In which I don't get along with spray-varnish... at all

Spray-on varnish and I have this little understanding. It does what the feth it is supposed to do and I won't throw the can through the damn window for it destroying 20+ hours work of paint-job by blooming.

At least I thought we had.



Apparently, Games Workshop's Purity Seal hasn't read the contract or Terms of Service, if we can call it that.

20 hours of paintjob down the bog! My last batch of Silver Helms nearly ruined.

As luck would have it, I encountered something similar when I varnished my Sword Masters many years ago. The solution then was varnish brushed on by hand. And so it was now.

Using Vallejo Satin Varnish I managed to restore most of the colour to the minis. I say most, as the horn-blower is still almost bloomed beyond recognition.


Honestly, I know it says "don't use the spray in extreme weather" on the can, but 20°C can hardly be called extreme, can it? Ok, so there might be a high pressure rising in the air, and the air might be humid (this is after all the Swedish west coast), but what the crikey? Wasn't these varnishes originally designed for use on the British Isles? They have an even more humid climate than Sweden, as far as I know.

And it can't be that I use too much. I'm not overly liberal with varnish. I have considered that it could've been that I use too little, but I have through trial and error ruled that out too.

If anyone has any sugestion to what I might be doing wrong, please comment.

As it stands right now, I am more and more leaning towards using paint-on varnish from the start, for all my minis, and use a large brush. This is annoying, as the results aren't as clean as using a spray-on, but if the spray-on kind wishes to fuck me over, I have no other choice, do I?

Also, using paint-on varnish is more expensive in the long run... but what can be done, I ask? And I demand some sort of answer...

I'm starting to repeat myself. But I will continue to say, that Games Workshop are lying through their crooked British teeth when they claim that their spray varnishes are good. They are not. They are crap. Why? They can only be used in a dry, room-temperature environ that obviously doesn't exist in Sweden any more. At least not when I need something varnished.

I will now end this and go and turn that damned pressurised can into a mini moon-rocket. Don't try this at home, children!

--Tallyho!