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Humbrol spray varnish disaster! Help/advice please...


BikingLampy

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So coming near to the end of my first return to modeling kit, assembled, painted decaled, all gone passably well. Far from flawless, but not too bad.

Then I decided to give it a coat of matt varnish, as seems to be the style these days. It's an airfix kit, painted in Humbrol enamels, so lets use Humbrol sprayvarnish to maintain compatibility.

Except the ^&%*&^*(&ing varnish has melted the decals and crazed the paint. To say I'm furious would be an understatement. It's taken me the best part of a month to do this, and almost as much cash as buying a real Spitfire in 1939 would have done as I've been starting completely from scratch. To find that paint products from the same manufacturer are completly incompatible is beyond belief! And as for melting decals - what's the point in ANY modeling specific product that will eat decals?? (unless specifically and categorically designed to do so).

Some parts had been Pledge/Kleared. Others hadn't. Seems to have made zip all difference.

The bits where it has dried without trashing the paint have also taken on a slightly cloudy/powdery finish, which is also poor.

Having actually googled the damn stuff, it appears to be a moderatly common feature of the matt varnish. Sorry, but that truly commits indecent acts with goats.

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So other than throwing the entire lot in the bin and forgetting I even contemplated the idea, any rescue remedies? I can't even see how to sand it down without removing loads of detail. Chemical stripping? Without trashing the plastic? Or is that what "varnish" is for in modelling speak...?

...grump....

Thanks all!

BL

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My heart goes out to you ruining all that hard work. i cannot speak for humbrol spray cans because I have never used them, but if its anything like the Tamiya clear rattle cans then they are lacquer based and most enamels and acrylics will react against them. I have read of so many disasters with this type of thing here just latley I just wish they would make it a bit more clear on the tins what they can be used for, or maybe a standard text included in the instructions of kits.

i hate to say it but if it were me I would bin the thing and start again, but I suppose with time and patience it could be rescued by stripping the paint, but i dont think sanding would work.

I court disaster by buying any cheap rattle cans I can find in Supermarkets etc, but i try every paint and finish I am going to use on a plastic bottle first, so I suggest you do this in the future. However I can understand just how angry you are after buying the same brand paints.

Hearing some of the complaints about Humbrol just lately I prefer to steer clear of the stuff.

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Yes indeed, it should be made much clearer on the varnish can what you can and cannot do with it. I've been on the sticky end myself, and airbrush everything now. Of course you can bin the model and put it down to learning the hard way, but with a bit (OK, a LOT!) of remedial work an excellent rescue can be achieved.

Check this out:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234976210-f101-voodoo-revell-172/

(Would you have known...?)

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I feel for you BL.

I presume you must have used acrylic varnish over the enamel paint? It doesn't help I know but this is a known problem with that combination of paint types. Such a shame you've had to learn the hard way though. :(

I believe the Humbrol cans do say something to the effect of "not for overcoating enamel paint" but they don't explain why and it's easily missed.

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First off, my sympathies! What a pain in the neck to get this far and have it go pear shaped. It's probably cheaper to get a new kit than acquire the oven cleaner or isopropyl alcohol which would strip the paint!

Secondly , to be fair to Humbrol, they do both an acrylic matt varnish (red can) and an enamel Matt varnish (black can), and the web site clearly states that the first is for applying over acrylic paints, and the second for enamels.

For future reference, another tip is to apply rattle varnish in several very light coats, so you don't have "wet" varnish on the surface. That will help with both the solvent potentially attacking the paint and the "clouding" issue.

Finally, I'd tecommend Winsor and Newton "Galleria" Matt varnish which can be brushed or sprayed on safely over most paints. It takes a little longer to dry, being water based, so you don't want to handle the model for 24 hours after painting, but it comes out dead flat and with no clouding...

Bestest,

M.

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:shit:

Really sorry for this - I like the idea of spray cans but meanwhile only use them for priming or base coat (except the Tamiya cans which work quite nice IMHO). But the only clear coat from a canwhich I would still use is from Gunze. Still I would spray a test sample first.

You can strip the paint with oven cleaner spray or special paint remover. I found the new Revell paint remover works really well. It will remove all paint, so you have to do the painting and decaling again. Plasic is not attacked by the Revell stuff - even not the clear plastic.

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Finally, I'd tecommend Winsor and Newton "Galleria" Matt varnish which can be brushed or sprayed on safely over most paints. It takes a little longer to dry, being water based, so you don't want to handle the model for 24 hours after painting, but it comes out dead flat and with no clouding...

+1 for W&N Galleria. I use their matt, satin and gloss and they're all superb.

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Go on, give it a go with some Fairy Power Spray (other oven cleaners are available), pop it in a plastic bag for a few minutes (an hour or so) and then scrub off with a toothbrush under running water. You've done too good a job to throw it away. Airfix may take pity and send you some new decals if you ask, although I'm sure that one of the kind folk here must have some spares that they could send you.

I was lucky, I tried Humbrol varnish on a 'test' piece... haven't touched the can since. Confirmed W&N Galleria user too, available from Hobbycraft and cheap for the volume you get.

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