Spray Paint Tribulations

[Guest]

Hello all

I've recently had a couple of problems using Humbrol 150 ml varnishes from the spray can, both with the matt and the gloss

While spraying the final overcoat of matt on a 1/48 Hurricane Mk.1 pre-1939, the coat sort of clouded up a bit in some areas. This whitening effect disappears when you wet it but soon returns when it dries. I did another coat which got rid of it in some areas but came up in others. I did not want to continue with multiple coats forever...

It doeasn't look too bad, but still would be nice to fix it....anyone any ideas as to what might be causing it?

Also, witht the gloss, it caused the paint in a few areas to bubble up, requiring sanding, re- painting and re-sprayng, not to mention swearing. Anyone any ideas? or maybe I'm just a crap modeller

On the bright side, the satin stuff works perfect!

Cheers to all, Saul

[Guest]

Only suggestions I'm afraid, nothiong definitive, but they may be helpfull.

The first thing and the biggest known problem with the spray cans is ensuring that they are mixed properly before spraying. I shake mine for a long long time before even considering using them to ensure they are thoroughly mixed and then sit them in hot water to increase the pressure and help them to mix better before spraying.

Another possibility is ambient conditions when you are spraying. Cold moist air can affect a spray finish as the paint ends up being wet when it hits the surface of the model so you need to ensure that you are spraying in a clean, dry, warm environment for spraying.

Finally compatability is always a challenge and you don't say what you are spraying over. If you have used a different paint on the model there is always a possibility of a reaction and, if you say that you have bubbling in other areas, then you may have a reaction going on here.

I would cut your losses for now and recreate the paint finish you have on the Hurricane on a piece of scrap. Then spray the varnishes over them and try to determine what has caused the effect. I agree putting more over the top until you have identified the cause is not going to get you anything exept a thick paint finish so experiment with scrap for now.