Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hi guys, so having spent a long time painting up my land speeder typhoon I decided I was going to Varnish this one. I consulted the people in games workshop as well as the "How to paint citadel miniatures" book. I then proceeded to spray on a Purity Seal Varnish (The Satin one) over my land speeder typhoon. I made sure to shake the can well before using it and also sprayed an amount out of the can before applying it to the model to ensure that an residue build up in the shop was cleaned from the nozzle.

Now I come back 15 minutes later and the model has what looks like a white dusting appearance... A bit worried I leave it for longer and find out that this is indeed how the Varnish has dried.

Curious I tried the varnish on 2 old metal and 2 old plastic models (which I should have done in the first place!!!) both plastic models and one of the metal models had the same problem. Only 1 of the metal models seemed okay.

Now why is this happening? While never having used Varnish I have used plenty of paints and where possible I try my best to do multiple thin coats so as to avoid all the problems a single thick coat causes. I was aware of this when Varnishing and used hardly any...

My models are painted using only games workshops own paint range and glues so I have to assume it is not a problem in reaction, and the model was completely dry before I sprayed it.


Am I using the wrong Varnish? Have I missed a stage. Some advice on this problem and Varnishes in general would be much appreciated!!

I might see if I can get a picture of the model up so you can all see the situation better?

its the humidity i think
I heard using a brush on it will totally
clean it up
id wait for more responses im going off of memory

Bad luck!

It could be a bad can. I had it once with a can of Humbrol varnish.

Another thing is not to go apecrap shaking. If you shake too much you can make the paint/varnish frothy. Let the can settle for a couple of minutes after shaking.

You can probably rescue the model by repainting varnish by hand.

The GW purity seal is crap. The stuff decays and will come out like that anytime you use it now. I'd recommend dumping the can or just using it for texture. There have been some other sprays that have reacted with paints, plastics and inks to have a similar effect.

Deffskullz is correct though - using a brush on matt or satin varnish will get rid of the white colouring and should fix the model.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
.. in most cases at least

This might sound like a stupid question but when you say use a brush, is that repainting the colour on the bad bits? Or is it just merely going over with a brushed varnish?

On the same note, is it better to just use a varnish I can paint on by hand than spray Varnish?

Thanks for the quick replies guys

Sorry, my typo there. It is going over it with a brushed varnish. Spray is better when it works as it takes a lot less time and is less likely to be too thick, but brush is useful to have around for when things do go wrong.

I second that GW Purity Seal is absolute garbage... there is an entire thread on Warseer devoted to this problem and it's solution.

You can fix it - just buy Testors Dullcoat and re-varnish it... the cloudiness will go away.

Ah, that's good to know Considering the effort I put into it. Fortunately the cloudiness isn't that extensive but it's definitely not what I was going for

Gunzhard I don't suppose you could point me to the thread on Warseer devoted to this?

Also does anyone have any suggestions on alternative Varnishes?

http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=206471&highlight=purity+seal
http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=218309&highlight=purity+seal

I'm not certain these are the exact threads but after seeing this topic come up over and over, I've learned that the solution is (testors dullcoat).

As one poster puts it - "we should have a forum-wide announcement warning people of the dangers of gw's matte varnish. we see a thread like this every three days."