That (the cloudiness and the white spot) has to do with the dryness/dampness of the place where you applied the varnish. Some canisters react badly with the level of dampness of the air. And if your can was a tiny bit further than usual when spraying, the worse it got.
I don’t know any way out of this for the figure you sprayed. My only advice in this case (which clearly might not be the best, nor the most satisfying, nor the nicest to hear…) is to try and strip the figure and start the painting all over again [here, in France, we have a product which is perfect for that : Glanzer. I think an equivalent in English-speaking countries is Simple Green, but I’m not sure. It’s a household chemical you use to strip the polish off the floors before cleaning them. You dip your figure in it for a few hours (no more or, if it’s plastic or resin, it will turn all floppy soft!), and then you scrap the paint with an old toothbrush, you wash it with clear water, then you dry it with some paper tissue, and your figure is as good as new…]. I’ve heard the advice above about trying to apply some Lahman Medium on the spots and the haze to make them disappear, but I can’t vouch for it, I have never tried…
What I can give you some advice on is how to avoid that the next time.
Basically, you have two solutions. The first one is quite easy, though a bit time consuming : apply the varnish with a brush. I’m not a fan, but you’ll never get any white haze nor white spots with this method. Vallejo have some nice matt or gloss varnishes for this method.
The other is even easier, but it might be a tad more expensive : forget any cans from hobby mades (AP, Citadel, etc.) : Talens varnish cans. It’s an art varnish to seal art paintings. It comes in a gloss finish (Talens) or in a mat finish (Amsterdam #115 is the one I always use… This a miracle). Let’s say you use the same as I do. You put your figure on some cardboard box, in the outside (a balcony is more than enough… It’s just that spraying inside is messy AND smelly). Be careful about the weather. If it’s raining, the air might be too damp. If it’s a hot summer day, the air might be too dry. Be mindful of the temperature, too. Too cold or too warm, and you run the risk of the air being too dry as well. Now, you want your can to be shaken thouroughly (about a minute and a half — yes, that is 90 seconds– is perfect. If you’re fit enough, two minutes is fine). Spray a little burst into the air to check if it’s not clogged, and then you can spray on the figures. You have to hold your can about a full foot away from the mini. If the air is dry, come closer, if the air is damp… well, try later… Spray in very little short controlled bursts, left to right, up and down. Then turn the cardboard to face another side of the figure until every sides of the figure are covered. You just need to apply a light coat all over the figure, not a thick layer…
The disturbing thing with Amsterdam #115 is that at first, you will think you have ruined your figure, because the frehsly applied varnish looks like a glossy, damp layer of shiny water (the first time I applied the varnished, I thought my mini was fu##ked up, and I cursed the friend who had given me the advice to rot in Hell….).
Don’t worry. Go fix yourself a cup of tea, and leave the varnish to dry…
Give it a full five to ten hours straight. Then, and only then, can you touch your figure again, or apply another coat of varnish if you deem it necesssary.
I’ve been using this for some five years now, and never, ever had a problem with my varnish, when I often had the same problem you had in the thirty-something years before. One time out of four, I had those white hazes and/or white spots on the figure… The big wildcat on my avatar picture was varnished with this method, if you need an example of the finished effect…
I hope this helped…
pagan8th 4 years, 1 month ago.
