My contrast paints acted weird last night.

[Canadian_F_H]

my camera is not working, so bear with me and the lack of images...

 

last night i was working on a squad of Iron Warriors.  they were based with lead belcher spray.  i had gotten to doing various odd bits like holsters, and cloths and leather belts.  so i painted them with wraithbone and then applied contrast.  the contrast paints "crackled".  which looks kind of like the technical paints that make the dried caked mud effect.  i have never seen this before with contrast paints.  i am not sure what happened.  anyone else experiance this?  obviously i want to figure it out so i can avoid it when i dont want it to happen.

 

 

 

 

*****

notes on "crackling", the term, where i learned of it, and maybe the info might be useful to others.

 

this is actually a painting technique that was used intentionally in the 80s in a big way with guitars.  essentially you paint a guitar body one color and then before the paint has fully cured (or a layer of clear coat between, not sure) you paint a second color on top.  the paints will contract at different rates because of their differential curing time (possibly controllable via the paint/solvent mixture, again, i am not an expert)  this creates a cracked finish, where the top layer is broken up exposing the undercoat.  80s examples were sometimes extreme with neon colors underneath and black on top for example.  its pretty neat looking, tho not for everyone.  i never thought much of doing it on purpose on a miniature until i saw the technical basing paint.  tho i have done it on purpose with spray paint when stenciling some heavy duty cases i have for non-forum related purposes.  anyways.  not super relevant but all painting techniques and knowledge have room for potential i suppose.

[N1SB]

It's funny you mention this.  I had a similar situation, but I didn't get that crackling effect (I read what you said about '80s guitars, like they got these lightning lines on them, I didn't know that was a technique).  Instead, I got like a small "bald spot" on large surface area (a shoulderpad on a Bloodbowl mini). that I was sure I covered, precisely because something went wrong at the time and I made sure I smeared more Contrast over it.  It wasn't on something like a detail or a raised edge or something that I thought the Contrast would just flow away from, it was a flat area.

 

As far as I could tell, it was something to do with the basecoat.  I use a Japanese brand of matt varnish, very flat, very good in my experience, I personally prefer them to GW's own basecoats.  It's what I use when I feel like painting a miniature with only inks, like I would do that with my Nurglings.  But you know how when you base a miniature, even if it doesn't frost, you can sense from the texture or thickness something wasn't right?  I felt that about this miniature, like there was a glossiness to that shoulderpad that felt a bit "wet".  When I put Contrast on it, it seemed to be repelled away from that "wet spot", it wasn't even the highest point like gravity was dragging it away, so I took extra care to spread it around a bit more.  When I went back to see how it dried, lo & behold, pretty much that exact spot was where the Contrast failed to dry properly.

 

That's just my theory.  It happened just on 1 of 10 miniatures I painted.  It wasn't crackling, but it did look jagged, like when the Contrast dried, it cracked on that spot.  It wasn't a spot I'd hold or handle it, so I don't think I chipped the paint, but perhaps Contrast can sometimes dry so thinly you get these little tears, I don't know.  It was a humid day when I basecoated and a dry day when I applied the Contrast.

 

Thanks for the warning.  So did you get the cracks on just 1 mini, or did you repro that on several minis?

[Canadian_F_H]

it happened on all 5 of this batch.  using nazdreg yellow, flesh tearer red, and cygor brown.

i know wraithbone touch ups aren't quite as accepting and smooth as the sprayed primer.  so that might be a factor.  or perhaps the fact that under the wraithbone was the lead belcher spray...  i know the WB didn't want to apply well to the Lead belcher.

[No Foes Remain]

I've used contransts over leadbelcher brushed on and I have not had this problem, have you had problems with that sprayed leadbelcher before? Contrast or not?

[Grotsmasha]

I've had this issue, not with Contrast, but with Leadbelcher spray, and I suspect that it is your culprit here. Try varnishing the area first, then hitting it with the Wraith one.

[Skywrath]

I've had this issue, not with Contrast, but with Leadbelcher spray, and I suspect that it is your culprit here. Try varnishing the area first, then hitting it with the Wraith one.

 

I had that issue as well but with the mechanicus spray a while back, very curious that you mention that. Both me and my friend concluded that it could have been because of the residential humidity, perhaps that's the culprit in both these cases?

Edited May 10, 2020 by Skywrath

[Fajita Fan]

So my first few experiences with contrasts were pretty straightforward - they cover a light basecoat quickly, don't cover broad panels well, and don't like being overloaded or touched up when wet.  Now I've messed with several colors over Rustoleum white & aluminum primers, brushed on white primer, brushed on Grey Seer, and brushed on Wraithbone.  I also poured my contrasts into dropper bottle to make it easier to proportion them.

 

Now that I've experimented with several colors from a couple of batches I'm thinking there's some mixing/quality control issues. My first BA red is flawless, it covers evenly and doesn't wick or pull away from flats.  My orange is more brownish, I made a better orange with BA red and Iyanden yellow.  My first gray with 5:2 ratio of paint to medium made a GREAT armor wash but now that mix just pools like a shade and congeals into weird drops along recesses.  My purples both act really weird, the lighter purple has an odd tendency to pool towards recesses on metallic primer and leave empty spots with tide marks where the red or yellow act fine.  My turquoise and talasar blue are fine but the browns and DA green have noticeable pigment swirls even after lots of shaking, mixing with a toothpick, lots of stirring on a palette, etc.  One of the dark blues actually bubbled up when I used it as a glaze on (thankfully!) water I was painting.  It ended up looking like bubbles but that would look terrible on armor plates or fabric!

 

I didn't know if it was me or my crappy technique but the different paints seem to behave differently.  I saw a video where a guy used the white with regular lahimian medium and really liked the effect; a GW staffer told me not to do that because he saw it bubble up.  I also don't think contrasts like water so I make sure to use a dry brush and really dry my brush well after cleaning it.  

Edited May 11, 2020 by Fajita Fan

[Canadian_F_H]

its weird you say it doesnt like water, because i am sure ive seen GW painters on their videos thin it with water sometimes...  idk, i will have to keep an eye out.  it is definitly a trickier paint that i first thought.  overall very happy to have it, but caution is priority for now.

[Fajita Fan]

I found its surface tension causes weird pooling with water and I still don't know what caused bubbles on (thankfully) water I tried to paint.  My local GW didn't know either.  Seriously, though, my first orange was like rust brown and my second orange was a little more orangey - that's stirring both manually with toothpicks.  I just don't know about the quality control but I love the convenience.