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Ok so... I'm confused what is happening with my paints, that has never happened to me before.

Basically what I am seeing, is that I am putting paint onto a flat panel of a model, and instead of spreading the paint is shrinking!? I put down a brush stroke of paint, and when i lift the brush, the paint pools together leaving totally unpainted patches behind.

It's like the model is covered in something oily, or waxy, or water resistant, and so the paint is beading up.

Thing is, the model is freshly coated in Army Painter silver primer. I've used it before without issue.

The paint is Vallejo Game Color, that I've also used before without issue.

Any ideas? I've been watering down the paint a bit, but not much, only a couple drops on the brush. Its so weird.

That is bizarre. Try the same paint on a different primer. Maybe the primer is a bad batch or has some odd chemical issue?

 Elbows wrote:
That is bizarre. Try the same paint on a different primer. Maybe the primer is a bad batch or has some odd chemical issue?

I thought it might have been my old paints, as I haven't painted in a year, so I bought a whole new set from amazon that turned up today. Does the same thing.

So I guess it might be the primer? But I've used spray primers for years and I've never known them to go "bad". I shook it for like 5 minutes before using and it came out and coated the models smoothly.

Is there oil, grease, or wash on the model already? I have had some weirdness with paint and and still-wet washes.

...and is the paint doing the same thing on other models? (This could reveal whether it is the paint itself, or the model.) If it is an issue with the paint, I'm stumped.

 Cothonian wrote:
Is there oil, grease, or wash on the model already? I have had some weirdness with paint and and still-wet washes.

...and is the paint doing the same thing on other models? (This could reveal whether it is the paint itself, or the model.) If it is an issue with the paint, I'm stumped.

I've only primed this one model, a multi-piece gun emplacement. I might try priming a different model entirely using the white or black primers I have somewhere. The silver is the most recent one I bought though.

The model was totally untouched before being primed. I rinsed it off (it's a resin kit) and then primed it, so there shouldn't be anything on the primer.

Seen this before, this is what happens when a surface is not properly primed/ not abrasive enough.

Happens if the paint is to thin, or the surface it not primed. Hit the surface in question with any wash you have, I suggest nulin oil. Leery it dry then paint. The wash is more abrasive and will let the paint stick. Is this a resin model?

 Backspacehacker wrote:
Seen this before, this is what happens when a surface is not properly primed/ not abrasive enough.

Happens if the paint is to thin, or the surface it not primed. Hit the surface in question with any wash you have, I suggest nulin oil. Leery it dry then paint. The wash is more abrasive and will let the paint stick. Is this a resin model?

I'll give it a go, I have a few washes so I'll try it out

I've seen it a couple of times. You are spraying on too much primer leaving a smooth surface instead of a matte surface. It has happened to me a couple of times, especially with their Plate Mail primer.

I don't really know how to circumvent it if you want a good coverage of primer. Also the distance from which you spray is key: too far and you'll get "frosting" (in lack of a better term), too close and you'll clog up the details and/or get too smooth a surface. Humidity and temperature also affect your optimal spraying distance.

What wenzel said. More tips : http://www.how-to-paint-miniatures.com/miniature-painting-apply-primer.html

Had a can of Battlefront's primer that did exactly this, ended up with a slightly waxy finish and the only way I could get a wash to go on was with a scrubbing action.

Ended up re-priming them, appears to be the individual can of primer more than the models as it was only that can and others prepared at the same time but airbrushed with the last bits from the previous can covered fine.

Seems to be "one of those things" that happens once in a while, gave up on rattle can primers