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Hi guys,

I was working on some vehicles yesterday, and I gloss varnished the windows (so I can mask them off and paint the rest). Today I've noticed a number of them have dried with a lot of bumps (almost like bubbles in the varnish). When I'd finished painting them yesterday, the coat looked smooth when wet, but now they look like this:



Is there a way I can recover them other than stripping them back down and trying again? I've already tried fine grit sandpaper, but that just removes the shine and leaves the bubbles, and using a knife just takes all the paint layers down to the resin.

Thanks

Try a cotton bud soaked in a little varnish remover.

Never noticed that with my vallejo varnish applied with airbrush. Might pay to spray some tests to see if it happens again, might have a bad bottle or a problem elsewhere.

 Yonan wrote:
Never noticed that with my vallejo varnish applied with airbrush. Might pay to spray some tests to see if it happens again, might have a bad bottle or a problem elsewhere.

I believe this happens with Vallejo varnish if you put an uneven amount on the model (like the airbrush coughs up a sputter), and you let it dry like that.

My advice is to have a damp paper towel nearby, and if you get a mess come out of the airbrush, immediately wipe it off. If you've let the paint on your model cure (fully!) you can even get away with rinsing quickly under the tap. On the plus side, varnish doesn't dry that fast.

It could be dust as well.

You dont seem tooo far into the painting, you could always strip it.

I've tried some of my wife's varnish remover, I'll see if that does anything. Do I need acetone to remove the polyurethane varnish?

I've only done the windows so far (luckily!) but there's 24 vehicles so I'd rather not strip and redo if I can avoid it .

Eh i think Isopropnal might work better but really acetone will feth up your plastics/resins.

Edit: (as close too 100% iso)

That's handy, the varnish remover we have is isopropyl and not acetone.

Talys wrote:

 Yonan wrote:
Never noticed that with my vallejo varnish applied with airbrush. Might pay to spray some tests to see if it happens again, might have a bad bottle or a problem elsewhere.

I believe this happens with Vallejo varnish if you put an uneven amount on the model (like the airbrush coughs up a sputter), and you let it dry like that.

My advice is to have a damp paper towel nearby, and if you get a mess come out of the airbrush, immediately wipe it off. If you've let the paint on your model cure (fully!) you can even get away with rinsing quickly under the tap. On the plus side, varnish doesn't dry that fast.

I was going to reply with my experience but then I realised my Vallejo varnish is actually "100% acrylic resin", not "polyurethane", it seems that they make different varieties, no idea how different the application and behaviour of them might be.

I've actually been annoyed enough by Vallejo's gloss (100% acrylic) that I've swapped to GW's 'ardcoat. Vallejo's stuff seems very prone to turning out grainy instead of smooth. I still use the Vallejo satin and matte though.

Results from the varnish remover are that it does work, but unfortunately I managed to strip the outer paint layers of the non-bubbly parts slightly, so it looks like I'm stripping and repainting. Thanks anyway!