The SAAF Forum

Hi Guys

I'm busy with a 1/72 Spitfire with Russian cammo. I completed the build and all looked quite nifty. When I did my finish with Tamiya matt clear, they grey paint started cracking and blistering. But only the grey, the green was fine. These are the colours, not my build, just for illustration:




Any ideas?

HI

Also had the same problem a while ago.

What paints did you use for the grey? Also, did you use a gloss coat before the matt coat, and if so which one. What was the drying times in between coats? Acrylics and Enamels?

From my previous build and some experiments I gathered that the coats wasn't completely dry and when I did the matt coat over the gloss coat the same happened, especially over area where the there was some bit of pooling of the gloss coat.

Regards

HP

Hi Drifter

Was the Tamiya Matt from a spray can?

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/141742650@N08/albums

Yes, from a spray can. Both the color paints used were from Humbrol enamel tins. They were 100% dry. It's just the Grey that did this, the green was fine.

Which was the last paint applied, grey or green? Curious question.
I suspect the grey had not have cured when the clear was applied.

Man this is odd. Seems to be that lot's of people are experiencing these problems. Maybe your varnish went on too wet (too much in one go). Try "misting" it on over several coats - allow each coat to dry.

Hi Drifter

Next question, did you decant and let the clear settle overnight and then respray?

Tamiya clear straight from the can is too "hot", this is a particular problem with the gloss.

I can only imagine that the matt is doing the same thing,

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/141742650@N08/albums

Well, the model stood for about two weeks before I got around to finishing it, so the grey must have cured. Maybe it was a bad batch of grey. I recall a while ago that Humbrol had issues with certain colors and took them off the market. Anyways, I ended up doing a blackish pastel wash in the cracks, now it actually looks like a very neglected Russian Spitfire.

Thanks for all the replies guys.

Ja, I've had similar issues with some of the new Humbrol matt enamel paints - they just don't seem to dry and when rubbed the surface becomes tacky.