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Need some quick help I'm painting a BA dread and notice that my paint seems to be cracking as it dries.
A little info, I'm using reaper fire red watered down a little and the model is base coated with army painter pure red. I'm painting under a 100 watt desk lamp about a foot from the model.

Any tips?

Someone once told me that reaper has some flaws that can cause it to crack like you described- But I don't have firsthand experience with reaper paints.

It could be because of the lamp, if you are using quite thick paint and have a bulb generating heat (like a 100 watt is going to do) that close then perhaps the paint is drying out too quickly and going brittle and cracking.

May a suggest moving the lamp further away, thinning your paints a little more or a combination of the two

+1 with Leigen_Zero. If you want to solve the problem, subtract the lamp from the equation (patience is a virtue, after all). If it still cracks up, add some drying retarder.

subtract the lamp from the equation (patience is a virtue, after all)

I don't use the lamp because I'm impatient, I use it because I can't see!

Try sitting in a light area maby by a window or a door using the source of natural light , if this is not possible maby try moving the lamp so that it is a bit further away from the model itself , Also you could try a different undercoat is the one you are using good quality product ?

Hope this is helpful ~UnDeAd~

Daggermaw wrote:Need some quick help I'm painting a BA dread and notice that my paint seems to be cracking as it dries.
A little info, I'm using reaper fire red watered down a little and the model is base coated with army painter pure red. I'm painting under a 100 watt desk lamp about a foot from the model.

Any tips?

Rutteger1 wrote:Someone once told me that reaper has some flaws that can cause it to crack like you described- But I don't have firsthand experience with reaper paints.

Aloha!

It actually is partially the fault of a flaw in Reaper paints. They've got too much "Flow Release" in them and when you put them on top of other paints, they tend to crack when they dry. Even using multiple coats, it tends to take at least 5 coats to get rid of all the cracks.

My suggestion would be to find the paints that are cracking, and switch brands to an equivalent color (my suggestion would be Vallejo, but if you can get hold of GW or Privateer Press P3 paints, that would work as well).

To learn more, check out our videos on Vallejo Vs. Reaper paints:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih0CiwAcUgg - Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTuy3dnDoYo - Part 2

Hope that helps shed some light on things.

Let me know if I can help further.

AGProductions wrote:
Aloha!

It actually is partially the fault of a flaw in Reaper paints. They've got too much "Flow Release" in them and when you put them on top of other paints, they tend to crack when they dry. Even using multiple coats, it tends to take at least 5 coats to get rid of all the cracks.

My suggestion would be to find the paints that are cracking, and switch brands to an equivalent color (my suggestion would be Vallejo, but if you can get hold of GW or Privateer Press P3 paints, that would work as well).

To learn more, check out our videos on Vallejo Vs. Reaper paints:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih0CiwAcUgg - Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTuy3dnDoYo - Part 2

Hope that helps shed some light on things.

Let me know if I can help further.

Christopher! I just remembered, you're the one who told me that haha!

I agree with leigon