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I spent 2 weeks painting a wraithknight to a really high standard, lots of edge work, transfers all over the place, etc. I gave it a coat of purity seal today. I used it inside, held can about 8" from the model. Maybe I didn't shake it enough or humidity was too high (damn Alabama weather). Whatever the reason, it left this gray, cloudy haze over the entire model. What can I do to fix it? There's no way I'm re painting this thing as I still have 1500 points of other stuff to get painted so I can field the army. I was thinking 1-2 coats of ard coat followed by 1-2 coats of medium to knock down the gloss a bit.

Search for the term "frosting" - plenty of threads on the topic. The gist: Gloss coat will reduce the cloudy effect, a subsequent matte coat (assuming it's applied successfully, of course) will dull down the shine.

I'm going to stick with a paint on matte coat this time. I don't want to risk it again. You can't find anywhere in this state under 80% humidity to properly spray on purity seal.

 Toofast wrote:
I'm going to stick with a paint on matte coat this time. I don't want to risk it again. You can't find anywhere in this state under 80% humidity to properly spray on purity seal.

Yikes. Sorry to hear, bud.

I would try gloss coat (not matte), and try to borrow someone's airbrush to do it indoors. A really, really, really long time ago, I did this one summer on a batch of 20 or so miniatures and tried to fix it with a number of different things. I was so mad, lol. It's the closest I ever came to ragequitting anything, so I know how you feel. Because I had so many messed up models, I tried different things to fix it. What ended up working best for me was a gloss coat, followed by a semi-gloss (because I didn't want my stuff to look like a polished marble).

Lahmian Medium on top did NOT fix it (it looked good while it was wet, though). Ardcoat was... well, I wasn't happy with it, because I was not able to brush it on smoothly.

If you're going to use the brush to cover a large model like a Wraithknight, I would suggest a large FLAT paintbrush. Think 1/4 inch or larger. Also, I would test a small patch with Liquitex Gloss Medium. I've heard good things, but I have never tried it myself.

Maybe I'll try a spray on gloss coat. Ard coat is definitely tough to get smooth but once you go over it with lahmian medium it smooths out. At least that's what I noticed today when I did the transfers like that.


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What's the best spray on gloss varnish?

Whatever is cheap, but not too cheap.

Gloss varnishes aren't nearly as finicky as matte, nor is there as much variation in the sheen between one brand and another (compare Dullcote or Alclad Flat to Liquitex Matte, though, and the latter looks downright shiny). I've used several over the years and none caused any issues. I think the last one I had settled on was Krylon Crystal Clear.

This used to happen to me when I first started using varnish on my models. It is probably a combination of high humidity and too much spray. Luckily it may not be too late to save your model.

First of all, applying another coat of the varnish will re-activate the layer you had on underneath. What this means is that the first cloudy layer will become fluid again. At this point you can move your model to a place of very low humidity. My favorite trick is putting it underneath a desk lamp which slightly heats it up and allows the varnish to dry without hazing. Another trick is to use a low setting hairdrier (WITHOUT HEAT JUST COOL AIR!) from a few inches away which will let it dry faster.

Ordinarily if I want a matte finish, I spray a gloss coat underneath first. I let the gloss coat harden and dry for at least a day, then I hit it with a few spurts of matte varnish until the gloss disappears. I stick it under a lamp and wait for it to be dry to the touch before adding flock/tufts to the model.

As you said, make sure you shake the can for at least 2 minutes before use and always get a few practice sprays to get used to the amount coming out. The key to applying the right amount (which I picked up from a MWG tutorial) is to spray 2 very quick bursts per side on the mini.

Hope this helps, and that you're able to salvage your paint job. Cheers!

Actually, Hive City Dweller makes an excellent point.

It's less about spraying in humidity as ** drying ** in humidity, from what I've been told by people who understand these things.

If you can put it into an air conditioned (dehumidified), cool room right away, that should help a lot. But I would do it on a test subject first, rather than a wraithknight!

Spray with gloss coat, cover again with matte varnish. Use Testors brand stuff for both. This happened to me a lot when I was spraying in the summer.

 Hive City Dweller wrote:
This used to happen to me when I first started using varnish on my models. It is probably a combination of high humidity and too much spray. Luckily it may not be too late to save your model.

First of all, applying another coat of the varnish will re-activate the layer you had on underneath. What this means is that the first cloudy layer will become fluid again. At this point you can move your model to a place of very low humidity. My favorite trick is putting it underneath a desk lamp which slightly heats it up and allows the varnish to dry without hazing. Another trick is to use a low setting hairdrier (WITHOUT HEAT JUST COOL AIR!) from a few inches away which will let it dry faster.

Ordinarily if I want a matte finish, I spray a gloss coat underneath first. I let the gloss coat harden and dry for at least a day, then I hit it with a few spurts of matte varnish until the gloss disappears. I stick it under a lamp and wait for it to be dry to the touch before adding flock/tufts to the model.

As you said, make sure you shake the can for at least 2 minutes before use and always get a few practice sprays to get used to the amount coming out. The key to applying the right amount (which I picked up from a MWG tutorial) is to spray 2 very quick bursts per side on the mini.

Hope this helps, and that you're able to salvage your paint job. Cheers!

Shook the can for 3 full minutes, applied 2 quick bursts per side in 33% humidity, dried it as you suggested, now it looks worse.

@TooFast -- did you hit it with gloss? If so, how did that turn out?

I believe what happens with gloss, by the way, is that it fills in the uneven surfaces, which is what is giving the frosted appearance. If you wet the model (with water) does it look ok, until it dries?

 Toofast wrote:

 Hive City Dweller wrote:
This used to happen to me when I first started using varnish on my models. It is probably a combination of high humidity and too much spray. Luckily it may not be too late to save your model.

First of all, applying another coat of the varnish will re-activate the layer you had on underneath. What this means is that the first cloudy layer will become fluid again. At this point you can move your model to a place of very low humidity. My favorite trick is putting it underneath a desk lamp which slightly heats it up and allows the varnish to dry without hazing. Another trick is to use a low setting hairdrier (WITHOUT HEAT JUST COOL AIR!) from a few inches away which will let it dry faster.

Ordinarily if I want a matte finish, I spray a gloss coat underneath first. I let the gloss coat harden and dry for at least a day, then I hit it with a few spurts of matte varnish until the gloss disappears. I stick it under a lamp and wait for it to be dry to the touch before adding flock/tufts to the model.

As you said, make sure you shake the can for at least 2 minutes before use and always get a few practice sprays to get used to the amount coming out. The key to applying the right amount (which I picked up from a MWG tutorial) is to spray 2 very quick bursts per side on the mini.

Hope this helps, and that you're able to salvage your paint job. Cheers!

Shook the can for 3 full minutes, applied 2 quick bursts per side in 33% humidity, dried it as you suggested, now it looks worse.

Oh man, why oh why did you do it on your model before testing it on another surface? This always works on my models but I have no way of knowing how your application method, conditions and everything else is affecting the process.

The problem is now you have two coats of poorly dried purity seal on your model and that's why it's looking worse. There are two directions you can go from here (If you are still considering my advice)

1) Get a good gloss varnish and apply it over the model, then let it dry in the low humidity conditions as you described. Use Testors, move away from GW varnishes.

2) There is a fix for this that is a bit more extreme; people have had success "baking" the models until their coat of varnish clears up. Yes they literally place the model in the oven at a very LOW temperature and slowly but surely the varnish becomes clear.

Now I'm not saying throw your knight in the oven and melt it, I'm saying get some plastic bits primed, give them a good base coat of a certain color, then replicate your purity seal probem by giving that a good coat and drying it in higher humidity. Now use these to try both methods mentioned above. If the results look worse you've wasted a spare bit, if it improves you know what to do. Do not exceed 100F with the oven.

So sorry it didn't work out for you hopefully you are able to fix it, but always, always test on a spare bit of plastic before doing anything to big expensive models.


Check out this thread for other opinions as well: http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?338387-purity-seal-WTF/page2


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Read this thread, it sounds exactly like what you were describing:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/How_to_recover_from_a_Spray_Sealer_disaster

I had this exact problem after painting my ork army up. The boyz, nobz and warboss got off relatively lightly but still look bad compared to non-varnished stuff. My 3 deff koptas were ruined though. I have just finished stripping them back to base coat to start all over again.
I'd rather hammer one of my testes flat than use purity seal ever again. I binned the nearly full can as TBH I didn't want to sell it on to some other poor sod.

By the way, I haven't had problems with Purity Seal. I had a horrible experience with Armoury, but heck who knows, I attribute it to inexperience and environmental conditions.

That oven thing... wow I would be scared to do that hahahahaha. Not saying it won't work, I just don't think I have the cajones to put a wraithknight in the oven Before you try THAT make sure you test the melting temperature on a smaller model?

One thing that helped somewhat for me, by the way, was just scrubbing it down with a wet lint-free cloth. It was certainly not "acceptable" but it took off a lot of the flaky stuff. I was left with a flat coat of dull, frosted varnish. A gloss coat on it after made it look ... uh... "acceptable"... I guess. I wasn't happy with it, but it was a BIG improvement.

Vallejo spray gloss it is. If that doesn't work, into the oven he goes. God I hope I don't have to put this thing in the oven...

Vallejo spray gloss varnish fixed it!

I've had the problem in the past. I find that using a gloss varnish prior to the matte varnish helps

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 Sillycybin wrote:
Do any of you brush on gloss or matte? How do you do this and get an even coat comparable to a spray?

I'm trying to get into varnishing but it certainly feels like it has a high skill cap.

There is no skill at all involved. Get either a largish round brush (think GW Wash sized), or, better, a flat brush, and make sure that it's a brush with soft bristles that carries a bunch of paint (so no harsh synthetic brushes optimized for metallic paints). Buy some Vallejo airbrush varnish. Put varnish in palette, paint varnish on model, have a pizza, DONE.

I'm pretty sure it's self-levelling, so the brushstrokes should appear minimal, but Toofast can probably answer that better since he just did it

But really, my honest opinion... spend a wee bit of money on a sub-$100 airbrush/compressor, and use it just to airbrush on primer, basecoat, and varnish. Or even just primer and varnish. It is so much better than rattle can or paintbrush.

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Not in my experience, Sillycybin. Brush-on varnishes generally behave more or less like paints, in terms of dry time and application. The big concern with them is to not 'overwork' (push it around once it starts drying) or apply overly thick layers of varnishes containing a matting agent, as it can mess with the dispersion thereof and cause similar frosting issues to the OP's rattlecan fiasco.

Of course, you don't ever want dust settling on a wet model, but you definitely don't need to make a special, airtight, low-temperature oven for varnish curing.

While the air humidity IS a big factor, one of the most common things in many of the "frosting" threads is you have to make sure the current paint layers are 100% dry before applying any kind of spray varnish.

I give my models at LEAST 24 hours (or more if it is humid) to dry before i put on any varnish.

Also, to deal with potential for dust, I just put a box over them (when I dip some of my minis, due to fumes I need to leave them in the garage - so I put a box over them so dirt/dust/leaves etc. don't get on them).

A lot of other very good advice in this thread - but I wanted to emphasize the proper drying of the paint before putting on the varnish as well....


best of luck!

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