Clear coat Matte, HELP!

My matte is turning white on my figures!

Many times the way i paint figures is ill get several done before i hit them with the matte all together. After hours of hard work painting, i sprayed them with matte sealer (Armory Clear Matte Sealer is the brand) its turning them white in several spots on the figure! I just hit about 10 figures and every one of them has this on it! I shook the can thoroughly and even sprayed a bit away from the figures to be sure b/c this is the 2nd time this happened. This time i was careful to make sure everything was clean and hoped for a successful spray this time around and failed. I am just..beyond pissed right now. Has anyone had this problem before and any suggestions or ideas on what to do from here besides the fact i have to go back and basically repaint everything...?

bummer

i have never had that issue but is it possible it is not thoroughly dry and these white areas are where spray has collected?

This has happened to me (and others too) it makes you want to cry!

The answers:

1. Always do a 'test spray' of some unimportant old painted figure first each time you are going to varnish spray.

2. Make sure that the can and the room/space you are sparying in is not too hot/cold or humid.

3. Make sure that the can is not really old (more than 1 year after purchase is my rule) and that you shake it REALLY well (at least 2 mins, which is a long time)

4. Patience is a virtue. Multiple thinner coats are better than 1 thick coat.

Testors DullCoate is the best in my experience and GW spray is the 'dodgiest' (new word). If in doubt, recc number 1, above trumps all other advice.

Dave

I can't recommend anything because I haven't tried it myself, but maybe a gentle scrubbing with a toothbrush?

(I can just imagine that going wrong, though.)

it seem that a lot of varnish accidents are linked to high humidity condition. was it the case when you got your problems ?

someone have found a trick that "may" work when you got the problem ( no guaranty)
pasting his post :

"
I've used Testors before and it was very good as a matte varnish but did nothing at all for protecting the mini.
Then one day all my cans of testors stopped working and gave a very satin/gloss finish - no idea why - very frustrating.

I've since taken to using Vallejo's Matte Varnish and i would say its on a par with Testors - the cans are much bigger too so it works out better, and the fumes are no where near as nasty.

I would also recommend painting / spraying a good layer of gloss varnish on underneath as this will help protect where matt varnishes never do.

And on the unfortunate humidity problem making varnishes go all misty on your minis, blowing it with a hair dryer completely fixes this - i managed to spray about 15 minis that took me forever to paint (including the Infinity Cutter that won me a painting competition!) and they all got cloudy - was so gutted, but then blew a hot hair dryer over them for a few mons each and it completely went away. .
"

Testors Dull coat is a winner - I've never had this problem with it. It really does make everything totally matt though. I will often reapply a gloss varnish to areas that should be shiney. Like mouths, armour, eyes, etc.

You maybe able to lessen or even remove the white patches from matt varnish whitening. You need to apply a gloss varnish over the effected areas. The gloss varnish will counter the whitening effect of the matt. This needs to be applied by a brush though. I've rescued models in the past with this technique. You can then reapply a matt coat (just don't use the same 'problem' varnish!).

I've never tried the hair dryer technique. Let us know if that also works.

I also concur with using a gloss coat first, followed by a matt coat.

I really hope you can rescue your hard work.

For me it it has been hit or miss, I use testors dull coat but find as mentioned it rubs off, so its not good for handling:( recently though I have had good luck with GW purity seal matte (make sure you shake very well ... up to two minutes) and I find it as dull as Testors but more durable(I've been told that the GW spays are manufatured in the country in which they are sold and shipped only by ground. I live in N.America so the sprays are made here so quality may be different than in the UK). I have read all the negative stuff about GW products, but l I've been painting for close to 30 years and with all produts it's trial and error and what works for you

Thanks for all the advice on this. I will try some of these things. Since it was mentioned, I think maybe this is due to being old. The humidity was not an issue and the can is indeed well over a year old. It has been stored properly and all that but who knows. I will try a different brand as well but right now, Im just so frustrated that my figures have been set aside and am taking a break LOL. I was on a roll for a bit there but this totally took me out of the zone lol. Its summer anyway and so much going on, I havent had much time to spend on this hobby. I will def let you know what the end result is after trying some of these methods as soon as i can get around to doing them. Thanks for all the tips and advice!

J

Ok ...actually....reading this motivated me to try and clean these off. I dont have a new sealer yet but what i managed to use an old toothbrush and give it a light, dry scrubbing and most of the white came off. There is still some that refuses to come off but i think with a little touch up, i can save these without to much headache.

ALSO: as to the hair dryer method....I did try this and had no success. This may be due to the fact that the figures have had time to sit and dry for about 2 weeks. If I have any further issues in the future, i will be sure to try this method immediately to see if this helps

I don't use spray varnishes as they are prone to this type of problem. Instead I use a two stage approach. First I brush on a gloss varnish. This provides the seal/protection that the figure needs to withstand the handling it will get. Once this is thoroughly dry I brush on a Matt varnish to take the sheen off the figure.

It takes longer than spraying but I feel I have more control over where the varnish goes and how much gets applied to each area of the miniature. So far I haven't had any problems.

Cheers Wayne.