Uggghhhh Micro Sol sorta reactivates Speedpaints :(

[Helias_Tancred]

Subject line says it all. Painted up one Imperial Fist to go in one of my Black Templar intercessor squads, and I finished him and was applying decals and ... UGGGGHHHH .....  the Maize Yellow Speedpaints have had over two days to dry. Still reactivated it enough for a yellow sheen to get on the decals and the white area around the knee. 

 

I did a slap chop method for his armor using Maize Yellow Speedpainter 2.0 for the power armor. 

 

If I ever do another one it will be the traditional method using standard acrylics. This is sorta BS imo. I only used contrast and speed paints for very technical uses. I'll stick to that. 

 

 

[W.A.Rorie]

Did you do a clear coat before decals?

 

[Grotsmasha]

Should definitely be doing a Gloss Varnish over paint before decals. It gives a smoother surface for you to place and position the decal, and it protects the underlying paintwork.

[Cadmus Tyro]

Also, try and carefully mop up any excess, as it pools in the recesses it will react with the paint. 
 

I generally find contrast type paints to have pretty poor durability, rubbing off to expose the base primer whilst handling. 
 

Cadmus

[Sky Potato]

I've had Micro Sol and Set take off regular Citadel acrylics, never mind the generally much less durable Contrast paints. I've never used Speedpaints, after all the talk of re-activating, I probably won't either.

 

You absolutely need to be applying gloss varnish before putting decals down.

[crimsondave]

I agree with the others about a varnish.  I’ve put decals on top of regular acrylics but I usually even varnish over that.  I definitely would varnish over contrast paint first.

[Helias_Tancred]

14 hours ago, W.A.Rorie said:

Did you do a clear coat before decals?

 

 

Yes. Vallejo polyurethane matte varnish from the bottle. 

 

[Grotsmasha]

How long after the Speed Paint did you apply the varnish?

I'm just hypothesizing, but if it was before the Speed Paint was 100% dry, rather than covering the Speed Paint it mixed a little and that is what's reactivated?

I also don't know if it's because it's a matte vs satin vs gloss varnish?

[Mana]

1 hour ago, Helias_Tancred said:

 

Yes. Vallejo polyurethane matte varnish from the bottle. 

 

 

In tale of painters review of the new game color paints review is the following:

 

".... Polyurethane varnishes are more durable, but more aggressive and can reactivate Inks, Contrast and Xpress Colors as well as washes and Shade paints and also damage decals."

source: https://taleofpainters.com/2023/01/review-new-vallejo-game-color-range-now-for-pro-painters-only/

 

So maybe that's what happend. If you use vallejo products, you can buy the varnishes from the  new model color range, those are water based and I never had a problem. Hope this helps.

[Helias_Tancred]

1 hour ago, Mana said:

 

In tale of painters review of the new game color paints review is the following:

 

".... Polyurethane varnishes are more durable, but more aggressive and can reactivate Inks, Contrast and Xpress Colors as well as washes and Shade paints and also damage decals."

source: https://taleofpainters.com/2023/01/review-new-vallejo-game-color-range-now-for-pro-painters-only/

 

So maybe that's what happend. If you use vallejo products, you can buy the varnishes from the  new model color range, those are water based and I never had a problem. Hope this helps.

 

LOL ... well now I know. Thanks for that!

 

I also have a bottle of the regular vallejo matt varnish (not with polyurethane in the title) .. lol looks like I used the wrong one? It's even funnier because my LGs where I got the polyurethane matte varnish from, they specifically said the normal acrylic one is garbage compared to the polyurethane one I bought from them! 

 

I've always used the water based one too with no problems! I also just recently picked up the W&N Galeria matte varnish too! Any knowledge of that? I saw it on a Youtube painter's channel, the guy swore by it. 

 

 

 

 

Edited 6 hours ago by Helias_Tancred

[Firedrake Cordova]

It's probably worth adding that Vallejo's polyurethane varnish is still water-based.

 

It might not be relevant, but I seem to remember there being some re-branding of the varnishes, with some words being added/removed from the names when the new branding was applied (it looks like the two varnishes shown above are from the Model Colour [70.x] and Game Colour [72.x] lines, respectively). I guess if in doubt, ask Vallejo?