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I'm trying to figure out this weird circumstance. I'm painting a GW plastic model, primed white with Vallejo primer through an airbrush. I have been painting this model in bits and covered a lot of ground with zero issues. A few of the bits are having a hard to having the paint "stick," (it's running off) to the primer?! A handful of the pieces are having this issue while the other 90% of bits are alright. I have notice this happen to other models where 90% of the facing is perfect, but a tiny little part refuses to have paint stick. I tried the same paint on unseen parts of the same model primed at the same time and no issues.

What's causing this VERY frustrating phenomenon. I use thinned paints and this is a very small and curvy surface. Would that cause this?

Thanks for the insight.

Have you touched the models in the places the paint is not sticking? I've had skin oil deter paint from sticking.

I may have, but I have also handled the other portions greatly. It's the Vampire Count Coven Throne for reference. I have to hold the big ghostly knight part a lot to get the job done. No issues. It could be it, but I am using blue tac + a spool to handle the stuff I'm currently painting.

Could just be that you are thinning your paints a little too much. Some paints don't thin well, and lose adhesion or coverage when you add water. If you're mixing is a little inconsistent, that would explain why it's only happening in patches.

You could try an acrylic medium instead of water and see if that makes a difference. Otherwise, it might be something peculiar happening to the Vallejo primer when airbrushed... try hitting the model with a coat of matte sealer over the primer, and see if that helps any.

 insaniak wrote:
Could just be that you are thinning your paints a little too much. Some paints don't thin well, and lose adhesion or coverage when you add water. If you're mixing is a little inconsistent, that would explain why it's only happening in patches.

You could try an acrylic medium instead of water and see if that makes a difference. Otherwise, it might be something peculiar happening to the Vallejo primer when airbrushed... try hitting the model with a coat of matte sealer over the primer, and see if that helps any.

Yea, I'll need some more matte medium and some retarder because thinning and wet blending at a high altitude (read: extremely low humidity) is causing eye twitches. It's the reason why I use a wet palette now. I cringe at people using open pots or dry palette work at 10% humidity.

Excessive contact to blutac can also affect paint adhesion.