Varnish disaster

[Michi]

An option which works as rub with a very light mount of olive oil...

Yes really.

Not enough to leave any oily residue etc on the model but that light covering seems to recover the varnish from the frosting disaster. I saw this on a blog years ago tried it on a problem of my own. It worked and has stayed for years. I was skeptical but it works. No idea the science behind this though.   

DON'T DO THAT! 

It might be right that the frosting will be gone, but you won't be able to put another proper layer of varnish (or paint!) onto that miniature after. Additionally I assume that the oil could probably react with the varnish and cause stickiness or worse...

[mellis1644]

Worked a few times I had issues with various spray varnishes till I stopped using them. I also used it on WN varnish when I had an issue with paint on varnish once.

I have had a very bad result from the revarnishing though. That may work but can also secure the frosting in place forever. That happened to one of my models. Not sure why it was not good.

I agree not sure how the oil would react to further varnish.
 

DON'T DO THAT! 

It might be right that the frosting will be gone, but you won't be able to put another proper layer of varnish (or paint!) onto that miniature after. Additionally I assume that the oil could probably react with the varnish and cause stickiness or worse...

[vodkafan]

Thank you all for your suggestions. It does seem obvious now that the frosting is trapped moisture. I must wait until the current wet humid weather is gone before I try anything. I will try the simplest thing first on a couple, which is respraying with the matt and putting it under a hot lamp. But the gloss varnish coat is also an option. I am considering from now on to varnish first on all minis with a thin coat of gloss first for protection then matt after.

[RichBliss]

It may be heresy, but I've stopped applying va bush altogether.  I had too many bad experiences (2) and figurd I could touch up the occasional scrape.  Turns out that I rarely have to do this. The acrylics Imuse seem to hold up fine under normal handling.

[grotuz]

Clearly a humidity issue.
Spray again on a less humid day and your problem will go away.
Carry on.

[Malebolgia]

Clearly a humidity issue.
Spray again on a less humid day and your problem will go away.
Carry on.

Most of the times...
But frosting can happen with nice weather too. It shows the unpredictability of spray varnish. But with the hot lamp trick it's not that much of a problem.

[mellis1644]

I paint light coats of varnish now... Here (in Toronto, Ont) I find it's either too humid or too cold for spray to work well without killing myself by spraying inside.

[Rogerc]

Gloss first is my prefered technique, no frosting now for a few years using gloss then matting down with figures in comfort.

[Smokeyrone]

I have similarly managed to redeem the grey-whiteness with brush-on Testors Dullcote.

I did it immediately, mind.

This.  Or, wait till dry, and add a brushcoat of a very light acrylic flat black paint and water wash, mixed with PVA Glue. 

Works every time.

In South Florida, we never get whitening or yellowing, but we do get a gloss coat from a dull spray (the humidity, or malabars, or something)

[vodkafan]

I resprayed yesterday and placed under a hot light bulb. All colours restored to full intensity no frosting. Thanks for all the advice lads!!

[Rogerc]

Brilliant!!

[Malebolgia]

Yeah baby!

[Brian Smaller]

I resprayed yesterday and placed under a hot light bulb. All colours restored to full intensity no frosting. Thanks for all the advice lads!!

Phew! Bet you were relieved.  Been donkey's years since I had that happen to me. I use an artist matt spray for paintings. Seems to work pretty well and has never given me any problems.

[Atheling]

Brush on some enamel gloss varnish (like Revell No. 1) and see if the fog lifts off before any effort to repaint them, James!
If that works to save from repainting you can still matt varnish them after.

Humbrol Enamel Gloss works best for this.

Darrell.