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Worst..... and Last of 2017


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Hi all and welcome to 2018.

Below, and dare I present, the last model I finished in 2017. Here we have Italerie's 1/72 Apache Longbow that was handed to me by a family member a few months go and will be built OOB. The kit was more a flat-pack than a kit; some parts painted with some parts missing. The build went well with the missing parts being fabricated and it was during the build that, AFAIK, this kit was of the prototype...and stayed at what ever variant it is. After a bit of filling and sanding, the primer went on and still everything looked:like:. The helo was painted with Tamiya Olive Drab and coated with a couple of coats of Klear:like:. Kit decals were applied with no problems and there stood a nice shiny Apache:like:. Then, it went downhill. I asked the LMS, "What matt varnish would you recommend?" Humbrol's water soluble matt varnish was applied and this was the result.....aaaaahhhh:swear::bomb::wall::rant::hanging:

IMG_7907.jpg

As can be seen, it looks like it has been sprayed with milk! It stayed as-is and ironically the previous member thought it looked weathered and great. As to what went wrong, I can only put it down to the varnish and/or how it was applied...

What an end to and otherwise good year:sorry:

 

Stuart

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Courageous..I had the same thing happen to me with MM Lacquer.  My problem was (besides being a newbie) I held the airbrush too far from the model.  The clear coat actually dried BEFORE it hit the model...causing this effect.  Not sure if thats what happened to you or not.

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Thanks for the comments guys.

1 hour ago, LostCosmonauts said:

I tried to sort it by recoating with a gloss which hid the worst of it.

I hadn't thought about re-applying a gloss coat:hmmm:

1 hour ago, LostCosmonauts said:

Humbrol matt waterborne is just terrible

It's :poop:....and it looks like it is heading towards the sink!

In the past, I've always used Humbrol Enamel Matt varnish (square bottle) but that formula has long gone.:rage:

Suggestions:poke: for matt varnish please, preferably enamel?

 

Stuart

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I've taken to dropping the enamel clear coats in favour of the acrylic Windsor and Newton stuff. 

It works a treat for me, on any substrate.

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I had a similar problem with Humbrol Clear Matt but found Humbrol Clear Satin to give a much better scale matt effect.

 

The closeness of the airbrush I think is something that may explain it, but also think Humbrol have over cooked the formula of Clear Matt.

 

I agree that Humbrol Clear Matt does give a very heavy weathered effect (dusty or dessert environment) but that's only usefull if you know its going to do that and can plan it into your build.

 

My solution was to polish the model with a nail buffing stick and recoat with Humbrol Clear Satin which worked ok.

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Thanks again guys for your help with matt varnish options.

1 hour ago, Fensman said:

I had a similar problem with Humbrol Clear Matt but found Humbrol Clear Satin to give a much better scale matt effect.

Satin would've have been my choice for a scale effect matt but IMO those AH-64 look really matt and that was what I was hoping for.

1 hour ago, Fensman said:

I agree that Humbrol Clear Matt does give a very heavy weathered effect (dusty or dessert environment) but that's only usefull if you know its going to do that and can plan it into your build.

It did look nice as the matt coat was going on...it was when it dried! The beauty of hindsight.

 

Stuart

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I had a similar varnish problem a few years ago, but thanks to some advice and assistance from the fine folks of this forum I managed to largely recover it.

 

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234960184-my-blackbird-egg-plane-has-gone-horribly-wrong/

Edited by ChrisL
How do I turn a URL into one of those little capsule previews of another Britmodeller page?
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Another vote for Winsor & Newton Galeria matt acrylic varnish.

 

It's good value and seems to work perfectly no matter how you use it. The satin is good too.

 

Happy New Year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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That's a shame - I've got a theory on milky matt varnish, which if you answer "yes" to the question "was it an older bottle of varnish?" could be worth listening to :)

 

When you get a new bottle of varnish, there is the optimum mix of matting agent (usually pumice) to carrier.  After successive applications from the bottle, if it is not shaken adequately to distribute the matting agent completely, the proportions of matting agent to carrier will shift, as you spray matt varnish that isn't quite matt enough over your model.  Eventually you'll end up with a varnish that is overloaded with matting agent, which is when the milky finish is most likely to occur.  At this stage it's best to throw that bottle away and start again.  You can reduce the appearance of the milkiness by applying gloss varnish, but it'll never be 100%, sadly :(

 

The lesson to learn is that when you shake/stir your matt varnish, you need to go mental and shake it until your arm hurts (or buy a bottle shaker from the Nail varnish sellers on eBay).  Just before you decant it to your airbrush, shake it up some more and even jiggle your cup as you're spraying if you can manage it without spilling any.  The pumice is heavier than the carrier, so gravitates to the bottom given a few moments unshaken.  You can see it illustrated brilliantly if you have any of the Alclad Klear Kote Flat range, which have clear bottles, and you can actually see a layer of matting agent on the bottom if you leave the bottle for any more than a few hours.

 

Here endeth the lesson :)

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1 hour ago, ChrisL said:

I had a similar varnish problem a few years ago, but thanks to some advice and assistance from the fine folks of this forum I managed to largely recover it.

 

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234960184-my-blackbird-egg-plane-has-gone-horribly-wrong/

Glad to see that you rescued your egg-plane. I plan no recovery, just chalking up the experience and hopefully it won't happen again.

 

@Mike. My particular varnish is/ was a brand new 125ml bottle of Humbrol Clear Matt Varnish via my airbrush. All precautions duly taken, especially the shaking bit in a nice warm man-cave.

 

I might try the W&N matt varnish next time but will most probably keep to Satin.

 

Stuart

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That's a pity cos it looks a rather nice build. I had similar problems with Humbrol matt varnish once, a new bottle too. It was duly consigned to the bin! I've heard other folk have similar problems with Humbrol matt too; but judging from some of the comments above and on other threads, the problem isn't just consigned to Humbrol matt varnish. I now use Alclad Klear Kote matte, and too date have had no problems.

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For acrylic varinish whitering sametimes helps very carfelul (due to decals!) and gently brush wash with Microscale Micro Sol Mi-2 (the well known  liquid for softering decals - the one with red inscriptions). I found it works at least with Vallejo varnish. I tried it because softering of decals is basicly dissolving of  transparent laquer which covers decal - so I suspected that it perhaps will redissolve also varnish on model... And it did. Tried it if you are unhappy - but again - be careful with decals. Or have a spare set of decals in advance already...

Cheers

J-W

 

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2 hours ago, Courageous said:

@Mike. My particular varnish is/ was a brand new 125ml bottle of Humbrol Clear Matt Varnish via my airbrush. All precautions duly taken, especially the shaking bit in a nice warm man-cave.

Could just be a QC thing then.  Humbrol's last few years of paint & such has been a bit hit & miss by most accounts.

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Maybe you remove the rotors and antennas and "polish" it out with a soft rotating brush (i use the proxxon micromot) this will not affect the decals. milky is fluffy because drying too fast. it worked for me one time because i had something like this with revell matt enamel varnish

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