colors. I find it is important to let the gloss varnish dry thoroughly before applying "magic wash".

My "magic wash" hasn't set around as long as yours, but I've never had it remove anything except itself – pledge/future floor wax will dissolve itself, which is good to know if you make a mistake with the wash. You can use clear wash to remove mistakes, although it is safest to remove when used over a gloss varnish that does not dissolve in the future/pledge.

Use the TMP search function or Google and you should find sources for empty plastic bottles, either from miniature companies or suppliers of plastic bottles.

Jeff

This really sounds like a problem with your paint and not the wash. It sounds as if the binder in the paint did not cure properly. This made for a weak bond between the paint and primer and within the paint itself.

I recall, painting an airplane wing with some very old Polly-S paint. (Like made in 1976) and when trying to apply a decal the paint lifting from the undercoat. I suspect your paint maybe similarly damaged. Also, not mixing paint well enough can lead to the same effect. Or if the paint is thinned too much with solvent without adding more media, the same effect happens.

I suggest getting a new bottle of paint, mixing it well, and avoid thinning. This can all be done on some test object. Paint a stripe of the same paint that failed next to it, and Let it cure 24 hours or so, and retesting your wash.

The cost of a new batch of "Magic Wash" is pretty low, so why not just try that as well.