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Trouble with Varnish


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Thanks for the warning. I had assumed acrylic was the standard solvent free option.

 

Acrylic is a catch all term referring to part of the paint's composition, and there are a bewildering amount of varieties within it. 2K paint is still acrylic for example, but you sure as hell don't want that at the modelling desk! 

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I now use Halfords Satin Varnish , it is  bit shiny but no blooming, and it does not attack enamel paint as the Games stuff does. The shine can be reduced with a coat of Dullcote on top if needed.

I also use Halfords Satin and I will be sticking with it. Reliable performance everytime, decent-sized cans and reasonable value too. They do a matt laquer as well which I have not tried although if it is as good as the Satin it could be worth a ago.

 

Annoyingly, the finish I want is about halfway between satin and matt (I have sometimes seen this described as "egghell").

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  • 3 years later...
  • RMweb Gold

Sorry to steal this thread but it is a related question.

 

Problem with Humbrol Acrylic matt varnish.....i re-painted a tender using Phoenix Precision enamel paint, then applied pressfix transfers. When dry i coated the whole thing with the Humbrol acrylic and it instantly reacted causing the paint and decals to blister and dissolve. I have read elsewhere this is common.

 

So, i have now completely stripped the old paint and decals off, and re-spayed the Phoenix precision enamal paint again.

 

Before i apply the decals, i would like to know the best way of sealing the transfers. I have Alclad 2 Klear kote in soft sheen and flat but i am unsure if these are safe to use with enamels and decals or should i be buying a different product. Any advice?

 

Thank you

Ian

 

Edited by ianLMS
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On 11/03/2021 at 21:43, ianLMS said:

Sorry to steal this thread but it is a related question.

 

Problem with Humbrol Acrylic matt varnish.....i re-painted a tender using Phoenix Precision enamel paint, then applied pressfix transfers. When dry i coated the whole thing with the Humbrol acrylic and it instantly reacted causing the paint and decals to blister and dissolve. I have read elsewhere this is common.

 

So, i have now completely stripped the old paint and decals off, and re-spayed the Phoenix precision enamal paint again.

 

Before i apply the decals, i would like to know the best way of sealing the transfers. I have Alclad 2 Klear kote in soft sheen and flat but i am unsure if these are safe to use with enamels and decals or should i be buying a different product. Any advice?

 

Thank you

Ian

 

Good morning Ian,

I have just finished painting and applying decals to a 1980s era BR breakdown train tool van. I used Railmatch enamel spray cans, BR warning yellow then gloss varnish before applying Railtec decals. These were then sealed with satin varnish, again Railmatch enamel in a spray can. Very happy with the results but I did have some problems along the way.

I found that the gloss varnish dried with an orange peel effect which needed to be rubbed down with very fine wet and dry paper before trying again. Trial and error proved that I needed to spray the gloss on from a lot closer than the 200mm described on the can. Apparently it was drying before it got to the surface. Spray from half this distance worked fine. 
I would recommend using Railmatch enamel. Hope this helps. 
 

John

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  • RMweb Gold

Varnish is capricious and you will find all sorts of suggestions! Not sure any one is totally safe but I have settled on Testors Dullcote as the final finish....

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Agree with the above.  I used to use Games Workshop varnish, until they changed the formula and everything bloomed.   For years I had no problems except for one carriage which reacted really badly.   No difference in the paint I'd used (Humbrol), the application or preparation, but it went almost white.

 

I had a similar but much more spectacular reaction with a Bachmann LNER fish van.  One of two which I renumbered and then varnished - one side of one van suddenly went white and started bubbling up - almost foaming, the effect was so dramatic.   I had to leave it to finish, scrape off the thick white layer (like toothpaste), put it through paint stripper and start again.

 

These days I use Halfords lacquers for most varnishing and Dullcote for a final coat.   Again, almost no problems, but.... recently painting a whitemetal car kit for a load, I'd done the upper part with a Humbrol gloss paint.   This cracked and crazed really badly under the lacquer although the rest of the kit was unaffected.   It's always a bit of a voyage into the unknown.

 

 

 

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  • RMweb Gold

The first loco kit I built was a DJH J50. It went really well, I painted it with I think halfords black, put transfers on then sprayed it with railmatch varnish. It bloomed terribly. It was so demoralising. I used nitromors on it and it fell apart (I'd used glue to build it). I forget what happened with it after that, I can't find it anywhere so may have thrown it away in disgust. It's a large part of why I walked away from model railways for 20 years, and why I've got a few bits ready to paint but to be honest I'm scared to do it.

 

 

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Thank you and i think its down to how thick the coat is as well. I tested some paint and decals on a plastic tub, then applied a couple of coats of Alclad 2 Klear Cote and no reaction to either paint or decal. I then gave my loco a coat and it came out perfect. Thin light coats only seemed to work no problem.

 

edit. The good thing with Alclad is it can be applied using an airbrush so u can control the flow. The Humbrol one seemed to work ok when i misted a coat over another model, but bloomed badly when i sprayed to close and heavy.

Edited by ianLMS
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