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Dakka, my beloved Dakka.

I just spent almost 8 hours on one of my best models to date. Painting a Plague Lord for my clan Pestilens, the thing came out beautiful for my standards. So i did the usual method of matte coating the model , I sprayed my matte coat and let the sucker sit overnight to dry, I woke early this morning eagerly awaiting the dried and finished model to show to you guys, only to see the entire thing RUINED. The matter varnish left little white specks all over the model, completely destroying it.

Dakka, I want to cry right now, help me!

You could try a gloss varnish over the top then a coat of dullcote

What varnish were you using? Was it a new pot? What were the condtions like (weather/heat etc)

Valspar Matte Coat spray, This is the first time this has happened and it's what i usually use for my models. The weather and everything was perfect too.

How old was it? That sucks man, it does happen occasionally that paint goes bad before you buy it too

It's pretty new, i've had this can for a little under a month.

Oh no! I want to know what happened too, I have 4 cans of Testors Dullcote sitting around waiting for me to finish painting, and I was planning on spraying everything...

Looks like I should spray a few test models first to make sure!

Sorry for your misfortune :( Go get back on your horse and paint another one even better!

was it humid when you sprayed them? i think the dull coats have that property. a friend of mine sprayed some old ral partha figs in the middle of the day in the summer with close to 100% humidity and the same thing happened overnight. i was careful to spray my space marines in a climate controlled environment and they turned out fine... for a time. i moved around alot and kept them in storage for a year (without air conditioning) and they turned white 5-6 years after i painted them.

It wasn't too humid, it had just rained though.

It was about 55 degrees out, but they were sprayed inside.

Wait there is still hope. I remember a post identical to this ( especially because it happend to myself too lol )

Something about taking water? or some sort of solvent and (re melt ? ) the coating.

I ran it under water this morning after i noticed it, hoping it was jsut like a dust or something left behind. It looked a bit better for like an hour, then it dried.

What about... turning the matt spray upside down and spray the solvant on it?

If I remember correctly from another post awhile back, the solution to this problem is to spray it with Zap-a-Gap Zip Kicker. I think it was grizgrin that found this solved his problem with it - you might PM him to confirm this.

try using a brush on gloss coat over your spots to test it. If that helps then spay coat the fig with gloss coat then matt seal over that ( this is how I do mine) the gloss protects the figs from play damage alot better, and the matt knock all the shone off and gives the figs a more realstic look.

i feel your pain, I once went to varnish a bunch of minis i'd spent ages on and inadvertantly picked up the chaos black spray.... I cried a little.

*Semi off topic ,

after reading so many accounts on the guys and their tears i cant help but be reminded of this

(mod removed: no swearing in images please)

blessed - here's a link to the previous discussion of this problem: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/215757.page. There's even pictures of the recovery. Porkuslime's experience was slightly different - instead of white specks, he had cloudiness, but I think it's similar symptoms of the same problem.

sleazy wrote:i feel your pain, I once went to varnish a bunch of minis i'd spent ages on and inadvertantly picked up the chaos black spray.... I cried a little.

Been there. I let out a bellow that got people from both ends of the block out of their houses to see what was going on. Then they saw it was just me and they went back in. They're used to me by now.

I cry the man cry.

blessed be thy emperor wrote:....it had just rained though.

This = Humid conditions.

Best cure I know is a soft haired toothbrush, some scrubbing, and a heavy coat of flat coat again. Sometimes works, sometimes doesn't, otherwise its the simple green with it.

whocares wrote:I cry the man cry.

Is this the bitten lower lip, slight trickle of a tear from the corner of the eye, with the hard set in stone face of 'if anyone so much as even thinks about making a smart ass remark I'll remove their throat from their neck in one mind blogglign fast move'?

*Another semi off topic , but a interesting thought never the less.

Real man's tear = blood from their clenched fist , blood
from the teeth that bit through their own lips @_@

its happened to me , did you have it near awindow or heat source i think when you try to accelerate the dry time this happens . I just repainted the model i know it sucks but this stuff happens . from that point on I tend to use paint on dull coat .

LOL @ sleazy and that comic LunaHound... I laughed out loud imagining that happening to somebody

Sorry for those it has happened to :( it'll be funny in a few year... promise...

Dont feel too bad mate, same thing happened to me, only it wasnt one model, it was 50 ork boys that took me the better part of a month to paint. Ive found that washing over the varnish reduces the whiteness, but it also changes color of the model.

When I saw the topic of this thread I instantly thought 'spray varnish accident' and lo and behold. Happened to me with an old can of purity seal. Now I either use brush on varnish or dont varnish at all (but my models are not really used for gaming, just display so I can get away with it).

I only ever sprayed one model, and that was ruined too, so I don't bother now. it takes away from all the subtle shading and highlights, and totaly ruins the shine painted onto metals. leave them unvarnished, and only ever touch the model by the base!

Death By Monkeys wrote:blessed - here's a link to the previous discussion of this problem: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/215757.page. There's even pictures of the recovery. Porkuslime's experience was slightly different - instead of white specks, he had cloudiness, but I think it's similar symptoms of the same problem.

you've got an extra period at the end of the url that causes a database error when clicked. thanks for the link though; good read.

for those looking to read the forum, just manually copy the address without the period at the end of the sentance.

I've found that when I've put a lot of work into a model, I tend to to give it a thicker spray of sealant, which makes it much more likely to cloud up. In the future, make sure you don't over spray, just a quick burst so that it's got an even coat, and that's it.

I solved my misty varnish problem by lightly spraying my models again over a hot radiator. No idea how sensible it was but worked for me.

unlucky dude what kinda varnish were you using